Customer Reviews

Nostalgia CFF-884 Chocolate Fondue Fountain

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I was very excited when I purchased this product because I wanted to use this at my daughter's birthday party as a ceneterpiece. Needless to say, it was not what I had expected. This product had a very loud motor, it wobbled even when I leveled it, and it didn't keep melted chocolated warm at all. I was very disappointed. The bottom bowl could have been a little wider to catch the chocolate when you go to dip your strawberry. Maybe I got the lemon of the bunch, but I bought one made by Rival, and very happy with it.

I'd give it 3&Half starts for fun. i paid $46.95 elsewhere for this. we used it for my daughter's sleepover party and will probably use it for the holidays as well. easy to use. follow directions for melting chocolate with oil.. we needed to add a bit more to make it flow...It is a 2 person job to clean it up though as you need to pour out the excess chocolate after it cools....

I had high hopes for this product, knowing that of course it was inexpensive and not meant for a party of 300. I was very disappointed when I used it for the first time and discovered how extremely LOUD it was. My friends asked, "Can you turn that thing off?" It was a fun novelty and it did have the fountain appeal, but the motor (even in a large group) is too loud. I contacted the Helman Group who manufactures this item and they said that is just the way it is. Apparently, it's no lemon. I'm going to try the Rival next and return this one (hopefully).

I bought the fountain after seeing the commercial size one at a Wedding Extravaganza. We have used it for birthday parties and showers and it has always been the hit of the party. It is a must to be sure and level the little legs because it has to be level to work. I used a high grade of chocolate melted in the microwave. The instructions say to add vegetble oil to thin the chocolate. I did not do that and the chocolate was too thick. I melted more chocloate and mixed it with 1/2 cup canola oil and it worked great. We dipped marshmallows, pretzels, fresh pineapple chunks, strawberries, bananas, grapes and pound cake squares. The little teddy bear crackers are good for kids and the graham cracker sticks work great.

A relative originally gave us a Rival cff5 chocolate fountain as a gift and it works great and runs very quiet. So we thought we would buy another to do cheese so we bought the Nostalgic Electrics brand chocolate fountain on an online auction. what a mistake! The Nostalgic cost about the same as the Rival but is very noisy and holds far less chocolate. The Rival fountain has a removable bowl and is much easier to clean. I would say that with the noise the Nostalgic brand makes when it runs it is defective right from the manufacturer. We are trying to get rid of the Nostalgic fountain now. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of it.

We used ours for the first time in February, during the Olympics. We had some friends over for a viewing party and decided against putting it in the TV room with us. It is just way too loud. I've sort of lost my enthusiasm for using it now. The Rival one I just noticed said it has a "whisper quiet" motor. Truly? I may have to check that out. I'd recommend not getting the Nostalgia one, if you like to be able to hear your guests and background music.

I bought this fountain when I first had seen it on TV. I wanted a commercial fountain but couldn't justify spending so much money on one. I have enjoyed having it at showers, birthday and cookouts. The Key to melted chocolate is not to heat it over 104- 113 degrees anything higher and it will burn. I use merkens chocolate melts for melting and molding chocolate. It takes only a small amount of MELTED CRISCO to get it thin enough. Merkens chocolate can be bought at any cake decorating supply store. You can also use chocolate from AC Moore or Michael's Crafts. You will find that it melts much better than chocolate chips! I have also used it for cheese fondue. Make a cheese sauce starting with white sauce and it works great!
The only reason I didn't give it 5 starts is because you have to be careful when cleaning not to get the bottom wet.
Other than that I say EAT CHOCOLATE EVERY DAY!

I was given the Nostalgia fondue fountain last year for Christmas and just used it for the first time the other day (almost a year later) I was really worried about the operation of the machine, since the instructions list pages of things that "can go wrong" and what not to do! Now the machine is on the noisy side but I was fairly happy at the way the machine worked. I didn't have the bad balance problem that some others complain about. This machine is a little difficult to clean, but extremely easy to put together. I got online and found a great chocolate recipe that has you adding 3 bags of assorted choc. chips. (I used, semi-sweet, milk chocolate, and 60% cocoa chips) it's a nice balance of flavor. I put them in a gallon size ziplock with 1/3 cup oil. Cook on high in the microwave for 4 min. When done be sure to use your hands to blend the chips together by squeezing the bag. When the chips are all disolved and blended then cut the corner of the ziplock and squeeze into pre-heated fondue fountain. The chocolate favor is a huge hit and the microwave method for the chocolate makes for a very easy cleanup that's fool proof. My last complaint with the machine is that the cord is very short so in most cases if you are putting this on your dinner table you would need an extension cord to be able to plug it in. Not a bad starter machine for the price.

Dont waste your money on this garbage. We recently saw the fountain at a demo at a local store. It looked like it worked beautifully in the store.We bought one and broght it to a party with all the chocolate and food. This thing was a flop! IT is very loud, which I would have overlooked if it worked well. However, the thing wobbles so much you can not get it steady!We tried to level it with the buttons on the bottom, It never worked correctly. I returned it and bought the Rival Chocolate fountain which worked MUCH better and was much sturdier, and the same price.This one was a hunk o junk! Save yourself the trip to the stores and the heartache of a dessert that fails and Dont buy it.

This product is great if you boil your chocolate and add A LOT of oil to thin the chocolate. It's a good product but I was disappointed to find that the unit doesn't keep the chocolate warm while it's circulating through.