Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional ICE100 review

• Available from Lakeland (£249.99), John Lewis (£249.99)

Read our full guide to the best ice cream makers

What was the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional like to use?

Putting this ice cream maker together is super simple thanks to useful guides embossed onto the side of the ice cream bowl and the comprehensive manual. The main bowl slots into place with a satisfying click, as do the ice cream paddles.

The control panel is uncomplicated; there’s a digital timer that can be programmed to run for 10-60 minutes in one-minute increments and the countdown timer keeps you up to date with how long is left.

The main bowl has a 1.5-litre capacity which equates to one litre of ice cream/sorbet/gelato base. To get you started, Cuisinart features 15 recipes in the manual, including some delicious sounding ideas for frozen drinks.

One thing to be aware of is the mechanical whirring sound this ice cream maker makes. While no ice cream maker we tested is silent, the noise this one made is noticeable.

How did the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional perform?

We wanted to test this ice cream maker out using classic, unfussy recipes, so we whipped up olive’s vanilla ice cream recipe and attached the ice cream paddle. After 40 minutes of churning the ice cream was smooth, creamy and well aerated. It was a little firmer than soft-set ice cream, making it the perfect texture to serve immediately.

Next we made olive’s tropical and zesty mango sorbet. Like the ice cream, it was ready to serve straight away thanks to its firm-set texture. The sorbet was luxurious and smooth, with a bright and fresh flavour.

We swapped in the gelato paddle and prepped a batch of olive’s chocolate and black pepper gelato. It froze fairly quickly and was silkier than we could have imagined! There was a noticeable difference in texture compared to the ice cream: whilst the ice cream had a whipped, light texture, our gelato was denser, but silky.

There was no build up of ice cream or gelato around the inside of the bowl and we were able to remove every last bit with a rubber spatula.

olive's take: should you buy the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional?

If you’re looking for an ice cream maker to take pride of place on the kitchen counter, the Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional is a great choice. It certainly lives up to its name as it consistently produces professional-quality results, whether you’re making ice cream, gelato or sorbet.

In modern, pared-back or simply designed kitchens it’ll fit right in, but even if that isn’t your style, it’s not too heavy, so is easy to move from storage to counter when it’s time to use.

Cuisinart Ice Cream and Gelato Professional specifications

Bowl capacity: 1.5-litre
Accessories: gelato paddle
Pre-set functions: none
Dimensions (cm): H:30 x W:24 x D: 42
Colours: silver

Related recipes

Vanilla ice cream with warm chocolate sauce
Brown butter ice cream
Roasted banana caramel swirl ice cream
Maple honeycomb ice cream
Chocolate and black pepper gelato
Pecan praline ice cream
Peach melba ice cream
Bitter chocolate ice cream
Peanut butter and salted caramel ice cream

This review was last updated in May 2021. If you have any questions, suggestions for future reviews or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at oliveweb@immediate.co.uk.