I love this ice cream maker. We've used it a few times already and the product always turns out great. The only thing to remember is to make sure you freeze the bowl/canister for at least 24 hours before you want to use it. Makes a really great tasting ice cream. The kids really enjoyed making there own and adding in the sprinkles.

we were given one of these as a wedding present, because my husband wanted one. it works.  i can't honestly say that it doesn't work.  but it's not worth it.  at all. for one thing, there are lots of little plastic parts which aren't exactly easy to clean. overall, this machine is BIG and takes up an awful lot of space. also, you can't decide on a whim that you want to make soft serve ice cream unless you keep the little "freezer" cylinder in your freezer at all times so it will be properly chilled to make ice cream. once you've made that ice cream, you either eat it all right away or you end up sticking it in a bowl and freezing it, and then it's no longer really soft serve. in a house with lots of pets, this thing is a nightmare.  there's a hole in the top that must be left open for the machine to work properly,  i'm assuming that heat escapes out of this hole, because we tried covering it with a saucer to keep pet hair from possibly ending up in the ice cream, but with a saucer over the hole the ice cream doesn't thicken properly.  once uncovered, it worked fine, but that stupid hole drives me nuts! finally, as others have noted, the ice cream that results isn't very good. in short, save money, save space, and just got to TCBY or something instead!