Best Ice Cream Makers for Churning Tasty Frozen Treats at Home in 2026
Type of ice cream maker
There are a few basic types of ice cream makers.
There are a handful of types of ice cream makers.
Frozen Bowl Ice Machines are the most common and require the user to freeze the inner bowl. From there, the automatic churning paddles or a rotating interior bowl that pushes the cream against the paddles will do all the work. You’ll only get one batch of each before you need to freeze it again or you can purchase multiple inner bowls in stock.
Compressor ice cream makers: These more expensive models use freezer technology to cool the inner bowl on demand and therefore require no planning or manual freezing. The big advantage here is that you can create batch after batch without having to wait. The downside is that compressor ice cream makers cost more and are larger, requiring more space on your counter or cupboard.
Frozen ice cream makers require that you freeze the inner chamber at least eight hours before show time.
Editor’s note: For this series, we only tested pre-frozen bowl ice cream makers, but we will be testing compressor models and adding a compressor ice cream maker choice to the list. A few popular compressor machines include the $600 Smart Scoop Ice Cream Maker from Breville and Whynter, which makes a handful of well-rated compressor models ranging from $200 to $600. Cuisinart also makes a compressor ice maker that is smaller than others and costs $300.
Ice cream and rock salt ice cream machines. TheseOld-fashioned machines can remind you of the good old days and use a bucket with ice and rock salt that makes the ice colder to keep the inner bowl cool instead of a pre-frozen bowl or custard. There are only a handful of options in this category because they are slower and require a large stock of ice to operate. On the plus side, these models don’t require a pre-frozen bowl, so you can make ice cream at any time.
If you want ice without waiting, you will need a large quantity of ice and rock salt to keep the interior chamber very cold.
Blender-type ice cream makers. This is a new style of ice cream maker and there is only one: the Ninja Creami and its later iterations, including the Creami Deluxe. This method of making ice cream reverses the order and requires a frozen base that is quickly and forcefully transformed into ice cream rather than a refrigerated bowl that does so slowly.
Ninja Creami looks like a blender but it definitely makes ice cream.
Size and capacity
The $50 Hamilton Beach Ice and Salt Maker produces 8 quarts at a time and is a good choice if you need to produce more than the average automatic machine produces.
Ice cream makers produce about a quart and a half of ice cream per batch, which equates to about three pints, although our top pick – the Cuisinart Total Indulgence – produces 2 liters or 4 pints at a time. If you need to make more in a given session, you’ll want to choose a compressor model or the Ninja Creami, which can make multiple batches as long as you can freeze the cream in advance. Hand crank salt makers usually hold more, around 8 liters, because there is no need to find space in the freezer for a frozen bowl.
Price and budget
The 1.5 liter model from Cuisinart is the best budget ice cream maker to buy.
At their core, ice cream makers are simple machines requiring only a slowly rotating interior chamber and a simple paddle to spin the mixture. You can find decent ice cream makers for $30 or $40. High-end compressors cost anywhere from $300 to over $1,000 for professional-grade units.
You can make ice cream parlor quality desserts with one of the $50 or $100 models and there’s no need to spend more unless you want to. More expensive ice cream makers don’t necessarily make better ice cream, they just do it faster and with less preparation (freezing in a bowl or base).
