Last, the small capacity (about a pint) means you’ll need to adjust standard ice cream recipes. Make sure to only fill the canister about 60% of the way or you’ll have an overflowing mess on your hands.

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How we picked the best ice cream makers

To test the ice cream makers, we made a lot of ice cream (obviously). For the regular ice cream makers, we used the exact same base recipe for each machine (using a kitchen scale to measure our ingredients for ultimate precision). We cooled each base to room temperature, refrigerated overnight to reach 40°F, and then churned them in each ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions to soft-serve consistency.

For the soft serve ice cream makers, we made vanilla ice cream bases according to the recipes supplied by each manufacturer, and chilled or froze them overnight depending on their respective recipe booklets’ instructions.

We took note of how long each model took to reach soft serve consistency. And of course, we taste tested each batch to compare ice crystal formation, aeration, and overall texture and mouthfeel.

After our initial ice cream test, we narrowed down the field to our top contenders and played around with other frozen desserts like sorbet and frozen yogurt. We also tested each compressor machine’s ability to churn consecutive batches of ice cream.

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What we looked for when testing ice cream makers

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Other ice cream makers we tested and liked

Hey, we’re paid to be picky! The below machines make smooth, creamy ice cream but failed to make our top picks for one reason or another.

If you own a KitchenAid stand mixer, you may have heard that KitchenAid sells an ice cream maker attachment. This is a perfectly adequate pick if you don’t have the space to accommodate a designated machine for your ice cream making needs, though we found that it couldn’t quite match the results of the Cuisinart ICE-21 (and is more expensive, for that matter).

This machine from Whynter costs about $40 less than the winning 201SB, and yielded similarly impressive results. That said, we preferred placement of the motor in the 201SB (under the bowl, rather than alongside it as with the ICM-15LS) because it made for a smaller countertop footprint. We also found the ICM-15LS to be excessively loud. But it still makes great ice cream, and would be a perfectly acceptable pick for anyone who doesn’t mind devoting a bit of extra counter space to their ice cream endeavors.

This top-of-the-line model from Lello costs nearly $1,200 at the time of writing, making it unrealistic for most home cooks. It’s also the largest of all the machines we tested and weighs a whopping 70 pounds, which means it would need to live on your countertop for all eternity. That said, this is a fantastic ice cream machine that’s able to make up to two quarts at a time in just 20 minutes (which is faster than the Musso Lussino).

This 2-quart model from Cuisinart is similar to the ICE-21 in functional design and operation, despite looking quite different. While the larger capacity might be nice for big households, the sorbet it made never quite reached same density or level of frozen as the batch made in the ICE-21. That said, the ice cream it made was on par with that made in our winner (though it did take longer to churn). If you have a large family of ice cream fiends to feed, this model might be worth considering.

This little 1-pint model from Cuisinart is cute as can be. It’s got a similar design to the Dash in that the paddle clips into the motor, which is attached to the lid. It did a great job making ice cream, and we liked that it has a clear lid that allows you to monitor your ice cream’s progress, unlike the Dash. That said, the sorbet we made never quite reached the optimal consistency, likely because the canister started to thaw due to its small size. It’s also more expensive than the Dash, and didn’t feel worth the extra $30 based on its performance. That said, it’s an effective little machine.

The Ninja Creami took the internet by storm a couple years ago, with TikTokers evangelizing its ability to turn pretty much anything into ice cream. It works quite differently from any of the other ice cream makers on this list in that the machine itself doesn’t feature any kind of cooling element (no freezer bowls or compressors here). Instead, it uses technology previously only found in a machine called a Pacojet in which a blade whirs through a frozen block of liquid, shaving off pieces and whipping it all together to achieve a creamy, ice cream-like texture.

The Swirl is Ninja’s newest addition to the Creami line. It works much like the original Creami, but features a dispensing attachment that allows you to dispense the finished ice cream through a fluted nozzle and into your ice cream vessel of choice.

It’s a well-designed, fun to use appliance with clear instructions that make it pretty foolproof: Just make your mixture, freeze it overnight in the provided canisters, run the machine (which takes around five minutes), and attach the canister to the dispensing mechanism.

I made vanilla ice cream based on a recipe in the included booklet and frozen yogurt using store-bought strawberry low-fat yogurt. Both turned out great—though if you’re expecting the kind of aerated, ultra-smooth soft serve you get from a truck, do note that this is not that. The vanilla ice cream I made in the Creami was denser than the Mister Softee-like ice cream I made in the Cuisinart Mix It In (which you can read more about below).

While it didn’t ultimately earn a spot in our top picks for this story (due partially to the fact that it’s quite bulky, and partially to the fact that the frozen desserts it makes aren’t actually ice cream), I do understand its appeal—being able to turn basically anything into soft serve is pretty magical. If you’re already a Creami stan and like the idea of being able to host soft serve parties all summer long, you might consider upgrading. Just make sure to carve out some extra kitchen storage space first.

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Ice cream makers we tested and don’t recommend

What’s the difference between canister and compressor ice cream makers?

As you’ve probably gathered by now, there are two primary types of home ice cream makers: canister and compressor models. Both make ice cream by introducing freezing cold temperatures and agitation to an ice cream base mixture, but beyond that the two operate differently—and tend to have different price points.

Canister (or freezer bowl) machines: These typically consist of four parts: a base, usually motorized; a canister that fits inside that base; a paddle; and some sort of lid. The canister is often made of aluminum and plastic, and contains a nontoxic saline solution within its walls—think of it as a cylindrical ice pack, with added salt to lower its freezing point (if you’ve ever made ice cream in a bag, this is why recipes call for the addition of rock salt).

With these models, it’s essential that you freeze the canister for at least 24 hours before churning to ensure it’s reached a cold enough temperature to properly chill your ice cream, gelato, or frozen yogurt base.

Because they’re relatively low-tech (they’ll often have a single on/off button), these machines tend to be less expensive, making them a great choice for most home cooks looking to satisfy the occasional homemade frozen treat craving.

Compressor machines: These machines have a built-in refrigeration compressor that uses coolant to reach the optimal temperature—no pre-freezing required. The major benefit of this is that it allows you to make ice cream whenever you want, and make multiple batches in a row without buying and freezing multiple canisters.

The two main downsides to these machines are that they tend to be far more expensive (think $250 and up) and are much heavier. We’d only recommend going this route if you foresee yourself making your own ice cream a lot.

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More shopping stories from Bon Appétit

Last update: 6:03 p.m., July 11, 2025

Hear ye, hear ye: We’ve reached the final day of Amazon Prime Day 2025. This year’s sales event has been not one, not two, but four days long from July 8–11, and at midnight tonight, it’ll come to a close.

Although Prime Day is flooded with discounts, most are mediocre at best. That’s where we come in. Before you succumb to spending hours hunting for the best deals, allow us to do the work for you.

At Bon Appétit, our editors don’t just pull recommendations from Amazon’s top sellers—we’ve spent hundreds of hours testing kitchen products in the BA Test Kitchen and our own homes. We’ve air-fried dozens upon dozens of baskets of frozen sweet potato fries, blitzed up enough smoothies to serve the morning breakfast rush, and cooked more pots of perfectly fluffy rice than we can reasonably count. We’ve vacuumed, scrubbed, and mopped our way through mountains of dirt and grime, all in the name of finding the tools and appliances that are worth your money.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the flood of deals, let us make it easy. We’ve rounded up the only Prime Day kitchen deals worth your attention, all based on our years of hands-on testing. Whether you’re looking for a shiny new Dutch oven or trying to stock up on cleaning essentials, we’ve got you covered.

We’ve been updating this story regularly throughout the week as new deals drop, and will continue to do so up until the very end. Make sure to bookmark this page and check back here throughout the day as those final deals drop.

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The Prime Day kitchen deals that even surprised us:

The very best kitchen deals

We looked through thousands of deals to find the very best ones on offer right now. These products have all been tested and vetted by our team of experts, and have become integral parts of our own cooking routines.

Our favorite silicone spatulas are 30% off

One of commerce writer Alaina Chou’s most used kitchen tools is her trusty GIR silicone spatula, and right now you can snag a set of three for around $20—that’s 30% off full price.

A product test-winning dish rack that’s expandable—and 23% off

No dish drying rack is perfect, but this one from Joseph Joseph comes pretty close. It’s versatile and adaptable to different spaces in a way no other model we tested was. At 23% off for Prime Day, it’s a bonafide steal that’ll grant you a lifetime of dish drying bliss.

A top-tier food processor for almost $100 off

This is a stellar machine, and the only reason it doesn’t top our best food processors list is that it’s technically discontinued. However, we’ve continued to see it on sale at a few online retailers, and we were thrilled to see it included in this year’s Prime Day sale. Our testers preferred the user experience of this model compared to the original Cuisinart. Its safety features and locking mechanisms are less fussy, and it comes with some unique features like a smaller capacity work bowl you can swap in for tiny tasks.

The best personal blender is almost half off

Commerce writer Alaina Chou swears by a personal-sized bullet-style blender for her morning smoothies, solo batches of soup, and small batch sauces. This product test-winning model from Nutribullet is sleek, powerful, and on sale at a major discount right now—and by major, we mean the lowest price we’ve ever seen it listed at.

Our all-time favorite blender is this Vitamix—and it’s 30% off

If we could recommend one appliance deal to take advantage of this Prime Day, it very well might be this 30% discount on the one and only Vitamix 5200. Vitamix is known as the best of the best in the blender world for a reason, and this particular model has been our top pick for years now for its ideal balance of simplicity and power. This may be the biggest discount we see on this model all year—we typically see it closer to 15–20% off—so snag it now before it sells out or increases in price.

Save $100 on the best budget espresso machine

This petite Breville espresso machine is the easiest way to get into pulling shots if you’ve never done it before. Not only does it fit nicely on the counter, even in a small kitchen, its simple interface and excellent temperature control are almost completely dummy-proof. This is also the first machine to use Breville’s automatic milk texturing for your cappuccinos and flat whites, and while lots of companies’ auto steaming is hit or miss, Breville has mastered the tech.

The very best rice cooker is yours for 19% off

Zojirushi makes some of the best rice cookers on the market, and the NP-HCC10XH has won our product test for years for its superior performance and wide range of capabilities. It’s on sale for almost 20% off right now, and we don’t necessarily expect it to stay that way for the entire week—so we’d recommend taking advantage now.

An insane 39% deal on our favorite nugget ice maker

Senior commerce writer Emily Farris has tested a lot of countertop ice makers over the last few years and has found that, while competitors come close, the GE Profile Opal 2.0 is the only machine that makes true Sonic-style nugget ice. Of course, the good ice comes with some sticker shock, but right now there’s an incredible deal on an XL model that comes with a side tank. It’s nearly 40% off—which is a savings of $250! If you’ve been dreaming of having this machine in your own home, you don’t want to miss this deal.

Take 32% off the best air purifier for the kitchen

Senior commerce writer Emily Farris uses this air purifier from Shark to help make up for the lack of an exhaust system in her rental apartment kitchen. She loves that it features real-time air quality monitoring, and that the multilayer HEPA filter can last for up to five years. Get it now while it’s available for over 30% off.

A life-changing dish scrubby—get a 3-pack for 15% off

This colorful little scrubby is machine washable, dishwasher-safe, and so effective, we’re willing to bet it’ll replace all of your current dishwashing tools. Grab a pack of 3 on sale for just $12 right now.

The gold-standard wooden cutting board is 20% off

John Boos cutting boards—a.k.a. “Boos Blocks” or “Boos Boards”—are an industry favorite for a reason. They’ve got a smooth surface with enough give to be gentle on your precious knives, don’t retain food odors or stains, are easy to hand wash, and come in lots of shapes and sizes to suit every kitchen and cook. Our favorite style is made of maple wood and has a handy juice groove to spare your countertop from any drippings.

Our favorite stainless steel frying pan (with a lid!) is 20% off

Deputy food editor Hana Asbrink says that All-Clad’s entire range of cookware—from entry-level to high-end—is remarkably consistent in its performance. These pans don’t warp like some cheaper options do, and they heat evenly all the way across the pan. They are also, according to Hana, “largely indestructible.” This one is large enough to accommodate dinner for the whole family, and comes with a lid.

The best cleaning essential deal is this pack of microfiber cleaning cloths (they’re 38% off)

Farris relies on these microfiber cloths from Mr. Siga to clean surfaces and cut down on paper towel usage. They’re the kind of thing you should replace once they wear out, so take advantage of this deal on a 12-pack to stock up.

An excellent ceramic nonstick pan for 20% off

GreenPan’s Paris Pro line is a great pick for nontoxic cookware for most home cooks for a few reasons. It’s hefty enough to feel durable while remaining lightweight enough to be easily maneuverable. It’s affordable enough that you won’t have to break the bank when you inevitably need to replace it in a few years (even more so now, at the lowest price we’ve seen this week), and, most important, food slid right off it in our testing. The one downside to the Paris Pro is that it isn’t induction-compatible. If you’re an induction user who wants a ceramic nonstick pan, we recommend you opt for the Valencia Pro, which is the current top pick in our product review.

An easy-to-carry cooler for your summer beach hangs at 35% off

Yeti coolers are amazing, but they’re also pretty bloody big. However, Yeti released a backpack version of its soft Hopper cooler that has all the chill capabilities—keeping ice frozen for a full 24 hours—in an easy-to-carry bag. If there’s a more perfect item to bring bevs to the beach we don’t know what it is. [NB: I’ll send a pic, but it’s a different color)

The best juicer, period, is marked down by over $100

It’s not common in our product tests that there really is no competition for the top spot, but that was the deal when we tested juicers. The Nama J2, which is presently 21% off for Prime Day, can fit a whole basket’s worth of fruit and veggies in the hopper at once (you can put unpeeled oranges in, but you should really peel them if you don’t want juice that’s bitter from the peel), and squeezes more from them than anything else we’ve tried.

The best cordless vacuum deal is this 24% off discount on a Dyson

Dyson’s newest stick vacuum is as powerful as they come and not only can it do real work on floors full of pet hair, it can detect how much power is needed as you clean and adjust accordingly, making the run time close to a full hour without needing to stop and charge.

Never overcook or undercook anything ever again with this instant read thermometer at 35% off

When it came to speed and accuracy in our meat thermometer testing, the Typhur Instaprobe was in a dead heat with longtime favorite Thermoworks Thermapen One. The Typhur has a few particularly nice features to go with that awesome functionality: A distinctive, futuristic-looking design, a huge, rotating OLED display, and a built-in magnet so you can stick it right to the oven door or the fridge when you’re not using so it’s always close at hand.

A high quality, long lasting drip coffee maker for 30% off

The Technivorm Moccamaster is a longtime darling of both online coffee publications and coffee lovers. The company’s machines were actually the first to receive the SCA Golden Cup standard stamp of approval, and we can confirm they make a great cup of joe. We also love the old school diner coffee maker look, and that they come in a plethora of fun colors. The KBGV 10-cup model is currently on sale for a whopping 30% off.

The best deal on shoes for the kitchen? These snazzy clogs for 20% off

Calzuro clogs have long been a fave kitchen shoe for many BA staffers past and present. They’re lightweight, sleek, supportive, and you can get them with holes or without depending on whether you’d rather prioritize ventilation or spill protection. They’re on sale for 20% off in a couple colors right now.

Take 20% off a solid chef’s knife that comes in fun colors

This knife is well-balanced and very comfortable to grip and maneuver thanks to the seamless transition between its handle and blade. It was sharp out of the box and performed well in all of our tests—plus it’s held up well over time according to the folks in the test kitchen we spoke with who have used it frequently. It doesn’t win our product test because we generally think it’s worth paying $30 more to spring for our winning pick from Mac, but given that it’s on sale at 20% off right now we definitely think it’s worth picking up—especially if you’re enticed by the fun colors.

This pro-quality coffee grinder is now 20% off

The only reason Fellow’s heavy duty, flat-burred Ode grinder wasn’t the #1 pick in our coffee grinder testing is because it doesn’t grind fine enough for espresso. But that’s not a flaw, it’s a choice. Fellow wanted to product the best home grinder for methods like pour-over, drip and French press, and, in order to give it all the features to do that they made the decision to let espresso go. Right now it’s 20% off, but Fellow announced that it’s going to have to raise prices on a number of its products to maintain their quality in the face of tariffs, so this is a particularly good time to buy.

Our product test-winning mop-vac is back on sale for $270 off

Senior commerce writer and cleaning extraordinaire Emily Farris believes strongly that a mop-vacuum hybrid will cut your cleaning time in half—and probably also change your life. This one from Tineco won our product test, and it’s on sale for almost 40% off for Prime Day.

The best budget drip coffee maker is even more affordable at 13% off

In testing, we appreciated that the Brewsense’s coffee came out at a ready-to-drink temperature. Contrast that with some cheap coffee makers that produce scalding coffee. When it’s your first cup of the day, you want it now—not after it’s had a few minutes to cool down.