Aroma AIC-204EM 4-Quart Wood-Barrel Ice-Cream Maker, Natural Wood

 (31 customer reviews)

I was actually searching for other customer reviews in hopes of finding some helpful hints for this contraption. We purchased this product at Target about a year ago because we had relatives who had such good luck with their old fashioned crank-style ice cream churns. We liked the classic design and the electric mixing option. But we've had quite a bit of difficulty with this. The electric mixer seems to mix the cream too fast--often producing an almost "foamy" result. The crank method produces better results, but the crank mixing mechanism makes a lot of noise and doesn't work smoothly...and it takes a looong time for the ice cream to freeze (over 45 minutes for just a small batch--our salt/ice mixture tested 25 degrees). I was hoping I would find some positive reviews that would be helpful...but we bought a Cuisinart 2 qt. electric Ice Cream Maker tonight instead. :-( Anyone with positive experiences, please review as we'd be happy to dig this thing out and use it for...Read more

The electric motor broke down after 5 uses. Buy this only if you want a hand-crank!

What a huge disappointment. I bought one of these at a local store last week and returned it. It looks good. The aluminum container is relatively heavy gauge. The motor is simply not up to the task and the manual crank is poor. The motor stopped but the ice cream was still liquid.