Bella 1.5 QT Ice Cream Maker - Orange

The product I order was just as I thought it would be. It also did the job just as it should have.

This is my first and only ice cream maker. I got this at Sam's Wholesale Club for $20 (normally $30) knowing nothing of ice cream makers and never hearing of the brand Bella. We were about to fire the thing up the first night, but then read that you need to freeze the canister first. Boo. See, I told you I knew nothing of these devices. Put the canister in the freezer for about 20 hours; there's a liquid in the canister walls that has to freeze. Took it out after dinner tonight and the liquid was frozen solid - we were good to go! The brochure that comes with the ice cream maker is pretty minimalist and only has a few "recipes" for ice cream (two, to be exact). We went with the "easy vanilla ice cream" recipe, substituting skim milk for the whole milk. What's odd (to me) about this maker is that the canister turns, not the arm. The directions state that the arm should fit in the canister loosely, which it did when the canister wasn't frozen. When the canister was frozen, I had to shove the arm in there. I was afraid the canister wouldn't turn, but it eventually did. With all the ingredients in the canister, you turn it to ON. That's it. The instructions say it should take about 30 mins. or less for ice cream, but after 40 mins. we had soup. The instructions state that after 40 mins if the mixture is not yet solid, do not continue. So we didn't. We have sugar soup. It tastes delicious (why wouldn't it - it's sugar and cream), but it was not ice cream. Not even close. We calculated the calories in the vanilla ice cream recipe - a whopping 1520 - and we used skim milk. I returned the item the next day.

I made a custard-based ice cream, preparing the base the night before, so it could refrigerate and be nice and cold already before putting it in the ice cream maker. The next evening, I took the base out of the fridge, the tub out of the freezer, assembled the machine, turned it on, then poured the base into the top per the instructions. Within just ten minutes, it had frozen/thickened to the consistency of soft serve ice cream. I then poured the ice cream into a plastic bowl, put the lid on, then put it in the freezer for a couple of hours to firm up even more (though, we could've eaten it as soon as it froze to soft-serve thickness and been perfectly happy with it). The motor was much louder than I expected, but beyond this, everything worked great. I see others have had issues with theirs, but I imagine it's a combination of factors they're facing. Perhaps their freezers aren't set to their coldest temperatures (closer to 0 degrees, rather than 10 to 15 degrees...this makes a HUGE difference, believe it or not) or they didn't use pre-mixed base that they had chilled first (mixing ingredients after taking them out of the fridge will let them warm up very quickly). I think with a combination of a really coldly frozen tub and thoroughly chilled base, they'd have a similar experience to mine. So far, I like it. As long as the motor lasts, the mixing paddle doesn't break, etc., for $10 ($20 purchase price at Sam's, plus a $10 mail-in rebate), I'm quite pleased with it. Yes, I'd take the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence over this one, but it's upwards of $90, which makes making your own ice cream an incredibly expensive endeavor. This Bella ice cream maker does just fine, and for much, much less money. Update: I just tried the recipe for coconut ice cream from Williams-Sonoma's website, and it's incredible. It's possibly the best ice cream I've ever eaten. And, as it has with all the other batches of ice cream I've made, this ice cream maker performed great.

I received this product as a gift. It was purchased on sale at Sam's Club and I had my doubts from the moment I opened the box. I followed the directions exactly, including the freezing of the bowl. I even used an Ice Cream mix, figuring that I might have more success with an ice cream mix rather than a from-scratch recipe. After 40 minute mixing, I had slightly chilled ice cream soup. The problem is that the freezer bowl can in no way absorb enough heat to make ice cream. Simple thermodynamics. I suppose it would work if you were standing in a freezer or in the Arctic on an average day, but it certainly doesn't work at room temperature. Don't waste your money on this piece of junk.

I was SO SO disappointed in this ice cream maker! We had been planning an ice cream day for so long. I froze the container for just over 24 hours and purchased all of the ice cream ingredients. I followed the recipe exactly and the "ice cream" did not firm at all! It was just a bowl of soup!! Returning this product today!! A bad experience and a disappointing evening. :(