Anonymous wrote:The reason I decided against it was that it seems the ice needs to be removed and put in a freezer, otherwise it doesn’t stay frozen in the bin. I had been thinking I could use it to run continuously and refill an outdoor cooler, but I think it melts if you don’t use it right away.
Would love to hear if someone has an actual experience with this though!

No, it just keeps recycling the water and making new ice. No problem with the melting. Our ice maker broke and I got one while waiting for a new fridge. Now use it whenever there is a crowd in the house, and need to keep up with a ton of ice users.

We got this one and it tied us over until we were ready to buy a new fridge.

Also great to have for parties.

https://www.costco.com/frigidaire-self-cleaning-bullet-ice-maker.product.4000147618.html?preselect=color%3astainless+steel

Anonymous wrote:The Opal. It ranges from $500-699, based on where you buy it. We had one last year and I loved it, but the cleaning and maintenance on it is a huge pain. Then one day, it just stopped working-- and I was diligent on the maintenance! Unfortunately, I did not buy the warranty and was SOL.
I have gone back and forth on buying a new one, but the cost + upkeep is not worth it.

Exactly -- why would you spend $500-699 to get a separate appliance that will ALSO just break -- does not take sense.

It will also break and then you will have to replace it or replace the one on the fridge anyway plus you will have taken up a bunch of counter space for it and yes as PPs point out unless it is also a freezer (in which case it will be even larger) you will have to keep emptying it into your actual freezer so that the ice does not melt unless you want to just wait around while it makes just as much ice as you need each time.

I'd just fix the fridge and let go of the cost being the issue. Stuff breaks. You fix it or replace it. Investing in yet another appliance is not going to reduce your costs in the long run.

You need one that is also a freezer. Otherwise it's a waste of money.

The Opal. It ranges from $500-699, based on where you buy it. We had one last year and I loved it, but the cleaning and maintenance on it is a huge pain. Then one day, it just stopped working-- and I was diligent on the maintenance! Unfortunately, I did not buy the warranty and was SOL.
I have gone back and forth on buying a new one, but the cost + upkeep is not worth it.

Any recommendations for an ice maker that makes those small cocktail ice cubes? Not chips…

As PP’s have noted, the little countertop ones make ice but don’t preserve it so you have to bag it up and make space in the freezer. And if you’re not using it all the time you have to drain and clean it. But it’s better than no ice and probably easier than finding space for a bag of ice from the store.

We go the $50 frigidaire one and I like it as it makes good ice but the problem is it doesn't keep cold. Our ice maker still works to drop down the ice not make it so we make the ice and dump it in but it's a hassle. We'll replace the fridge at some point. Get one that keeps the ice cold too.

The reason I decided against it was that it seems the ice needs to be removed and put in a freezer, otherwise it doesn’t stay frozen in the bin. I had been thinking I could use it to run continuously and refill an outdoor cooler, but I think it melts if you don’t use it right away.
Would love to hear if someone has an actual experience with this though!

We used ours a lot last summer due to a dying fridge. It was great! Takes up a lot of space but produces a lot of ice and quickly

If you love ice, I don’t see why not?

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-portable-ice-maker/

Anyone with experience want to sell me on or talk me out of a stand alone countertop ice maker? I use a lot of ice drinking my home brewed iced tea and coffee. The ice maker on my Samsung fridge broke yet again (side note: I am familiar with self fixes but sometimes the break is so bad they don’t work; we are at that point). Last time it cost me $450 to fix, and I realised for that price I could just buy an ice machine that hopefully wouldn’t break every few months.
So, good experiences to share? Bad?
Thanks.