Lello 4080 Musso Lussino Review: Is it worth the money?

The Lello 4080 Musso Lussino is the Rolls-Royce of domestic ice cream makers! It's huge, it's shiny and it's very expensive. But it also makes the smoothest ice cream, gelato and sorbet you'll ever taste from a domestic machine.

The Lello 4080, along with its bigger brother the Lello Musso Pola 5030 Stella [Amazon], are the only ice cream makers in (what I call) the "first tier" of domestic machines.

Yes, they are domestic ice cream makers, but they have an industrial build quality and can make commercial quality ice creams.

But is the Lello 4080 worth all the extra money? Read on, and we'll find out!

In this review of the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino, I'll look at the quality of the ice cream it makes, I'll briefly cover how it works and how to best use it, and to finish, I'll suggest some alternatives in case this isn't the right ice cream maker for you.

What I like about the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino ice cream maker

1. It makes the best ice cream I've ever had!

Forget about fancy features. What we really want from an ice cream maker is a smooth and creamy final product. And the Lello 4080 is the only domestic machine that can make ice cream that's as good as you get in a high-end restaurant.

2. No need to harden my gelato in the freezer

The Lello 4080 produces ice cream that has almost the same consistency as gelato from a gelateria. So it's softer than regular ice cream. But it is hard enough to serve straight from the machine.

The body of the Lello 4080

The Lello 4080 is the biggest and heaviest ice cream maker I've tested so far. It measures 18" long, 12" wide and 12" high (with the lid) (46 x 30 x 30 cm). And it weighs 38 lb (18 kg).

Yes, it's a beast! It takes up a lot of room, and you're going to have to think carefully about where it's going to go.

The electric cable is a lengthy 60" (152 cm), which will give you loads of options when you're looking for somewhere to put it though, so that's a some consolation!

The housing is a lovely mirrored stainless steel on top with a slightly less shiny, brushed steel around the sides. Unlike every other compressor machine I've tested, the housing cleans well, without showing horrible watermarks!

There are extensive air vents around the sides and a small band of them at the back, and they're wide enough to give you a good view of the internal workings. In order for the machine to cool properly, these vents must be kept clear. So I'd recommend leaving 15 cm of space on either side of the machine when it’s running.

On top of the Lello 4080 there's a shallow chamber. This is molded from the top panel; there's just one sheet of metal that dips down to form the cavity. From the center of this chamber emerges the drive shaft that turns the paddle (or dasher).

At the front of the Lello 4080 is the control panel. No fancy LCD or touch sensitive electronic buttons here. Everything is manual, and it's very, very simple!

There's a chunky, plastic dial that you turn by hand to set the time that the machine will run for. The maximum amount of time is 60 minutes. Once it starts running, you can hear it ticking and the dial moves past the time markers like an old mechanical clock.

And then there's just two manual switches. One to turn the compressor on and off. And one to make the paddle start or stop rotating. Nothing else. No temperature gauge. No pre-cool function. You're on your own!

Underneath are 4 plastic feet that keep the steel body raised off the surface by about almost 4 cm. Disappointingly, for a machine that costs this much money, on my Lello 4080, the feet aren't level and the machine can be rocked slightly if you press down on one corner.

It's such a heavy beast, it doesn't seem to make any difference, and it's only noticeable if you go looking for it. But I'd expect better from a machine that costs this much money. Why aren't the feet at least adjustable? If IKEA can do it, why can't Musso!?

Overall, the Lello 4080 doesn't look or feel like a domestic appliance. It feels industrial. It looks like it belongs in a hospital or a laboratory. It doesn't make any concessions for the home cook.

And this makes it incredibly exciting!

The dasher of the Lello 4080

The “dasher” is just another name for the paddle that mixes the ice cream in the machine. The Lello 4080 has a heavy solid steel dasher with just one blade. It's the only domestic machine with a metal dasher; all the others are plastic.

The dasher of an ice cream maker has 3 very important jobs:

1. Scraping frozen mixture off the sides of the bowl and moving it into the middle
2. Adding air to the mixture
3. Encouraging the fat to clump together to support the air

The dashers impact on the smoothness of the ice cream

We all want smooth ice cream. How smooth it is, is probably the clearest indication of how good an ice cream really is. And if we read our ice cream science, we know that the faster an ice cream freezes, the smoother it will be.

One of the things that will influence how fast a mixture freezes, is the gap between the dasher blades and the side of the bowl. While commercial machines have spring-loaded blades that actually touch the sides of the bowl, on domestic machines there is always a small gap.

This means that as the blades rotate, they will always leave a thin layer of frozen mixture on the sides of the bowl. This layer insulates the rest of the mix from the coldness of the compressor and slows the freezing process.

So we're always looking for the smallest gap possible. On the Lello 4080, the curved blade leaves a gap which varies between 2 and 3 mm, which is actually pretty wide compared to other domestic machines.

But the other job of the dasher is to smash the fat globules together so that they start to group and form strings that support the air bubbles, which it's also introducing to the mix. And it's such a substantial piece of metal, you can be sure it's going to do a good job of that!

The dashers impact on the lightness of the ice cream

The amount of air that the dasher whips into the mixture has a profound effect on the consistency of the final ice cream. More air produces lighter, fluffier ice creams. Less air makes denser, creamier ice creams.

The shape of the dasher and the speed that it rotates will determine how much air the machine is able to incorporate into the mixture. However, the recipe you're using and the amount of mixture you've added to the machine also has a huge effect.

The Lello 4080 dasher is similar is shape to the dasher of the Breville Smart Scoop, both of which rotate much faster than the very different, two bladed dasher that comes with Cuisinart machines. The Lello 4080 dasher rotates at 80 rpm, which is the fastest of all the domestic machines I've tested.

However, this is still much, much slower than commercial machines, which can rotate as fast as 200 rpm. Almost all domestic machines spin relatively slowly, so they tend to incorporate less air and produce, denser ice creams.

The Lello 4080 lid

Like all domestic ice cream makers, the Lello 4080 comes with a transparent plastic lid. However, this is the lightest and flimsiest of them all. It's literally just a see through, plastic plate.

It just sits on top of the machine. There's no way to lock it in place. There's no hatch to add mix-ins. Why would you need one? Just lift the whole lid, and you’ll have easy and complete access to the mixture.

The Lello 4080's spatula!

The Lello 4080 comes with a substantial plastic spatula. It's actually more like one of the spades that is used to serve gelato in Italian ice cream stores.

It's much stronger than the little spatulas that come with other domestic ice cream makers. And it's actually pretty useful when it comes to extracting the finished ice cream from the chamber.

How to use the Lello 4080 ice cream maker

Like every other domestic machine, making ice cream with the Lello 4080 usually involves 5 steps. However, the Lello 4080 is so good, you could drop a couple of them...

1. Make the mixture
2. Pre-cool the Lello 4080
3. Churn and freeze the mixture in the Lello 4080
4. Transfer the mixture to the freezer to harden
5. Clean the Lello 4080

Step 1: Make the mixture

Depending on what type of ice cream you're making, this step will either be done well in advance of Step 2, or it could actually be done at the same time.

If your recipe needs to be heated, then it should be cooled down before you can put it in the Lello 4080. I'm thinking of recipes that use eggs or starches here. These mixtures will also benefit from "aging" overnight in the fridge (although this isn’t essential).

Once you've mastered a few of these, then you can start tweaking them and of course inventing your own!

One very important thing to remember, though. The Lello 4080 has 1.5 quart (1.4 litre) capacity. So I would advise you generally put less than 1 quart of mixture into the machine as, otherwise, when it expands, as it's mixed, you're likely to get some overflow.

When your mixture is made and chilled, keep it in the fridge until the next step in done...

Step 2: Pre-cool the Lello 4080

You don't have to do this step. And the Lello is so efficient, you may not notice any difference in your final ice cream. But generally, it's always a good idea to pre-cool your ice cream maker.

As we know, the faster we freeze the mixture, the smoother the final ice cream. And if we add the mixture to a bowl that's already very cold itself, it will definitely freeze faster. So of course, time spent here, is saved later too!

The Lello 4080 makes pre-cooling reasonably easy for you. There's no automatic function like you get with the Breville Smart Scoop. But it certainly feels more intuitive than machines like the Cuisinart ICE-100, which you need to turn on fully, so the paddle's turning as it pre-cools.

With the Lello 4080, there's one button to start cooling and a separate button to start the dasher rotating. However, you need to set the timer before you can do either. So rotate the dial to include enough time for the machine to pre-cool and freeze your ice cream.

You should be generous here, as you don't want the machine to turn off before it's done. However, one of the few annoying things about the Lello 4080 is that you can't turn the timer off. So if you set it to 60 minutes and your ice cream’s finished after 50 minutes, you can stop it churning and turn the freezer off, but the timer will still be ticking down (loudly) for another 10 minutes!

I usually set it to 50 minutes, so I get 20 minutes pre-cooling and 30 minutes churning, which is always more than enough. Usually I get around 10 minutes of annoying ticking at the end. Anyway, after 15 to 20 minutes pre-cooling, the bowl should get down to around -15 °F (-26 °C).

The Lello 4080 tends to take a little longer to get down to its lowest temperature than other compressor ice cream makers, and when I was reading the temperature it seemed to vary around the bowl. So I'd definitely recommend you give it 20 minutes if you can.

Step 3: Churn and freeze the mixture in the Lello 4080

So your mixture’s pre-chilled and your ice cream maker’s pre-cooled. It's time to get down to business. Set the dasher spinning and pour in your mixture.

Usually, when the mixture starts to look like whipped cream and starts coming away from the edges of the bowl, it's close to being ready. At this stage, the temperature of the ice cream will be close to 21°F (-6°C), which is another way to know it's ready.

However, if you can leave it in longer and the motor is still able to mix the ice cream as it hardens, you'll get a smoother ice cream. And this is where the Lello 4080 really starts to shine.

In around 25 minutes, this machine can produce ice cream that is significantly harder than any other domestic machine I've tested.

All domestic ice cream makers will automatically cut off if the mixture becomes too hard to mix. If this happens, it's not a problem. However, I don't recommend you make a habit of it, as it places unnecessary strain on the motor. I tend to turn them off as soon as hear the tone of the motor change, as if it's beginning to struggle a bit.

With the Lello 4080, the motor and the paddle just power through. And after 25–30 minutes, you'll end up with a lovely, firm consistency. But of course if you do hear the motor start to strain, you should turn it off.

Now's the time to remove the finished ice cream.

Step 4: Transfer the ice cream from the Lello 4080 to the freezer

With any domestic ice cream maker, you can eat the ice cream straight from the machine and it will taste great. However, with other domestic machines, the ice cream will be really soft and will melt incredibly quickly.

With the Lello 4080, the ice cream is actually hard enough to serve straight from the machine! For sure, it has the consistency of Italian gelato rather than American ice cream. And ideally, you'd want to harden it the freezer for just a little longer.

But you don't have to! And that is incredibly liberating, as it means you genuinely can make ice cream on demand. If you're entertaining guests, you can make the ice cream right in front of them and serve it to them immediately. For me, this is a huge bonus.

Of course, you may want to harden it in the freezer. Or maybe you want to eat some now and store some for later! If that's the case, as always, the secret is speed (and coldness)...

While you're churning the ice cream, you should have a container pre-chilling in the freezer. I prefer wide, shallow containers made from thin plastic or metal, as they'll freeze the ice cream faster.

Get the ice cream out of the Lello 4080 and into the container as fast as possible. Unlike other domestic machines, the dasher is held in place by a screw on bolt. So first of all, you should unscrew this and remove the dasher.

You need to be careful now as the manual specifically tells us to not allow the central pin, (which is exposed when we remove the dasher) to get wet. Hopefully your ice cream will be firm enough that it's easy to avoid drips.

I put the bolt that keeps the dasher in place back (after removing the dasher), to protect the pin from any stray ice cream, and I haven't had any problems so far.

Once you've scraped the ice cream into your container, place a layer of cling film or baking paper over the surface of the ice cream before you put the lid on. This will discourage ice crystals forming on the surface.

Then place the container in the coldest part of your freezer, which is usually the back. Usually homemade ice cream needs two to three hours in the freezer to harden, but the ice cream from the Lello 4080 is already pretty hard, so it will definitely be ready sooner.

Step 5: Clean the Lello 4080

Since the Lello 4080 doesn't feature a removable bowl, we need to clean it in a slightly different way to other domestic ice cream makers.

The dasher and the lid can obviously be cleaned at the sink in warm, soapy water, just like any other ice cream maker parts.

But for the bowl, once it's warmed and any remaining mixture has melted, you'll need to take a dish of warm soapy water to the ice cream maker to clean it in situ.

I've read plenty of complaints about this, and even one commentator who bought a different ice cream maker because he thought it would be too much hassle! This is just ridiculous. It's really easy and should take no more than 3 minutes at most.

First of all, you use a kitchen sponge to soak up any excess mix. Then you use a bowl of warm soapy water and the sponge to wipe it clean. And then you dry it with a tea towel. Because the bowl is one smooth plate of metal, there are no crevices to get into, and it cleans up very, very quickly.

I find it quicker to clean than doing a removable bowl in the sink to be honest! What's more, the shiny steel of the Lello 4080 actually comes up much cleaner than all the other machines I've tested, which tend to develop water stains that are difficult to shift.

It has a similar paddle to the Lello which spins at a reasonably fast 55 rpm. But the Smart Scoop just hasn't got the power to give you anything like the same level of smoothness as the Lello.

However, the Smart Scoop is probably capable of making the hardest ice cream of all the other domestic ice cream machines. It's not really serve-able straight from the machine though. And it takes over 40 minutes to get there! Which means the ice cream can suffer a little.

The Smart Scoop does have a lot of fancy features, though. It has an automatic pre-cool, twelve pre-set hardnesses to choose from and a three hour keep-cool function.

The bottom line is this: you're not going to get the same level of ice cream from any other machine than the Lello 4080. But if you can't afford it then the Smart Scoop will provide you with a well-built, feature filled and cheaper alternative.

Looking for a bigger capacity?

The Lello 4080 is a domestic sized, professional level, ice cream maker. And back to back 1.5 quart batches should be enough for most households!

But maybe you need more? Maybe you're looking for something to use in a café or a restaurant? In which case, the Lello 4080 has a bigger brother: the Lello Musso Pola 5030 Stella [Amazon].

The Lello 5030 is just a bigger version of the 4080, with a 2 quart (1.9 litre) capacity. The dasher, the lid and the control panel are almost identical, as is the ice cream it makes. There's just more of it!

It is of course bigger, heavier and more expensive! But if you're looking for the same top quality ice cream in bigger batches, then the Lello Musso Pola 5030 Stella is definitely your best option.

Final thoughts on the Lello 4080 Musso Lussino ice cream maker

I've got to admit, I was starting to feel a bit jaded by making at ice cream at home. I mean, I still loved ice cream, but it never turned out like I imagined it in my head.

The Lello 4080 has changed all that. Finally, I'm making the sorts of ice creams I dreamed about. Low fat? Low sugar? Lots of fruit? No problem, says the Lello 4080!

It really is on a totally different level to every other ice cream maker I've used. And it's so good, I don't even think about the price anymore.

There's no getting away from it: it's incredibly expensive. But it's also got an industrial build quality, so I'm hoping it's going to last me many, many years.

And the thing is, with the other domestic ice cream makers, after a while I can imagine the frustrations would get the better of me and I would make less and less ice cream.

With the Lello 4080, that's not going to happen. I'm constantly thinking about what my next invention will be, confident that this ice cream maker will be up to the task, and I'm only limited by my own imagination.

We have all sorts of different considerations and priorities when we're choosing an ice cream maker.

If cost or space is your main priority, then I'd recommend the Cuisinart ICE-21. If convenience is your main priority, then I'd recommend the Breville Smart Scoop.

But if the best ice cream is your main priority, then there's only the Lello 4080 [Amazon].

If you can't afford it right now, get the Cuisinart ICE-21, work on your recipes and save up until you have enough money to buy the Lello 4080. I guarantee you won't regret it!

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