BELLA 13716 Ice Cream Maker, 1-Liter, Red

love it, works great

This is a neat machine. I got it as a gift and only used it like two times. I finally got a recipe that I knew would be successful so I pulled it out of storage to make some ice cream and before the 30 minutes were up, the paddle stopped rotating. I'd never seen that before, so I wondered if that happens when the ice cream freezes enough but it was still sorta liquid in the center. I pulled the paddle attachement out and removed it from the moter, but the gear was not turning even without a load. I decided, since it's long ago a gift and has no warranty, I would open up the motor and see if I could find the problem. Found the smallest gear, all of them are made of plastic, had broken clean in half! The little gear comes from the motor shaft and turns each bigger gear till it gets to the Paddle Gear. I tried to fix it with E6000, but it wasn't strong enough to keep the little gear from snapping in half again.Amazon Customer Service was really nice to look up the phone number of the Manufacterer, but when I called, it just hangs up. No voice mail, no automated voice directory, just hang up. They have no email.If I coudl just get a replacment gear then this thing will work like a dream. As is, it's just a big chilly ice bowl and a useless motor. Now that i know the gears are soft plastic, I don't want to spend $40 to replace it and have the same thing happen in a year again. I found a different phone number and left a message. Hopefully they get back to me soon next week.

I have to be honest, right??????? It WAS my experience that this machine is very basic.... it work(ed)s and that is all. Losing makes me cry and therefore two(2) stars! And now I KNOW, $30 is too much to pay for Bella.

works well

this product was supposed to come with instructions and recipes, it did not. i had to look up instructuions on line and when i did it did not work. the mixing rod did not really fit, it looked like it was for another machine. very bad experience. after running for 45 minutes, ice cream was never mad.. terrible product.

I feel compelled to write a review for this little thing based on the number of poor reviews it has. I've owned it for several years (bought it on Black Friday from a department store, not Amazon) and have made loads of phenomenal ice cream in it. The key thing is to make sure the bowl gets cold enough--while the booklet that comes with it says it should chill for a minimum of 12 hours, it should really be a minimum of 36 hours (and when I'm in an ice-cream-making mood, I just keep it in the freezer 24/7). You should also make sure your freezer is cold enough--if it's only just below freezing (~30 degrees F), it won't be cold enough no matter how long you freeze the bowl. Last, it's worth noting that when the ice cream is finished, it will be the consistency of soft-serve, and should be immediately transferred to a freezer-safe bowl and put in the freezer--after a few hours it'll harden into "real" ice cream. These are all things, however, that will be true of any ice cream maker of this type.Bottom line: I've been tremendously pleased with this ice cream maker since I bought it. I started with the chocolate ice cream recipe that came with it (it's great, for the record) and quickly moved on to making up my own flavors, which is the best part of homemade ice cream. The only time my ice cream has ever failed to freeze properly was the time I was too impatient to let the bowl freeze as long as it needed to. Unfortunately the directions aren't totally accurate or informative enough regarding freezing the bowl, which I think may be responsible for the number of bad reviews.

First, I should note that I have only used this once. I used a recipe published by a local creamery, and it came out perfectly. I have to imagine the negative reviewers either got a faulty product or made it incorrectly. I would echo what the other reviewer said about being sure to chill the mixture for at least 2 hours prior to using the ice cream maker. No ice cream maker can freeze a warm mixture.As far as noise, it makes less noise than my old maker. But the reason I really love this is that I no longer need to stockpile ice in order to make ice cream. I just pull it out of the freezer and go. It's also great that it has a hole in the top where you can drop in cookie crumbs, chocolate chips, or whatever you want to add without having to remove the lid or turn it off.

I was kind of worried because of all the bad reviews but if you read the directions it tells you you have to put it in the freezer for a while after you make it mine turned out perfect I made my last night and then put it in the freezer and a stainless steel bowl the colder it gets the more firm its gonna get mine turned out perfect I love it