The Global/Kelvinator Hardening  Cabinet approximately 5 years old. Global is known for quality,  performance and reliability and has set the standard for use in hardening batch ice cream products and cakes.

IMPORTANT: Hardening cabinets are not actually "Blast Freezers".  Ice Cream industry experts use the term blast freezer often but the reality is these hardening cabinets are designed to harden ice cream faster than a normal storage freezer but they aren't going to "flash freeze" the product. It will take overnight for it to harden properly. When the ice cream comes out of the batch freezer, it comes out at around 20 degrees above zero or even warmer. So when you put that fresh made soft ice cream into the hardening cabinet, the cabinet will struggle to keep below zero while it starts the process of hardening the ice cream because it is fighting against the introduction of a mass at a warmer temperature. Once the freezer goes through its cycles it will eventually get to its coldest temp. In summary, the hardening cabinet will not perform miracles but it will do a much better job or reducing ice crystals in your product while hardening a fresh made ice cream batch. You can spend $35k to $50k on a blast freezer, but you might be disappointed. Why? While those real blast chillers might harden your ice cream faster, they might also compromise the product due to unexpected consequences of hardening too fast (freezer burn, etc).