Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Buying an frozen dessert maker was a tough choice. Did I really need the $1200 Italian version. I knew if would make great gelato but would a cheaper one do just as well? I took a chance on the Breville and couldn't be happier. A frozen dessert maker with a built in compressor needs to do two things - get cold enough and have a strong enough motor to turn the blade. The Breville does both very well. It cools down to -20 F. and monitors the temperature while it is working. I made four batches in a row and the motor had no issues, turning the blade until the dessert was finished. It has a great cool down feature which gets the bowl down to -20 F before you put the ingredients in and a stay cool feature after it is done so you don't have to watch it all the time. Both gelato and sorbet were creamy and there were no ice crystals. There were some negative reviews, which is always scary. In this case I think the negative reviews must have been due to some receiving a defective machine, some ulterior motive, not reading the directions, or not really understanding what this kind of machine can do. It does take 40 minutes or so and the dessert is not frozen solid - if it was the paddle wouldn't be able to turn. The directions are clear that if you want a dessert that is frozen hard, you need to put it in the freezer for a couple of hours. Two bits of advice. Don't over fill the bowl. The directions say 3-1/2 cups max and the mean it. This amount of either sorbet or gelato will fill the 1-1/2 quart bowl when it is done. If you add more it will overflow and it will be hard to clean up. Second, do all your preparation the day before and put it in the fridge over night. I usually make a couple of kinds, put the mix in the fridge and then make more than one batch the next day.