Customer Reviews

VillaWare V5100 Classic Ice Cream & Gelato Maker, Electric

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've read all the reviews and will give you some real concrete reasons not to buy this. I didn't expect this product to do all of the work for me and I understand the reasoning behind some of the directions, such as cooling the mixture before pouring it into the freezing bowl (the bowl will thaw out if you don't!!!!!!!!)I received this and a Cuisinart ice cream maker as gifts at the same time. I decided to keep the VillaWare since I Knew they made industrial machines. I made three batches in my VillaWare, one ice cream, one non-dairy "ice cream" and one sorbet. I just kept thinking "Is this really how it should look?". I was following all of the directions (which aren't as big of a hassle as some would make them out to be!) and I ended up with mildly frozen slush which I had to put in the freezer to make it even remotely firm enough to eat. So, I broke out the Cuisinart that I was going to return and made the exact same sorbet recipe that I had made the previous day. Good thing I did, The Cuisinart batch was more frozen after 5 minutes than the VillaWare after 20 minutes. It produced a nice sorbet that was still soft but firm enough to eat right out of the freezing bowl. These machines operate under the exact same concept so from what I could tell the problem is this; The Villaware bowl doesn't seem to be quite as cold and the paddle that is supposed to scrape the frozen mixture from the side of the bowl isn't close enough to the bowl to scrape enough off to freeze the whole batch. The paddle on the Cuisinart sits right against the side of the bowl and allows the entire batch to freeze and be scraped off and mixed in.
I'll be returning the VillaWare now
Save yourself some time and hassle and buy a Cuisinart

This ice cream maker is advertised on other sites for 2 or 3 times as much. The price I paid was a great deal....but it wouldn't be if it didn't work. Well, I made a little spot in my FREEZER (not my refridgerator freezer) and left the bowl. I've decided that I will store in in the freezer to be ready at all times we LOVE ice cream. This machine did a great job in little time and with virtually no effort on my part. I made the "soft" icecream but there was about 1 cup left in the freezer bowl. By the time the dishes were done,this was frozen into hard ice cream.We packed it into a container, but my husband couldn't resist and ate that too so I don't know how it keeps.
I made some delicious lower fat,lower sugar pistachio ice cream yesterday as we ate dinner. By the time we were finished,dessert was ready and it was delicious. I'll give you my recipe as it might help some that are having problems.
3/4 cup skim milk ricotta cheese
2 1/4 cups 2% milk
1 4 serving package of sugar free pistachio instant pudding
1/4 cup corn syrup
all ingredients EXCEPT pudding mix in blender, blend 30 sec, pour into freezer bowl, mix in pudding mix with rubber spatula, insert paddle turn on for soft, eat dinner. In 25-30 minutes enjoy dessert.
Sorry to see so many folks are having problems, but MOST refrigerator freezers don't get as cold as folks think they do. Put a thermometer in and if it isn't at least 20 degrees or colder, not only won't you be able to use this type of ice cream maker easily, the higher temperature could be dangerous to long term storage of your frozen food .

My husband bought me this ice cream maker as an anniversary gift (since I had been wanting one for years). No doubt this machine looks great. However, I tried it out, followed the instructions to a T (including freezing the canister for 3 days, JUST to be sure), and after the time was up, I had soup. I let it run for another 15-20 mintues, and covered the opening at the top to try to trap in the cold air. Now I had a semi-slush, but still no ice cream. I froze the whole mixture in the freezer to finally get it at least semi-hard. Then I checked out the reviews online. Many agreed with my experience, and a glance at the reviews for the Cuisinart Ice Cream maker were much more encouraging. So, my husband and I went out and bought the Cuisinart to see if that was any better. In one final ditch effort to salvage the Villaware (since I really did like the look of it better, and that was the one that was my official anniversary gift), I did a test with two batches of the same recipe, one in the Villaware, and one in the Cuisinart, and ran them both side by side. After 20 minutes, my Villaware batch was still soup (though to be fair, when I scraped out the filling a VERY thin layer at the bottom and sides actually resembled ice cream), while I had great ice cream (soft-serve consistency) in the Cuisinart. I dumped the Villaware filling in the Cuisinart to finish it off and wound up with a double batch of yummy ice cream.

BOTTOM LINE: Don't buy this machine. Even if it DID work as it advertises (which it doesn't), the Cuisinart works better and takes even less time. You'll have ice cream ready to eat in 20-25 minutes (plus the amount of time it takes to prepare the mixture, that is).

I got the slush-like result for my first try then I put the ice cream mix in freezer for 30 minutes for second try before I run the machine. It gives you thin ice layered ice cream mix then I run the ice cream machine with this mix. This simple additional process gives the perfect result! So don't forget to put your ice cream mix into freezer for 30 minutes or so in order to keep the temperature of ice cream mix to freezing level.

I got this thing about a week ago, and so far, I'm happy with it.

It makes excellent ice cream. I didn't use the recipe they have in the manual, I used the one that they made on Food Network's "Good Eats" and it came out perfect. The trick (well, not really a trick, it's very well documented in the manual) is make sure the bowl is very well frozen, and the mixture is very well refrigerated. After the 30 minutes or so in the machine, I put it in one of those 1 quart plastic chinese take-out soup containers, freeze overnight, and it's done. Sure, it's easier to go out and buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's, but that's not the point.

The reason it didn't get the full five stars is becuase I have yet to produce a decent sorbet. My first attempt resulted in a product that resembled a half frozen lime slurpee. This was probably due to not freezing the bowl enough the first time. The second attempt resulted in practically an ice block of apple juice. I'm sure there's a trick to it I have not yet grasped.

All in all, you can produce a fine ice cream if you have a little patience and time. Making sorbet leaves a bit to be desired, but I'm willing to say it's probably my fault at this point.

I just purchased the VillaWare 5100 ice cream maker. Like most inexpensive appliances, I realize I'm not getting a commercial unit. I realize I may have to get creative to get gourmet ice cream. It sounds like people here have too high expectations, or they just think they can get something for nothing. I certainly didn't let their negativity influence my decision to purchase this unit, even though I know I'll have to actually spend some time learning how to get ice cream to turn out how I like to eat it. That's just part of the fun of being in the kitchen.

As for the freezing process... did anyone watch the Iron Chef America battle with Wolfgang Puck? His pastry chef made ice cream using a commercial unit, then put the soft ice cream into a commercial BLAST FREEZER (blowing -20 degree air) to harden it. So even with the best equipment, you've still got to harden the mixture!

Finally, I'm proud to say I own several items from VillaWare, including a pizzelle baker and a waffle iron. Both are amazing units for the money.

In this age of either cheaply made and bargain sold applicanes, its very refreshing to find a company and a product that is solidly made, well functioning, and reasonably priced. If your counter is not already cluttered with applicances, you might consider leaving this one on display, as it is beautiful. Of course, to be ready to make ice cream at a moment's notice, the freezable bowl needs to be kept frozen. I had a couple of false starts--the bowl needs to freeze long and hard, at least a long overnight, and be kept in the back of the freezer near the vents. The first two times I made ice cream, it did not freeze. The colder the freezer, the better. Ideally, ice cream gets down to about 29 degrees as you are making it, then colder when you store it in the freezer. Using a cooks thermomiter, I was seeing it get down right to around 31-32, perhaps I didn't wait long enough, but perhaps this is a result of my freezer. It is wonderfully simple to make ice cream or frozen yougurt. In 5 minutes last night I pulled the bowl from the freezer, dumped in a half container of plain yogurt, a few tablespoons of jam, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and set it to work. In 20 minutes it was done, and this morning as I write this I am eating some delicious frozen apricot yogurt. I would say that the most redeeming feature of this maker is that you don't have to fuddle with ice and salt and the briny water that can spill all over. Have fun!

Well, if some dodo told you what ingredients go into making an icecream, chances are you'll say, Milk, cream, sugar, essence to start with. well my friends, its not that easy. i learnt the hard way. I don't blame this machine for it coz it tried its best. here are the words of the wise for you:
1. Freeze that damn container for 8 hours.
2. Make sure the ingredients are at refrigeration temperature, not room coz it may not gell well
3. You need a good stabilizing agent. Most recipes I found used eggs I can bear eggs in cakes, omlettes but not icecreams.
3. Try Guar Gum powder available at your healthfood shop. just a pinch or two is enough. and yes, it is not digested by the body and is purely vegetable extract.
4. might want to add dry milk powder or something to thicken the milk if you want to go lowfat. Try a tablespoon or two of corn starch (not corn flour) or arrowroot powder.
5. How dumb of me, i wrote down my secrets whereas I could actually made money by writing a book on this and then selling on Amazon to folks who read this for free in the first place :-(
6. Good luck. Yeah, you need that to hold your impatience.
7. It may not turn out to be as hard as a Baskin robbins but not as sloppy as a dairy queen either. if you freeze the icecream, do it in another container coz the motor is not powerful enough to rotate the thing if the ingredients become denser.
8. Okay, the info above seems okay coz i used it and am still alive but if something happens to you, hey, don't blame me!! Hey, relax, icecream never killed anyone....

I used this machine for exactly two batches of ice cream, and actually i thought the ice cream was quite good. Upon freezing the bowl for a 3rd time, I came back 8 hours later to see that it had busted and spread its innards all over my freezer. I called VillaWare and they said that would send a replacement part upon receipt of my broken unit. That was over 5 months ago, and customer service says they're still working on my order. My recommendation is to either go with a higher end machine, or stick to the grocery store.

I've read the negative reviews and respectfully must disagree. I followed the directions and made acceptable home made ice cream. However, It took a lot longer than 30 minutes as given in the recipe book included with the product. One batch required 90 minutes, the bowl was still transferring heat, the longer it ran the thicker the ice cream became. After that time you will need to put the completed ice cream in a quart plastic container and then finish in the freezer for about 4-hours. It's key to cool the ingredients to a low temperature before putting the mix in the machine. I believe this to be a good value for the price paid and the product met my expectations.