Customer Reviews

Nostalgia Electrics CFF-986 3-Tier Chocolate Fondue Fountain, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Length:: 2:53 Mins

See my video review for more details and see it run. Like many of you, I found reviews on both sides of the fence. I was really a little nervous getting this because our party was the day after it arrived and "what if it is does not work". Well, this things works great. We did NOT use expensive chocolate. My wife used the regular chocolate chips (24oz) and 3/4 cup of oil. Heated it in the microwave first, then stirred it up and poured it in the fountain base.

This is NOT a high dollar piece of equipment. The base is not a solid stainless steel base, but rather a very thin sheeting of some type wrapped around the plastic base. But come on, this thing was only $50. For the money it worked perfectly and it will likely provide good food entertainment at many other gatherings to come. I did not find clean up to be a big deal. Some folks made it seem like near impossible. I simply rinsed the pieces with hot water to get the bulk of the chocolate off and then washed them by hand. The pieces all fit together quickly and nicely as you see in the video.

I just can't see how anyone could give this a 1 star. If you get a lemon (and they certainly exist), then get a replacement. Someone mentioned that this product was a little loud. You can certainly hear it run (see video) but it just becomes part of the room noise when you get people in the room. When there are just two people standing there watching it run, you think, "wow, that is a little loud" but in any function where this would be used there will likely be quite a few people and they will be talking. They won't even notice the noise.

If you are in doubt, let me help you. Get one, you will be pleased. At least I was!

Okay, I guess this must be the "better" version of the Nostalgia line (mine is a CFF-980). I received mine as a gift for Christmas and wondered what everyone else thought about theirs. There were so many bad reviews (on other versions) that I began to get worried mine was a piece of junk too. I wanted to use it for a party next week and so I decided to pull it out and see how bad it really was.

I tried to use water so I didn't have to make a mess(a suggestion from another comment) and it didn't work. Nothing was coming out! I finally broke down and used the chocolate/oil mix. When I first turned it on, the auger clanked really loudly against the tower. I turned it off and checked to see if it was level and it was clearly un-level. After I leveled it properly, the chocolate flowed beautifully.

The clean-up was simple. I heard so many complaints that this thing is very hard to clean. I didn't find that to be true. I took the tower and auger off and soaked it in soapy water while i discarded the chocolate. I took a sponge and cleaned the tower and auger. I used the water sprayer on my sink to get inside the tower. I used a baking spatula to wipe most of the chocolate from the bowl. Then wiped it once with a paper towel and finished by using a soapy sponge. Cleaning the parts took less than 10 minutes (not including drying).

The only thing I suggest is to put a mat or towel under the fountain because dipping into it causes drops of chocolate to land on the table. Also, be sure to follow the instructions! The most important part of the entire thing is leveling it correctly. It took me about 10 minutes to level it properly.

The sound is not bad at all. It is much quieter than I was led to believe. It is quieter than any kitchen appliance I own. I don't even have anything to compare it to. It sounds like a fan blowing...that is the closest thing I can come too. I LOVE IT!

This was a big hit at our christmas party and will be a big hit during the new years party as well I am sure. This is an auger style fountain which has a switch for the auger and a switch for the heating element. The heating element does get the chocolate very warm and noticed that after about 4 hours of constant running, the chocolate was starting to thicken. We used "Ambrosia Real Milk Chocolate Coating" which we melted down in microwave and added vegetable oil so that it flowed better in fountain. 2 of the 3 foot pads are screw style adjustable so that you can level it out as needed. The tier's are made of durable plastic so should last for quite ahwile.

Tip: The inner section where the auger is placed is hard to clean with just a wash rag. Suggest buying a baby bottle brush. Also, this is placed on 3 plastic pegs which the holes for the pegs get filled with chocolate. Q-tips seemed to work well for cleaning these.

This fountain has trouble with thicker liquid chocolate. Eventually cloggs and stops running due to the fact that it's not strong enough, so make sure you use a fairly thin type of liquid chocolate.

This was bought for a grad party. The chocolate required a lot of corn syrup (had I read the directions properly and mixed it in early I would have known it). This required constant attention to get it to work properly but once the mixture was the proper proportion it was one of the most sought after deserts and really paid for itself. Cleanup and assembly are fairly easy. If it broke after the next 9 uses I would probably buy a similar one again just because of how well it worked the first time.

I bought one of this fountain to take to my country for my wedding. Chocolate fountains are practically unheard of where I come from so renting one was out of the question. It was so easy to run I gave it to the caterers and without instructions they had it running at the reception. It was such a big hit people were milling around the chocolate table dipping everything into the fountain...one of my guest ate so much chocolate that she got sick but that's a story for another time. If you buy this don't go cheap on the chocolate because I think half of the success came from the chocolate I bought, it ran smoothly and melted correctly without add ons...I heard horror stories about chocolate fountains gone wrong. Highly recommended!

I was worried about keeping the chocolate fountain running for a couple of hours because of the noise it would make but to my surprise... its really quiet! Loved it and it kept the chocolate at a perfect temp. Would definitely recommend. 2 big thumbs up!

I bought this item for a babyshower even though it did not work well at first as soon as the chocolate started to thin out more with the heat it was a good little deal. the key is ensuring that the item is level. if not you will not get the flow you want. make your chocolate is melted and add a little oil to the chocolate and you will be fine. big hit with everyone at the party. contrary to other reviews once chocolate started flowing you could not hear the motor at all.

This product arrived as if it were returned once before or was possibly a refurbished unit. It looked like chocolate residue wasn't cleaned off properly before being shipped to us. In addition, there are small dents along the metal base and the metal chocolate dish. Although disappointed, my husband and I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, mostly because we ordered this specifically for a Christmas party to host the following day. Unfortunately, giving it the benefit of the doubt was not the right choice because it stopped working shortly after turning it on. Quite a disappointment to us and our guests. Frankly, we looked and felt cheap. Yes, embarrassing indeed. We will be buying a more expensive and reliable one. This will be returned! As a final note, this product was not published as "used" or "refurbished" on the site. I'm not sure if that's appropriate or breaking some kind of rule. We should not be tricked into thinking we're buying a new product when it's obvious that's not the case here.

Used it today for Thanksgiving and it was perfect. We used Nestle morsels thinned slightly with vegetable oil and it a huge hit. I will post a video as soon as I upload it.