The very first thing to understand is the name "ice cream maker" is kind of a misnomer. It's really only part of the process. You won't be getting hard, scoopable ice cream out of it...you'll have to freeze it for 6 hours after churning, because ice cream makers make soft-serve (otherwise they paddle wouldn't be able to spin!). So it's important to realize that point of an ice cream machine is to churn the mix using a cold bowl, which chills the mix & adds air so you get a smooth & creamy result instead of ice crystals. Not only that, but if you plan on using eggs, there's a cooking & chilling process involved before you do the churning & freezing parts. Anyway, there are basically 3 types of automatic ice cream machines: (well, for under $350)
- Rock salt
- Freezer bowl
- Integrated chiller
The rock salt models are the cheapest, although you keep having to buy rock salt to use them (not expensive...like under ten bucks for a 50-pound bag), so there is a small ongoing operational cost (plus mess). However, they are the cheapest & largest. They come in manual or electric models; a 4-quart electric can be had for as little as $30 on Amazon and you can easily find 6-quart models, which is nice if you're making ice cream for a crowd. The freezer bowl models are the cheapest "hassle-free" units...you keep the bowl in the freezer for 24 hours (typically a 2L bowl), and then it's good for a batch (maybe two). Downside is that it eats up your freezer space. These can be had for around $100 or so. I have an ICE-30BC from Cuisinart (newer models are available). The ones with an integrated chiller are the most convenient, but also the most expensive. They typically come in 1.5L sizes, although the newer ones have large 2/2.1L bowls. They are also usually larger & noisier, but can be used immediately (no pre-freezing required) & do batch after batch. I learned how to make homemade ice cream by borrowing my friend's ICE100 chiller before I invested in my ICE30 freezer bowl unit.
You can also do a lot of different things with an ice cream maker: Slurpees, Frosties, soft-serve, custards, ice cream, froyo, etc. And even within the term "ice cream", there are tons of different styles of ice cream...premium, superpremium, farmstand, slow-churned, etc. The nice thing is that you can customize the ice cream's taste & texture to exactly what you want, with no added ingredients. You can also customize the mix-ins however you'd like.
Some good accessories:
I've automated my homemade ice cream process quite a bit this month. Here's a recipe for what is the equivalent of a light salted caramel vanilla ice cream:
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/so-how-was-your-day.2514245/page-2#post-39028723
I like making ice cream at home. I've been doing new flavors every week (s'mores this week!). Like anything else, you can just grab a pint out of the local grocery store, but it's not difficult to make at home on a regular basis, given the right tools, and you can use premium ingredients to give you exactly the dessert you want, which is pretty cool.
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