Size
A good homemade ice cream maker should have a capacity of at least 1 liter, and preferably at least 2 liters. Anything less than 1 liter maybe undesirable because it takes quite a while for the bowl to freeze and your ice cream to set.

Power
You will, most likely, want one that is electric and does the mixing for you. The machine should be powerful enough to handle any type of ice cream recipe. However if human power is what you are looking for then get a hand crank ice cream maker. You’ll become a strong arm quickly.

Cleaning
A good quality ice cream maker has only a few parts that actually come into contact with food. These parts should be easily detached and placed in dishwasher with no worry of harm. The entire machine should be safe to operate even if one were to immerse it in water.

Recipes
You'll definitely want to be sure that your ice cream maker comes with an easy to follow recipe booklet. It should be filled with a wide variety of tried and tested recipes for making delicious ice cream, frozen yogurt and frozen drinks. The recipes should all be tailored to the size and type of ice cream maker so that you don't have to adjust the measurements.

Style
There are not a lot of design types when it comes to ice cream makers. You should pick the one that suits your needs and budget from the limited options. If you plan on using your ice cream maker often, then you may want it to match the rest of your appliances.

Price
Ice cream makers come in a very wide price range, from about $25 to a stunning $1,300. There is an almost infinite variety of these machines. However, for most home applications one can purchase a VERY good ice cream maker for less than $70.

Ease of Use
The old fashioned ice-cream makers with a hand-turned paddle and ice-salt mixture to freeze the ice-cream are altogether too much trouble for some. Modern ice-cream makers can be either self-contained, ie. they have their own internal freezing ability, or one that is placed in a freezer and churns the ice-cream. The machine should be simple enough to understand, but still have enough features that fit your needs.

Storage
A good ice-cream maker and all its accessories will be easy and compact to store. All vital components should be able to be kept with the machine, to lessen the chance of something important going missing.

Ability to Add Extra Ingredients
You may want to add extra ingredients near the end of the churning time, things like broken cookies, nuts, and crystallized ginger and so on. A good machine will let you do this. A great machine will beep or otherwise alert you when the soft serve ice cream is ready.

Removable container
The machine should have a removable container. This is a very important aspect to making ice cream. The container needs to be chilled prior to making ice cream. The newly made ice cream also needs to be chilled quickly after being made.

Safety
A quality soft serve ice cream maker will have an indicator light that leaves no doubt that is receiving electricity, and when it is in use. The machine should weigh much less than fifty pounds; in fact most machines for home use will weigh less than twenty pounds. Handles and/or grips should be easy to identify. Power cords should be nestled inside an internal cavity when not in use, for ease of carrying, and to prevent damage to cord when carrying.

Quiet Motor
Many homemade ice cream makers have extremely loud motors, and this can be very disruptive. A good ice cream maker should have a motor that is significantly quieter than a microwave oven so that it doesn’t ruin the peace of your house.

Insulation around Motor
A good ice cream maker must have good insulation around the motor in order to properly set ice cream. If the insulation is inadequate, your ice cream will stay runny and will be icy once further chilled in the freezer.

Customer Support and Warranties
Companies that offer on line customer support are fantastic. Being able to easily look up things such as warranty information, replacement parts, operating and service manuals are very useful and can save you time.