I have it and it does work well IF the base is very very chilled before you place it in the frozen unit. Also you can't have a warm kitchen. So in Summer, when you usually want to make icecream, you need to find a place in your kitchen that is quite cool. The unit/bucket thaws out pretty quickly. You then take the icecream and place it in the freezer to cure. You can also eat it immediately as soft serve. I got mine free with my mixer as a bonus on Mother's Day during a sale a few years ago. I wouldn't have spent the $100 they were asking otherwise. If you really plan on making much icecream you need to get a real freezer. c

I don't have the 2 quart, I have the smaller cuisinart that is linked in a prior post. It takes about half an hour to make ice cream and I didn't find it that noisy but my kitchen is separate from my living room and so I can watch television while the dryer, the dishwasher or the ice cream machine are running in the kitchen and I don't notice. I seldom use it, but the grandkids love to make their own ice cream, so I've made half a dozen batches, maybe. It works fine. Annie

Cathy, I have just one word for you... ENABLER! You bad bad girl! Guess what followed me home from Aldi this morning? Yep, this ice cream maker. I was given a lovely brown vintage Waring years ago by a friend when she moved (the same one that is staying with me now actually), but the lid cracked and I had to make an ugly repair with something called plastic surgery. It also requires lots of ice and salt and that's just too much to mess with, and I hate buying that stuff every time I want to make ice cream! I never use the thing because of that! I've long wanted one with the freezable container... ever since the Cuisinarts first came out. I debated hard about buying this, but went back in after buying and loading groceries into the car... I just couldn't resist for 20 dollars. I thought about waiting, but I know Aldi.... once they are gone, they are gone, and may never come back. I plugged it in to hear the motor, and it doesn't seem very powerful, but maybe it doesn't need to be. I love the ingredient fill hole... just hope cat hair doesn't fly in when I'm making ice cream! I'll report back after I use it. Thanks Cathy!

I have a wolfgang puck ice cream maker that has a built in compressor. I love it. I bought if off of ebay and it was cheaper than buying the cuisinart model that had the compressor. One word of caution. They are quite heavy and really shouldn't be moved around very much, especially not tipped or tilted. If that happens you have to wait a day or two, for the machine to stabilize before using. Other than that it works great, and you can continuously make ice cream in it. Claire de luna, I found this article online and saved it. The poster claims that it's not the cooking process but the eggs that affect the ice cream. The woman's ice creams are supposed to be amazing. I am going to try this the next time I make ice cream. I am making an olive oil basil ice cream for work with a strawberry balsamic glaze for the topping. (its a contest we have monthly). Anyways here's the post I saved. "We followed the recipe for her vanilla bean ice cream, adding some chopped flakes of dark chocolate while churning. Here are our thoughts: The texture of this ice cream was amazing!! It was soft, rich, and creamy. Where our eggless ice creams are usually icy and hard, this was incredibly soft and velvety. The process of simmering down the cream and whisking in a little cornstarch was much easier and faster than our usual custard process. We did overcook the cornstarch a bit; you can see how thick our "pudding" was. This gave the ice cream a little too much flavor of cornstarch. But this wasn't too noticeable; our taste testers raved over it. The addition of cream cheese for scoopability and softness is brilliant; it gives the ice cream just a slight tang, but not a noticeable flavor. It does seem to affect softness a lot. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream Recipe by Jeni Britton This exceptionally creamy ice cream relies on two unexpected ingredients: cornstarch (to help thicken it) and cream cheese (to make it more scoopable). 2 cups whole milk 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 1/2 ounces cream cheese, softened (3 tablespoons) 1 1/4 cups heavy cream 2/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt Directions Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch. In another large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. In a large saucepan, combine the remaining milk with the heavy cream, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean and seeds. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and cook over moderate heat until the sugar dissolves and the vanilla flavors the milk, about 4 minutes. Off the heat, gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Return to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until the mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the salt. Set the bowl in the ice water bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes. Strain the ice cream base into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions. Pack the ice cream into a plastic container. Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the ice cream and close with an airtight lid. Freeze the vanilla ice cream until firm, about 4 hours. " Shelley S.