I have a frost-free freezer as part of my refrigerator, so every once in a while it defrosts. I've tried one of the "bowl in the freezer" type ice cream makers but I think the bowl never got as cold as it was supposed to be because of the automatic defrost feature. Do folks who have success with this type of ice cream maker have chest freezers that do not self-defrost? Sara, unless your freezer defrosts every couple of hours (does it?), I wouldn't think that would matter. But it sounds like it might not be cold enough overall. See if you can stick a thermometer in there and take its temperature; it should be down around 0°F, I'd think, to really freeze that bowl solid. See if it has a "colder" dial... PJH

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