Hamilton Beach 68220 1.5-Quart Capacity Ice Cream Maker, White Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, first off, all the 1.5qt ice cream makers on the market -- this one, Cuisinart's, and Krups' -- are fundamentally the same. It's a metal bucket full of some fluid that you put in the freezer; it gets very cold, cold enough to freeze 1.5qts of ice cream mix. That, and it's a motor with a mixing arm. That's really it.
So I figured, when I bought this one, that I was getting a deal; it's the cheapest of the three. Now that I've used it a few times, I'm wishing I'd just splurged, spent the extra twenty bucks, and gotten either of the others.
The mixing blade on this model doesn't seem to actually mix very well. I made a cantaloupe sherbet last night and I looked into the bowl as the arm turned, and it was just shoving the sherbet around in a circle. It wasn't churning. The sherbet wasn't frozen solid or anything, it was still pretty slushy. The arm just seems poorly designed.
I think the motor's pretty weak, too. It turns so slowly that it doesn't need to be very strong, they just gear it way down and even a weak motor can push pretty hard. But this routinely gets stuck on bits of ice cream that freeze in a layer on the bottom of the bucket. I made a frozen yogurt, which you have to put in the bucket to start (vs. pouring it through the opening while it's running) because of the thickness of the yogurt, and it had real problems churning after that. I ended up having to churn it by hand with a spatula for a while at the end.
Finally, there are just design details that aren't very good about this. The top of the motor / lid assembly is sloped, and the on/off switch is on that surface and protrudes a bit.
When you take that motor / lid off and set it down, the obvious way to do it is to rest it on its top (with the mixing arm sticking up.) This invariably hits that switch and turns it on. Whenever I'm taking it off, I'm trying to move quickly, stir the ice cream or scoop it off into a container to put in the freezer, so it's always irritating to take that lid off, quickly set it down, and have it turn on, the mixing arm starts turning, ice cream splatters, etc. This happens every time. There's not really a better way to set it down. So I have to unplug it whenever I want to put it down on the counter. It's just not very well thought-through.
Similarly, the locking mechanism involves pivoting that big blue arm up and over from one side to the other, which is cumbersome; the electric cord gets in the way, and even when you get it right, it's not a terribly snug fit; the motor can rock back and forth a bit.
Overall, you get what you pay for, and the other brands really aren't that much more expensive. Don't be a tightwad like me; splurge for one of them instead of this.

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Make homemade ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, sorbet and more using this machine from Hamilton Beach. It's fully automatic - no stirring and no need for ice or salt like the old-fashioned machines. An extra-large ingredient opening lets you add candies, brownie bits or fruit during the mixing process. Other features include a carrying handle that locks into place and a transparent lid. Recipes included.

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