The 7 Best Ice Cream Makers of 2024, Tested and Reviewed
When you’re craving tasty ice cream that melts in your mouth, why not save yourself a trip to the frozen aisle and make it at home? It might seem like a chore to make your own ice cream, but it’s actually not that hard as long as you have the right ice cream maker.
“An ice cream maker is a great addition to your kitchen—not only is it super fun, but it allows you to make delicious and refreshing treats to cool off on hot summer days,” says Alec Jaffe, the founder and CEO of Alec’s Ice Cream. “You can experiment with making flavors you always wish your favorite ice cream shop had and impress friends with a homemade dessert when they come over for dinner… the ideas are endless!”
To find the best ice cream makers, we tested 20 models in our Lab. We made two frozen recipes with each appliance—a traditional ice cream and a sorbet—and assessed them on design, ease of use, performance, taste, ease of cleaning, and more.
We also tapped plenty of industry experts for tips on choosing an at-home ice cream maker. Before our in-depth tests, we spoke with Ryan O’Hara, co-owner of Big Spoon Creamery, to make sure we knew what to look for; and while writing this article, we consulted Jaffe as well as two appliance experts from Hamilton Beach Brands: Sarah Clary and Laurie Klein.
Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt, Ice Cream, & Sorbet Maker at Amazon
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This machine consistently produces rich and creamy ice cream with every batch.
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It has a small capacity so it may not be a good choice for large families.
When you want rich and creamy ice cream made fresh from your kitchen counter, the Ninja Creami Deluxe gets it right. This machine features 11 different settings to concoct homemade ice cream and frozen desserts like gelatos, frozen yogurt, sorbets, and milkshakes. During our testing, this machine exceeded our expectations on all fronts. We were pleasantly surprised at the consistency of the ice cream it produces—every batch we made was on point. Our sorbet turned out incredible, too—firm without any ice or chunks. Even after sitting in the freezer for two hours, there was minimal crystallization on our sorbet.
Plus, the Ninja Creami is very beginner-friendly as the buttons are very self-explanatory. We would happily recommend this ice cream maker to anyone who doesn’t want to go through a lot of trial and error. We like that it has a built-in timer so you don’t have to keep a close eye on it—unless you want to. It also has helpful buttons to fix texture issues that other ice cream makers we tested didn't have.
In terms of size, we found that this ice cream maker wasn’t too obtrusive. It’s around the size of a countertop coffee maker and has a sleek appearance, so it won’t be an eyesore in your kitchen. One thing to note is that it’s quite noisy. We found that it was about as loud as a coffee grinder, but we only needed to run the machine for 5 minutes in our testing, so it’s pretty manageable. Also keep in mind that it can’t make more than 1.5 pints (or 3 cups) of ice cream at a time, so it’s not practical for a large family or when you have a group of guests coming over.
Maximum Yield: 1.5 pints | Dimensions: 12.01 x 8.4 x 16.6 inches | Weight: 14.44 pounds