Ice cream maker type

There are a few basic types of ice cream makers. 

Frozen Bowl ice cream machines are the most common and require the user to freeze the inner bowl. From there the automatic churning paddles or a rotating inner bowl that pushes the custard up against the paddles will do all the work. You’ll only get one batch out of each before you have to freeze it again or you can purchase stock multiple inner bowls 

Compressor Ice Cream makers: These pricier models use freezer technology to chill the inner bowl on demand and thus don’t require any planning or manual freezing. The big draw here is that you can make batch after batch without having to wait. The downside is that compressor ice cream makers cost more and are larger in stature, requiring more space on your counter or cupboard. 

Editor’s note: For this round, we only tested mostly pre-frozen bowl ice cream makers but will be testing compressor models and adding a compressor ice cream maker pick to the list. A few popular compressor machines include Breville’s $600 Smart scoop ice cream maker and Whynter, which makes a handful of well-rated compressor models ranging from $200 to $600. Cuisinart also makes a compressor ice cream machine that’s smaller than others and clocks in at $300.

Ice and rock salt ice cream makers. Theseold-school machines may remind you of the old days and use a bucket with ice and rock salt that actually makes the ice colder to keep the inner bowl chilled instead of a pre-frozen bowl or custard. There are only a handful of options in this category as they are slower and require a large stock of ice to operate. On the plus side, these models don’t demand a pre-frozen bowl so you can make ice cream at a moment’s notice.

Blender-style ice cream makers. This is a new style of ice cream maker and there’s really only one: the Ninja Creami and its subsequent iterations including the Creami Deluxe. This method of ice cream making reverses the order and requires a frozen base that is spun quickly and forcefully into ice cream rather than a chilled bowl that does it slowly.

Size and capacity

Ice cream makers turn about one and a half quarts of ice cream per batch which amounts to roughly three pints, although our top pick — the Cuisinart Total Indulgence — churns 2 quarts or 4 pints at a time. If you need to make more than that in a given session you’ll want to choose a compressor model or the Ninja Creami, which can make multiple batches as long as you’re able to freeze the custard ahead of time. Salt crank machines typically hold more, around 8 quarts, since there is no need to find space in the freezer for a frozen bowl.

Price and budget

At its core, ice cream makers are simple machines requiring only an inner chamber that spins slowly and a simple paddle to turn the mixture. You can find decent ice cream makers as cheap as $30 or $40. High-end compressors go for anywhere from $300 to more than $1,000 for professional-grade units. 

You can make ice cream parlor quality desserts with one of the $50 or $100 models and there is no need to spend more unless you want to. Pricier ice cream makers don’t necessarily make better ice cream, they just do it faster and with less prep (bowl or base freezing).