Ice cream makers designed for domestic purposes make smaller quantities of ice cream as they are meant to be used for a limited amount of servings. These machines can either prepare a mixture by using two different types of methods. One of them is the hand-cranking way and the other employes an electric motor to achieve the mixture. The preparation is then normally chilled in two alternative manners. The first one is to chill it by pre-cooling the machine and the second one is by using a machine that offer the option to freeze the mixture itself.
The ice cream maker then works by freezing the mixture and simultaneously churning it bringing in aeration with the whipping motion and avoid the formation of ice crystals. This method enables the ice cream derived from the machine to be consumed right away.
Larger and industrial-type ice cream makers have a more powerful freezing mechanism and do not need to pre-chilled. The cooling system is thus more powerful and requires only a few minutes to start operating. With such coolant-bowl types of ice-cream makers, the final mixture would be ready within half an hour depending on the volume. These types of machines can generally not be used moved as they would require up to twelve hours of waiting before turning them on again. This is why these industrial-type machines are kept in a permanent place.