I've made GREAT ice cream with the kind where you put the bowl in the freezer over night. However, not having to do that would be nice ;)

Another thing - no matter if you have a hand crank or a professional continuous freezer, all ice cream must be hardened for many hours after churning. So, the models with compressors don't seem to give much advantage (except if you're going to make a lot of ice cream).

I bought the Cuisinart ICE-50BC (remanufactured, $129 from Amazon) and like it very much. It's a tad noisy, but I just put it in the dining room while it's churning. I wanted one where I didn't have to freeze the container first, and this fits the bill perfectly.

America's Test Kitchen recently reviewed ice cream makers and they liked the Krups GVS142 as a good inexpensive one, as well as the Kitchenaid attachment and the Hamilton Beach 68220. Here's a link to the article:

http://www.cookscountry.com/testing.asp?testingid=629&bdc=7548&extcode=L07HV1AD0

Here is a link that might be useful: ICE50

I have the cheapie Cuisinart recommended in the Cooks Country article, which has a canister that you have to pre-freeze. For the number of times I've used it (a handful over two years), it was a great value at $50 and makes a good product. It's very easy to clean. I disagree with the article that it's noisy - it's a steady grinding hum but not obtrusive. As far as storage space needed, its footprint is about the same as a small-ish food processor.

I have the Gaggia Gelatiera with built-in freezer. What I love about it is that you can make ice cream with no planning ahead; just 5 minutes pre-chilling and you're in business.

Also, I have found some varieties of ice-cream, notably chocolate, are firm enough to serve straight from the machine which is quite a nice party-piece when you have company. However, most varieties are a little too soft to serve directly from it and benefit from a couple of hours freezing after churning. Any ice-cream containing alcohol will need several hours in the freezer.

The downside to a machine with a built-in freezer is they tend to be large and don't take kindly to being moved. I keep mine on the counter all the time which is fine, since I use it all the time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate ice cream in my Gaggia pic

Mmmm, I'm going to Matt's....LOL

That said, I use the KA mixer attachment and like it a lot. Easy to clean, fast, etc. I always keep the bowl in the freezer since we have a large chest freezer in the pantry. No big deal.

So after much research I purchased the Whynter Sno machine. I think I read every review on the internet, but did come up with this pearl of information--this company apparently makes the ice cream makers for sale under other labels , and the Lello 4090 is eerily similar to the Whynter machine. I purchased from Quality Matters internet store and was very impressed with service, price and I got the machine the next day!

First impression is--WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Ha Ha I love ice cream, frozen yogurt and this machine is crazily simple to use and cleans up in a snap. At first I wanted to
hide it in a cupboard but instead decided to put in on the counter top. It's silver so it goes with my appliances and it's kind of attractive (although large.) I was afraid it would be really noisy (it's not--like a dishwasher running compared to the electric salt/ice machine which would wake the dead.)

I haven't had time to make a custard base but threw in some yogurt Kefir just to see if it worked. Yes, it works! In fact I am just amazed at how simply it does work--and I left the machine run a little longer than suggested and it came out like real ice cream--not soft serve.

I'm really glad I got a 2 quart model (I was used to a 4 quart salt/ice) anything smaller than 2 quart would be pretty small.

OK I'm really excited about this purchase and I can't imagine an ice cream machine that worked better (so glad I didn't shell out the $699 for the Musso lussino machine on amazon.)
Granted, I am a person who will go out for frozen yogurt almost daily. . . so I'm sure this purchase will pay for itself quickly. Highly recommended if you are an ice cream addict like myself.

That choc icecream looks realllly good :) I bought the cheapie Cuisinart that you can by for $50 at Bed Bath and Beyound/LNT. I don't use it much and knew I wouldn't but wanted for the few times a year I would make ice-cream. VERY pleased with the results and don't find that it's a hassle to keep the bowl in the freezer. Here's a picture of some raspberry sorbet I made a couple of weeks ago.

Williams Sonoma is carrying the cuisinart (freeze bowl style) and you get an extra free freezer bowl with it. I've heard cuisinart compressor one is very good.
I have found that with Cuisinart, you get a very good quality product for the price.

I also have the freeze bowl style Cuisinart with an extra bowl. One lives in the freezer in a plastic bag at all times so I never have to wait. The machine works great, easy to clean up, and small enough to store easily in the cabinet. I wish you could taste the peach sorbet with raspberry coulis that I made yesterday. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm really surprised on a forum where everyone has such upscale appliances most of you wrote in that you have gel cannisters. They actually begin defrosting the minute you take them out of the freezer. I tried the Cuisinart gel one and tried for one week to freeze it, it still sloshed around!

While we're on the subject...

Commercial ice creams (even the really good ones) use stabilizers such as Carrageenan to keep the ice cream smooth. I've never been able to find a way to purchase this for home use or to find out _how_ to use it for home use.

They actually begin defrosting the minute you take them out of the freezer. I tried the Cuisinart gel one and tried for one week to freeze it, it still sloshed around!

Mine makes a very slight sloshing sound when it is out of the freezer, but it's still plenty cold enough to churn ice cream in the 15-20 minutes that I have it running. It's like those blue icy first-aid gel packs - even though they soften up when you use them, they're darned cold.