Do not buy the Philips HR2304 Ice Cream Maker...

[bibliogirl]

for yea, verily, it is useless. Leaving aside the first one having turned up broken due to inadequate packaging on the supplier side, its replacement has just had its lid fail for the second time and thus will be returned with a note mentioning the phrase "not fit for purpose

Comments

[d_floorlandmine]

WSS.

My parents have had two ice-cream makers in their time ...

1) ... was of the frozen-bowl kind, and worked rather well. The beater is attached to the lid, the motor rotates the bowl. Worked rather well, until the motor eventually died, IIRC.

2) ... bought by my father, incorporated its' own freezer mechanism, and nothing needed to go into the freezer. Unfortunately, as a result, it was so heavy that my mum couldn't lift it down from the shelf it lived on, so it didn't really get used. Another fine sample of paternal purchasing.

[bibliogirl]

I've had a report from a friend of mine who had the frozen-bowl type that her bowl had to go upright in the freezer or the liquid within the innards of the bowl leaked out all over the place.

If I had the storage space for the has-its-own-freezer type I'd be there in a shot, but all of those seem to start at "big" (and indeed "expensive") and work up to "yes, of course I want to make 2 litres of icecream an hour" and "arm, leg and various internal organs" for price.

[d_floorlandmine]

It's possible it had to go upright - fortunately, they had an assortment of freezing alternatives before they moved.

And yes, my parents have somewhat different approaches to shopping. My mother will research the subject, draw up a list of required features, identify the options, then buy the cheapest one that she can find that has all those features and is from a reputable source. My dad goes out with a credit card and comes back a little while later with something that usually, in at least one way, isn't suitable. [grin]

[karohemd]

i_am_toast pointed out that her first effort of making ice cream by just mixing the ingredients, transferring them to a plastic box to freeze (stirring twice in between, IIRC) seemed to work perfectly. The result was lovely indeed, uniformly smooth (except for the deliberate nut chunks) and firm.
It might depend on the recipe/mix of ingredients, though.

[bibliogirl]

I've done that enough to be very bored of it; also our freezer freezes such icecream considerably firmer than one might want, which was the point of getting an icecream maker in the first place. (The last straw was the mint sorbet which required the application of a rolling pin to break it up, and this after being stirred two or three times during freezing ;))

[karohemd]

*nods* As I thought, "your mileage might vary".

[bibliogirl]

Wouldn't have bought it (or had it bought for me, though I chose it) in the first place otherwise, trust me.

[undyingking]

That's a shame, I had actually mentally noted that as being a potentially useful design variant.

[bibliogirl]

No, sadly, it just isn't man enough for the job. Or else frozen yogurt eats away at the mechanism; I have no idea.

Debating what to get as a replacement... one of the has-its-own-freezer types is oh so very tempting, but (a) about five times the price and (b) I don't have infinite storage space (quite).

[d_floorlandmine]

I don't have infinite storage space
You could always get an extension built? [grins and runs]

[undyingking]

Mm, that sort of thing will have to remain a distant lust item until we get the kitchen and laundry done!

[sweet_littl_sis]

While I'm genuinely sorry for your loss and everything... were you deliberately not going to tell me this?? :-p

[bibliogirl]

I figured you'd see the entry ;) (Also, there's still some of your previous batch left. Unless rotwang eats it all tonight, of course.)

[sweet_littl_sis]

Hmmm... chocolate cheesecake ice cream *drools*