Customer Reviews

Lello 4090 Gelato Pro Quart Ice Cream Maker

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The machine worked fairly nicely for awhile--nothing particularly special about the texture of the ice cream or the ease of use. And then it just plain stopped working, about four months after we bought it. We called Amazon and they said after 90 days we had to go to the distributor. We called the distributor who said no, we had to go to the manufacturer. We called the manufacturer who said we had to send it in at our own expense. We did. They called and said the model number was wrong on the invoice. We tried to get a new invoice. We called them back to say we were working on it. The number was disconnected. There was no new number and no listing. We called Amazon. They called the number they have for the manufacturer and said that number is also disconnected. They don't hold out much hope that we will find our machine. So now we are out the 399 or whatever the machine cost plus the 65 bucks for the shipping and have nothing. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT!!

I have been making ice cream in a Cuisinart macine for years but I wanted to regain my freezer space from the 2 canisters I had to keep ready.. I also wanted to make good gelato since I can't go to Italy all the time. This machine delivers the real experience for both. It also can chill wine in just a few minutes. I had first bought the Lussino 4080 by Musso at about twice the price. It was terrible. Too soft right out of the machine and full of ice crystals when put in the freezer for any amount of time. It didn't get firm, it became a rock. I returned it and got the Lello Gelato Pro instead. It is quieter, has a washable bowl, weighs much less and makes a larger amount of ice cream. It's no contest. This machine is great

For a long time, I've had your run of the mill cuisinart ice cream maker with the bowl you had to put in the freezer overnight. I don't know about other people, but I don't know 24 hours in advance that I want to make ice cream. So I wound up not using it as much as I would have liked. Furthermore, I don't have a large freezer, so keeping it in there on a constant basis was not a good option.

After coming into some extra money, I decided to take the plunge and invest some money into a higher end ice cream maker. My wife thinks I'm excessive with researching before buying, but I believe that the time you put into that will let you make a better decision on what is the best product out there.

My original thought was to get the Musso. It's a nice looking machine (Stainless steel), and it received mostly good reivews. The downside is the machine is very large. I didn't want something that large in my kitchen.

I then came across the Lello Gelato Pro 4090. This machine seemed to be very favorable amongst the poeple who had already purchased it. Another plus for me was the fact that the bucket was removable (that makes for very easy cleaning!)

My machine arrived earlier this week, and came with a nice starter recipe book for ice cream. I decided to go for the most basic recipe so I could get an honest feel for the machine and the ice cream it made. So I went for the age old favorite, Vanilla.

After mixing the ingredients, nothing was more simple than pouring it into the bown and starting the machine (You can refrigerate the ingredints after cooking them to speed up the freezing process, but I had extra time on my hands). To my pleasant suprize the machine was easy to use, and not very loud at all. Granted, it would be hard to have people in the kitchen and not be distracted by the noise the machine generates, but I found once I walked out of the kitchen, it was barely audible. (Very impressed!).

I set the timer for 60 minutes (keep in mind, my ingredients went into the bucket hot), and simply walked away. When I came back I had a soft-serve type ice cream. I let the machine go a little longer,and it had a very nice consistancy.

When I taste tested the ice cream I was very suprised. I'm a firm believer that making food from scratch will always beat store-bought food (I make my own pizza, pasta, bread, cakes, and now ice cream). This plain, no frills vanilla ice cream tasted excellent! I'm now exited to move on to more complex recipies!

Right now I really have no complaints about this machine. I like the look of it, the way it operates, the fact that its not overly loud, and the ice cream it makes. Granted, it's heavy (41 lbs) but what do you expect from a machine than has it's own cooling system built into it.

I highly suggest this machine to anyone that want's a good solid ice cream maker, that is not overly expensive, or large, and does what it's made for, making good ice cream.

We all read these reviews and half believe them...but...I hope the people serious about a superior product will listen..I purchased the Simac from Italy (not Amazon) it burned out and failed after 4 mo..a 600.00 machine..absolute h--- and back to get a small refund and warranty service- finally just gace up...be careful who you buy from...went without a machine for over 3 mo as I didn't want to get burned again by poor service -had already wasted hundreds- didn't want to spend another 600.00 although the Musso looked tempting I wouldn't be able to remove the bowl...couldn't stand that..and wanted a better than good quality nachine under around 300......soo...got my courage up and ordered the Lello pro..let me tell you..fast delivery great price and the quality of the ice cream is exactly the same as the Simac..the machine is much user friendly- the bowl has a handle that lifts out important for arthritic people and the buttons are easy to use and see..the noise is about med- I keep mine in a utility room so that it is always set up and ready to go- I chill ing first right in the bucket so it is cold too and I get hard serve..not soft smushy serve...hard serve in 30 min..perfect consistency and perfect machine...will be my favorite for years to come!!!! But something I totally learned is buy from Amazon then if there is an issue...they will deal with it for you...very very satisfied!!!

Not only is this machine convenient, it also stirs a bit more air into the mixture than my Donvier (freezer bowl type) ice cream maker, which makes its consistency when fully frozen more scoopable and palatable. Commercial ice cream makers are actually required to stir in a certain percentage of air. It's called overrun. And since the Gelato Pro can freeze more of the moisture in the mixture if you wait, the ice crystals when completely frozen are smaller. So yes, it makes better product more conveniently. But I can't say it's faster at freezing than my freezer bowl maker.

The reviews here can be confusing about how fast the machine is. Various people make offhand comments about times without saying how much of what they were freezing, whether the mixture was pre-chilled and whether the machine was pre-chilled. Here's my experience: For one quart of a custard-based chocolate gelato, (4 egg yokes, 2 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of heavy cream and a cup of sugar) where the mixture was pre-chilled to 42° in the refrigerator and the machine was starting up from room temperature, the mixture appeared thick enough to take out at 45 minutes, and it was. But it was only a little harder than the batches I used to get from the freezer bowl maker. For one quart of a "Philadelphia style" ice cream (one and a half cups of milk, one and a half cups of heavy cream, 3/4 cup of sugar) again pre-chilled to 42°F, I decided to wait for more thorough freezing. At 55 minutes the mixture was turning almost as one mass at the same speed as the stirrer. It wasn't actually rock solid, but when I took off the cover and pulled up on the stirrer, it did very convincingly lift the ice cream and the container out of the machine with it. Now that's more like it!! Note, I later found that if I pre-chilled the machine by turning on its compressor 10 or 15 minutes before using it, that took about 10 minutes off the freezing time.

Technical Note: It can make you impatient to watch the process, because we're inclined to think that once freezing starts the whole mixture should "kick" over to frozen quickly. Not so. Freezing is gradual for some good reasons. First, it's a physics fact that when a quantity of water is cooled to exactly 32°F, there is still a lot more thermal energy that has to be removed to convert it to 32° ice. Almost as much as it takes to cool it from boiling down to 32°F. Plus, the rate of energy transfer slows down as the temperature difference between the chiller and the mixture gets smaller. Plus, you're putting mechanical energy into the mixture by stirring it, and that changes to thermal energy (which is why stirring ice cream in a bowl with your spoon softens it). Plus, there is less contact between the partially frozen stirred mixture and the chilled wall of the container. Yikes, let's just be grateful that it ever freezes!

Anyway, the machine has a nice look, with fit and finish suggesting quality. Cleaning is extremely easy. The compressor is very quiet. Most of the noise comes from the gearbox that makes the stirrer so strong. It's not so loud that I couldn't easily converse with a guest next to it, but we would probably choose to talk somewhere else. It's capable of freezing deserts to a high degree of hardness, but figure on an hour for a quart of chilled mixture, not 45 minutes unless you want soft serve. Again, pre-chilling the machine during preparations will shorten the time a bit. Two quarts would be longer, but not twice as long.

By the way, drizzling melted dark chocolate into a stirring vanilla ice cream or gelato batch during the last several minutes of freezing gives something far superior to conventional chocolate chip ice cream. The chocolate doesn't blend in, it freezes into strands and other random shapes and sizes that make for a very pleasing feel. Italians call this strachiatella. For a quart, use about 4 ounces of melted sweet dark chocolate with a teaspoon of vegetable oil added. Melted chocolate chips (2/3 to 3/4 cup) give a delicious result, but you need to add 3 tablespoons of butter in addition to the oil to make it flow. I make a squeeze bag by cutting one corner off a sandwich size zip lock bag and tuck it in to the Gelato Pro's cover slot.

Bottom line, if you have taken the time to read this long review you probably care enough to get this machine. I recommend it.

I have been looking for a GOOD ice cream freezer for years. Not since the wooden hand crank, pack with ice and salt, fold a couple of rugs place kid on top, and crank until you almost die freezers, have I had good home made ice cream. UNTIL, Today!!! This Machine is awesome!!!! I started off with a slow to freeze recipe to start off with and to test the machine "Vanilla Ice Milk" to my delight and not to mention my wife and kids it was ready to eat frozen "solid" stiff. With VERY FINE ice crystals in the skim milk. For those who don't know Ice Milk is 100% fat free. Today my daughter wanted "Cake Batter Ice Cream", I had never heard of it but my daughter said it was at Cold Stones. I made up my own recipe on the spot and froze it and it froze "solid" stiff to the point the blade stopped this time in about 22 minutes. My daughter LOVED it, I have no idea of what Cold Stones ice cream tasted like but my daughter was happy with mine. I'm sold on this machine.

This is my first ice cream maker and I could not be happier with it. It is simple to operate, pretty quiet when running (I stick it in the corner of the kitchen and it is not at all intrusive), and makes fantastic ice cream. I have had it for about 6 weeks and have made at least a dozen batches of various frozen treats.

I have tried ice milk, slushies, ice cream, and frozen custard. Everything has come out good (except for the ice milk, but ice milk is just nasty!)

Some hints I have for users of this machine:
1. When making slushies, make sure you use non-diet drinks. I have found that if the liquid you are freezing does not have enough sugar in it, it will turn into an icy mess, frozen solid and not slushy at all. I was afraid that I damaged my dasher because it was so contorted while making one batch. I like using MUG root beer.
2. When making ice cream, don't churn it too long or you will start to make butter! I made a peach ice cream (which was delicious) and churned it too long and it had little tiny bits of butter in it.
3. I also like making making frozen pudding with it by getting the instant pudding and making it with fat free half and half (haven't tried regular milk yet). It is quite tasty and very easy. I have been making it with sugar free pudding and it is okay, but with sugar is better. One word of warning, it will freeze hard as a rock for the next day. One side benefit of that is it makes the BEST chocolate shakes. Next time I will divide the pudding into an ice tray and use the cubes with some milk to make easy shakes.
4. I like the custard recipes the best and make sure you strain your custard before you put it into the machine. I also chill mine in the fridge for a faster churn, and making it the day before makes it that much more convenient. I also use 1 quart of heavy whipping cream when I make it if I want a super rich and creamy product. I like to put it in the freezer for an hour or two to harden it up a bit because homemade ice cream melts in 3 seconds!

I highly recommend this machine. It is the highlight of a dinner party when we have fresh soft serve ice cream for dessert.

Thought this would be the perfect addition to my vacation rental home in Hawaii.

Invited family and friends over for Christmas and being Christmas I did not have all the proper fixings for the recipe but the machine made an excellent ice cream. Once I followed the directions more closely and made a good custard the ice cream was smooooth much smoother and creamier than store bought.

This is the larger 2 quart machine and it makes a large batch nice for a party of 6 or so ice cream eaters.

The machine comes with a craddle to rest the top motor on and the paddle is easy to place on the motor even after removing the motor to check consistancy. Cleaning is a breeze.

The machine is quite as can be expected. The time to make ice cream is about 35 to 40 minutes depending on the type custard and your desired consistancy.

The recipe book is very small and if you are new to cooking or ice cream making read it carefully. The book talks about a basic sugar syrup and only later in the book do they tell you the syrup is equal volumes sugar and water (pretty simple).

The machine does a great job when making nice tropical drinks and the book includes recipes for the drinks. I followed the recommended proportions only substituting Mango for the lime That was one powerful Margarita with a nice slush ice!

From a gadge fanatic: Highly recommend this product!

Bob

I have always wanted an ice cream maker that had a built in compressor. For the longest time I thought I would purchase a Musso Lussino but then I saw some reviews for the Lello Pro. At first I was concerned because the Lello was a few hundred dollars less than the Musso; thinking I would be getting an inferior product (equating cost with quality). But I am here to tell you that the Lello is superb in every way! I love, love, love it. It produces fantastic frozen custard and sorbet in under an hour. It probably would take closer to 30 minutes if I was patient enough to completely chill the mix before putting it inside the Lello...but I am impatient. Of course it produces more than frozen custard and sorbet but that is all I have made with it so far. The clean up of this machine and the ease of use is fantastic! You will not be sorry if you purchase this; trust me, I can be quite snooty when it comes to my kitchen appliances! I highly recommend this machine and all my neighbors LOVE the ice cream I make them!

Overall, this is a great machine. I like it better than the "frozen bowl" style of ice cream maker I was using before. It does take a bit longer to make the ice cream than the other one did, but it's less complicated. There is no freeze-bowl to be stored in the freezer, and if I want to make a second batch I just make it.

The consistancy is a bit dense, since it does not do as much vertical churning of the ice cream as some other models do. But I like a dense ice cream better than one that is all air, so that doesn't bother me. Even using items like chocolate chips, it does mix the ice cream uniformly, so no worries there.

So what don't I like about it? I don't really like the timer. It's a little bit fiddly and not especially useful. I don't like the tiny little port for adding ingredients to the ice cream. In fact, I never use it. I add all ingredients first (which was a no-no with the bowl-type ice cream maker). And I don't like that the churning paddle is hollow. It's impossible to clean out, so try not to spill anything in there.

Also, it's heavy. I took it over to my parent's house one time, and that was a bad idea. It's not really a portable device.

But it makes ice cream, and does it with less fuss overall than my freeze-bowl machine did. The ice cream is also ready to eat right out of the machine (if you dish it out it quickly and like it soft). Further freezing was necessary for the old machine, but it's only optional for this one.