these things are a pain in the rear. You have to waste a ton of freezer space to freeze the bowl and then make the ice cream to then freeze it for another day before you can use it again. Why can't they make peltier or some sort of electronic cooling ice cream makers? (that's in the consumer price range)
Well, first off, a peltier is only as effective as your ability to remove heat from the device. To freeze something with a peltier device, you'd need a massive actively cooled heatsink, because the efficiency of the device drops with an increase in the temperature differential. So the colder the cold side of the peltier gets, the more power it requires and the more heat it creates, and this increase accelerates for each additional degree of cooling load.
Secondly, at its best, a peltier device has about 20% the efficiency of a compressor refrigerator. Which is why they don't make any large-scale peltier devices to keep your food cold.
So instead of putting a special-use freezer in your ice cream maker, which would be heavy, loud, noisy, and prone to damage, they put a pack you can put in the big expensive freezer that you already own.
We have one and love it. We found a small plastic plate to use as a lid. We generally make a batch of vanilla ice cream, scoop out the contents, and throw the bowl (+lid) back in the freezer right away. That way, it's always frozen and ready to use.
Yes, we have been glad we got the larger (2qt) size. It has been great as entertainment for guests and children --- and you'd hate to run out of ice cream before everyone got a bowl! Plus, you can always make smaller quantities. Those smaller batches just freeze faster, so your snack will be ready that much sooner.
Stores nicely on a shelf in the pantry. (I hate counter clutter as much as the next person...)
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
