Cocinaré Krush Portable Ice Cream Maker Review: Too Frustrating and Expensive
Enjoy fresh ice cream anywhere, they said. It’s easy, they said….
Eating ice cream is a decidedly time-sensitive activity. It’s meant to be enjoyed quickly and in the moment, save for the bold few who don’t fear a melty mess. Kitchen appliance maker Cocinaré said no, the masses need not be limited by science and thus invented the Krush, a $149 battery-powered portable machine that can make and transport ice cream anywhere. It consists of four parts: a freezer bowl, a plastic cover for the bowl that protects your hands, a plastic piece with little see-through sections so you can watch your ice cream as it’s made, and a top piece containing a motor with a blade attachment that stirs your frozen dessert into existence.
Along with the main components, you get a travel case should you want to haul the entire machine with you, and a smaller insulated bag that holds just the bottom half of the machine with a lid for securely transporting your ice cream. The Krush sells you on its simplicity and the freedom to enjoy still-frozen ice cream anytime, anywhere.
My experience was quite different. A beautiful but ultimately confusing product design seriously hurt the Krush’s usability. The companion app containing ice cream recipes was much closer to beta software than anything fully formed, complete with missing back buttons, wonky recipes with descriptions that didn’t match the instructions, and one particularly offensive recipe for orange creamsicle ice cream that called for green cabbage.
The Krush did a fine job keeping ice cream cold for an hour while I was at a park. I felt a smug pleasure eating it, still entirely spoonable and delicious, on a bench in 80-degree Fahrenheit temps with no ice cream shop in sight. Still, this ice cream maker was way more trouble than touted, and I can’t recommend it, especially for $150. And that’s the sale price; it’s usually $199.
For Your Money
Things started out promising enough. The machine arrived in sturdy black packaging with images of happy people eating homemade ice cream and a note that read: “Have a Krush! Make ice cream like never before.”
Out of the box, the Krush is attractive and feels sturdy. I opted for the black finish, but it also comes in teal blue, and it is available on both the Cocinaré site and Amazon.
It’s battery powered and comes with a USB-C to USB-A charging cable but no wall plug. I have a surplus of those things lying around, so that wasn’t a problem.
There’s a quick-start guide, some tips on how to use your Krush, and a little card instructing you to download the Cocinaré app. The app has recipes written by Cocinaré, and a community section where people can post questions and comments and share their own recipes. The card had a special code for a year of free access to a premium membership level in the app, which typically costs $10 per month, $25 per quarter, or $80 per year.
The free version of the app includes only “basic smoothie recipes,” according to Cocinaré, while the paid version has over 500 recipes and more nutrition information. $80 a year would be a lot even for a functional app full of recipes, but, as I’ll get into below, this app had a lot of issues.
Getting Things Ready
I cleaned all the parts, wiped off the motor, and set the bowl in the freezer. It needs to freeze for 10 to 12 hours in an upright position before use, which is standard for home ice cream makers without a built-in compressor. At 7.9 inches tall and 6.7 inches wide, the freezer bowl might not easily fit if you have a small freezer or very little room in your freezer.
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