Leaving behind the nightmare of the KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment
We are very, very big ice cream fans – I mean, we have a whole series on our Youtube channel on making ice creams! Our ice cream making adventure started with a KitchenAid Ice Cream attachment and the quality was always hit or miss. We had to wake up early to churn, otherwise if we waited until the afternoon, the house would be too warm and the ice cream would never solidify.
Essentially, the KitchenAid Ice Cream attachment bowl is just an ice pack and even if we kept it in the freezer for more than 24 hours, it melted so quickly we could rarely get our ice creams to that “soft serve” consistency which signifies the completion of a churn. Things might look promising the first 10 minutes, but then turn into ice cream soup. To combat this, we had to churn in batches of literally 1-1.5 cup of base at a time, with breaks in-between to refreeze the bowl… such a hassle!
Enter the Whynter Ice Cream Maker! Just before the summer began, we ditched our KitchenAid attachment for this bad boy. A legit stainless steel bowled ice cream maker with a compressor that keeps the churn super cold to the end. The best part: we don’t ever have to pre-freeze another damn bowl again! No need to plan ahead and wait overnight. Now, once your base is chilled, you can churn anytime!
This powerful little sucker has all the bells and whistles; like a nice LCD screen with an audible timer to let you know when your churn is finished. There are 3 modes: ice cream, cooling only, and mixing only. We chose the upright version and it only takes up a small space on our kitchen counter (12.5” W x 10.75” D x 14.25” H), comparable to the KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The Whynter Ice Cream Maker temperature ranges from -0.4F to -31F and has a capacity of 2.1 quarts/2 liters. Keep in mind, that’s 2.1 quarts of churned ice cream: you’ll typically pour only half or less liquid base into the bowl because ice cream usually doubles or even triples in size. For other technical specs, check out their website.
Things We Love About It:
- No pre-freezing a bowl
- Compact size & shape
- No longer constrained by temperature of the environment
- Easy to clean
- Despite its modest capacity, churning multiple batches (or different flavors) one right after another is possible
Things That We Didn’t Love:
- High price tag
- Slightly heavy machine, almost 25 lbs, but not inconvenient to move
- The 2 quart capacity is typical of high-end home ice cream makers and is perfect if you’re just making a pint or 2 for yourself. However, if you want to make bigger batches, it will become a slight hassle since you’ll need to clean and wipe down the bowl and paddle between each churn session.
Is the ICM-201SB Whynter 2.1 Quart Upright Ice Cream Maker Worth it?
The Whynter 2.1 Quart Upright Ice Cream Maker costs us a pretty $578.88 (now $324.55 on Amazon, thanks Mike!), which is an investment for the home cook or amateur ice cream maker. You could opt for the smaller 1.6 Quart capacity machine that is not upright, but we preferred the compactness of the Upright and we figured if we were doing this, we’d do it. When you consider the cost of gourmet or premium ice creams selling at anywhere from $8-13/pint, the cost of buying tasty and wholesome ice cream quickly adds up. And because of ice cream’s fragile state, you’re rarely going to find ice cream without the extra stabilizers or additives. So, you learn to make your own!
While you could opt to get the $80 KitchenAid ice cream attachment (assuming you already have a KitchenAid, which costs about $380), it was just too inconsistent to be relied upon as a tool, and very plainly wasn’t even worth the money.
Our experience churning ice creams with the Whynter machine has been beyond 5 stars. We’re basically nitpicking at the things we think can be improved. There were days when we knocked out at least 3 different flavors of ice cream and some days when we made a total of 4+ gallons of ice cream and the machine took it like a champ. If you’re serious about making your own ice creams, we recommend the Whynter 2.1 Quart Upright Ice Cream Maker!
If you’re ready to start your own ice cream adventures, pick up your own Whynter Ice Cream Maker here and then check out some of our ice cream recipes here.
Your price is not correct, the actual price on amazon is about $325
Hi Mike! Thanks for that correction, I think, but can’t remember now, that might have been the original price we paid and that now the price has gone down. Appreciate your flagging the update!
How’s it holding up?
Hi Curious! The Whynter Ice Cream Maker is still going strong and working as it should. Granted we haven’t been using it as regularly as we were last summer, but we’ve churned a couple of things since and it’s still good.
I’m having a hard time determining when the ice cream is done in this model. It seems to form two giant balls around the paddle – does it do that for you as well? When I think the balls look somewhat formed, I add the mix-ins and the thing freezes up on me, so it’s clearly too far along (35 min only!) If I turn it off like they suggest, then the inside temp goes up very quickly and the ice cream starts to melt. Does anyone else have this problem?
Hi Jakmaw, thanks for your comment! It definitely sounds like you’ve gone too long. You want to stop churning well before any actual balls are formed. Think of it more similarly to whipping cream – you want to stop somewhere around medium peaks in the ice cream. We have a ton of videos on our Youtube, where you can skip to the end to see some shots of the churning for examples of when we stop: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcWB7UCoDxxxTUTYGbnOaf499E6Ho4R-x
It helps to be swift when packing the ice cream afterwards. Some other little tips – like work in a cool room or a cooler time of day. You can chill all the tools in the freezer/fridge before packing your ice cream. If your hands are too warm, you can also use a mitten to shield the ice cream from your warmth.
Otherwise, if your ice cream isn’t holding well, you can look into a variety of stabilizers. Best of luck and let us know how it goes!