Customer Reviews

Rival CFF5-CHP Chocolate Fountain

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Great product. Great for the holidays. I used candy melting chocolate instead of chocolate chips. I set up a big bowl of ice beside the fountain with a plate covered with wax paper in the middle of it. The kids dipped strawberries, pretzels, animal crackers, ritz bits and marshmallows and put them on the plate to harden. They loved doing this and after the chocolate hardened they used the plate to serve everyone.

The only problem was the cleanup of the fountain. I had to do this job and it was really messy.

I was a bit skeptical of how well this would work, but it was a huge hit at a party. The chocolate flow didn't look at full as in the photo, but nobody cared -- it tasted great, even with the vegetable oil that you have to add (2 cups of oil to 10 cups of chocolate chips). You do have to pre-melt the chips on the stovetop before you pour it into the fountain, but the fountain kept the chocolate melted and flowing for more than 4 hours. Nobody minded the taste of the vegetable oil, nor did anybody notice or ask. A popular topic of discussion during the party was "can this be cleaned?" but the cleanup was much easier than we expected. Sure you get chocolate on your hands when you disassemble it (yum!) but the parts hand washed easily in the sink (and they're dishwasher safe). Will we use this fountain every day? Of course not, it's for large parties and holidays. But, for $50, it compares well to renting a larger fountain that you'd only use once. I can recommend this. The only reason I give it 4 stars was that the chocolate flow was not as pictured. The manual says if the flow doesn't look like the box "add more chocolate or more oil". That sort of trial and error isn't very helpful.

For what it's worth, it's a great product. As far as being disappointed by putting "oil in your chocolate", it's not the machine, IT'S THE CHOCOLATE, I'm in the process of buying and researching Choc. Fntns. you need to buy high end "baking" choc, with a higher cocoa content the darker the better, The chocolate makes the machine, not the other way around, If you buy one for $2000, and use grocery store choc. chips, you need to add oil to make it flow, buy Guittard's. Sephra, or Belgium. Bottom line, do your homework.

This was the most loved item at our recent party! Guests oohed and aahed at the sight of the smooth flowing chocolate, and gathered around to taste. We offered strawberries, banana slices, marshmallows, and thick pretzel sticks. We also had plenty of wooden kabob skewers since it only comes with 8 metal ones. I used 2 24oz bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips and added the amount of oil stated plus one tablespoon extra (I used Canola); while the motor heated, I microwaved the chips and oil in a pyrex dish, stirring a few times, and then poured it in. It flowed perfectly all night! The mess was minimal. Very stable, it is quiet and attractive, as well as fun! I wish that it did not require so much chocolate, or it would enjoy much more use. But I am so pleased to have bought this item, and it will be out for every party!

I needed a chocolate fountain for a friend's wedding that I was also attending as a guest - I wanted something big enough to serve around 100 guests, also quick and easy enough to set up in five minutes without stress or getting my dress covered in chocolate. I had never used a chocolate fountain before so I did my internet "homework" and ordered a CFF5 (actually received a CFF5-CHP). Manufacturer packaging could be improved, but distributor packaging was better. Set-up instructions were straightforward for the unit itself, and can be viewed ahead of time on the web. Most of the poor reviews I have read on any of the chocolate fountains relate not to the fountain itself, but the difficulty in using regular chocolate with oil - all the time and mess for melting, adding heaps of oil, etc.. Why bother ? We used liquid fountain chocolate from J&D Fine Foods and it was perfect, quick, no mess and tasted delicious. We added around 4lbs of liquid chocolate and set the fountain running - the chocolate flow was uneven so we added more (perhaps total 5lbs) and everything looked and worked wonderfully well for the next three hours. Set-up from empty fountain to perfectly flowing chocolate was actually five minutes - fantastic. Items for dipping included cantaloupe melon, strawberries, grapes, pineapple, marshmallows and cubes of pound cake. Disassembly was easy (don't forget plastic bags or similar to hold the chocolatey parts) and wash-up at home took only five minutes as well - again, no mess on the dress ! I would recommend this product, particularly with the liquid chocolate.

I ordered this chocolate fountain for my daughter's 16th Birthday party and it was an absolute hit!! I had it on for at least 4 hours and it did just fine. I prepared big bowls of strawberries, pineapple, pretzels and marshmallows and everything was gone by the end of the night - they had a lot of fun with it. I am already looking forward to use it at my next get together. Easy to assemble and to use. A little messy to clean but that would be with any chocolate fountain. The only thing I am not sure of is what to do with the left over chocolate.....

I was a bit apprehensive because of some of the negative reviews I read before I purchased this fountain, but I think the bad reviews came from people who possibly did not follow the chocolate recipe directions. I purchased the fountain for my daughter's baby shower and everyone LOVED it!! It was very easy to assemble, a little messy to take apart and clean up, but no big deal. The fountain is well worth the price. FOLLOW THE RECIPE and all will turn out well. I highly recommend this product!! Enjoy!

If I were to purchase another chocolate fountain I would spend more money and get a better quality one. I couldn't get an even cascade of chocolate, even though the fountain was perfectly level. The chocolate doesn't stay hot enough either. It only stays hot for a few minutes, then it stays at room temperature. I wouldn't recommend purchasing this unit.

I gave this chocolate fountain as a gift to my grandchildren and they loved it!!! However, we found out that it needed quite a lot of chocolate... a lot more than we anticipated. Thus it can't be used as much as we would've wanted to.

I bought this chocolate fountain for a 3rd grade class Valentine's Day Party. It was the talk of the whole school. The kids loved it. I used Sephra chocolate (a coupon was included), so I didn't have to mess with adding any oil. The chocolate fountain worked great and left quite an impression. The cascading, flowing, chocolate wasn't quite as perfect as the pictures on the box, but it probably would have if I would have added a teenie bit of oil, but the pure Sephra chocolate tasted devine. I also saved $25.00 by buying the CHP (champaigne color) version.