Before I go buy a Cricut cake cutter or request it as a Christmas gift from the husband, is it worth the money? Is it a pain to use? Will it work with regular fondant or do you have to buy special fondant sheets?

hi! I don't have the cake cricut, but I have a regular one. fondant will work, you don't need special sheets. there's tons of tips on the boards, but what I've found works for me is to roll the fondant very thin, so you can see the lines of the mat through it. let it dry for 15-20 minutes (or some say to freeze it). practice with the speed and pressure until you get what you want. I use medium pressure, slow speed. and sometimes you have to freeze the mat again after cutting (after removing the larger pieces of excess but before removing the letters/shapes and the little extra bits between them)... it makes them easier to remove.
if I didn't already have a regular cricut, I would have purchased a Silhouette, specifically the package from Linda McClure. She has a video on how to use it for gumpaste (I'm pretty sure it can be used for fondant, too), and the machine has more options than the cricut cake, and you don't have to buy cartridges. But I'll work with what I have!

Good luck! Maria