Frigidaire Countertop Portable, 26 lb per Day Bullet Ice Maker Machine (Black Stainless Steel)

This is the second ice maker I've had. This one by far is much quieter. It seems to hold enough water and it makes ice very quickly. According to the manual you should store your ice in the freezer. So I have been dumping baskets of ice into a bucket in the freezer. I quickly found that I need to be able to break them apart quite often because they go in kind of " wet " and therefore freeze together into a solid lump. Other than that I'm very happy with this. It's small, lightweight, doesn't take up much room on the cupboard and functions wonderfully.

Ice maker works great. I make 2 or 3 one gallon freezer bags and keep in freezer to use as needed.

Not knowing much about countertop icemakers, I turned to my Consumer Reports subscription and discovered that this unit was listed as a "CR Recommended" machine. Unlike many of the units, this one has about twice the water capacity than most of them out there. It also makes ice extremely fast. I had pictured having to have the unit turned on all the time and really didn't want that. It turns out they tell you to transfer the ice to your freezer which is exactly what I wanted. So in the matter of a couple hours it makes enough ice to fill our in-door ice hopper and we drain the machine and prop the lid open so it will dry out. A hopper full of ice last us a few days. One of the negatives of this and probably all of these units is that it produces wet ice which will freeze together in your freezer (see pictures) however they break up easily with a butter knife or even the ice dispenser itself seems to be able to break it up. Why the wet ice? If you look at my second photo you will see several metal rods poking down. These have freon passing through them and get very cold. Water is pumped from the reservoir directly below the basket into an upper tray. The compressor turns on and the rods get super cold. Ice forms and in less than 10 minutes the compressor turns off, the water drains back down into the reservoir and the ice on these rods slips off into the tray. The air in the unit really isn't cold so the ice is wet. It then gets pushed into the tray and it starts all over again. The manual says the ice will last in the tray 18 hours but I move the full tray into our freezers hopper as soon as it is full where it sticks together. I think this explains why you have to smash commercial ice bags to break them apart as they are probably made the same way. I love the fact it was recommended by CR and the familiar Frigidaire name...as opposed to XFUNDUICE or something silly like that. I also love the price point, especially since some of the other CR Recommended units were over $700 and there was one that had the same exact rating number that was over $300! It comes with a 1 year warranty but for something like $30 you can extend it 2 years. That is probably not a bad deal but I had a hard time spending 30% more since it will pay for itself (based on purchasing ice from the gas station as we have been doing) in a few short months. Oh, and shame on the well known appliance company that won't stand behind our 2020 covid-built refrigerator with built-in icemaker. The only reason their repairman is lonely these days is because they refuse to honor warranty claims.

Overall happy with the purchase. Our fridge ice maker is broken and can't easily be repaired, we this is a decent alternative. We are a family of five, but only 2 people in the home are regular ice users. PROS: -Makes ice fairly quickly. -Generally attractive looking on the counter. -Not silent, but the noise is not problematic. -Small plug on the bottom makes it easy to drain it out from underneath by pulling it out a bit over the edge of the counter with a cup underneath when done making ice, but water is still in the well. (You can tip it over and spill the water out as well, but it says that it's best to keep it flat so the refrigerant fluids inside the machine stay settled.) -Ice in the tray that melts drips directly into the water well, which going back into the ice-making cycle. CONS: -Main downside (which I think it going to be similar with most products at this price point, but do your own research), is that the unit itself is not a freezer. It's just an insulated box, so once the ice is made, it will slowly start to melt. Melted ice, as noted above, drips back into the well so it will keep melting and making new ice if you leave it on all the time unless you are using the ice in real time. I have been running it for a day or so and when I walk past it throughout the day, I empty the ice basket into a container in my freezer to build up a supply for a few days. -The number of ice cubes per session is kind of small, maybe enough for two tumblers, but it only takes about 10 minutes per session. -It needs to have some space around the back and side of the unit from the wall (I think it says something like 6 inches) so air can circulate to keep it working efficiently. Not great if you only have a tight space. Hard to say how critical that is. Final verdict: I don't regret the purchase, but I wish it were able to keep the ice frozen once made.

I put off buying a countertop ice maker because the reviews were all iffy. This machine is great, though. It is very quiet. We had a full basket of ice in about an hour or so. When we use ice it is full again before we can empty it. AND!!!! the ice does stay in the basket for hours-even over night it was full and still frozen and not frozen in a hard block as some have said about these type of machines. I am impressed for the price. I won't get you thru a whole party (then again it might), but is is certainly adequate for everyday use for family of 4.

Some friends purchased one of these about 4-5 years ago. When we go camping/lodging they bring this unit to keep ice ready and it has always worked well. We finally broke down and picked one up for ourselves. It makes the small cubes in about 7-8 minutes and can readily fill an ice bucket in short order. The only drawback IMO is the noise level. The fan for the refrigerator unit is noisy and until you get used to it the ice dumping mechanism can be a bit surprising. Be aware that when you move this unit, and particularly if you tip it over, the unit needs to be sat right side up for a few minutes before operation to allow the refrigerant to settle. edit- another items to add in consideration. This produces very wet ice due to the nature of the unit. When you move the ice to a bucket like one would, have an ice pick or small wooden mallet (etc.) on hand to bust it back apart. It will concrete into a bucket shaped mass. Edit- So, here we are. Eight days after purchase and a problem arose. The unit is dripping water all over the counter while filling. I first spent almost 3 hours today with "tech support" of Frigidaire trying to see if there was something that could be done to easily fix the issue. In spite of providing the model number, the bogus support sent me schematics for a dish washer and then a full size fridge. Didn't matter that I provided them with the model number. To top off this stellar waste of time, they then informed me that some 3rd party group takes care of warranty issues with these units. I would return this to Amazon for a refund, but alas, the retail box was accidentally thrown away. At this point I am stuck with an ice maker that "works" while also dripping water all over my countertop. I put the unit inside a cookie sheet much like a drip pan, but certainly not something you should be doing with an eight day old product. Don't walk. RUN away from this product as the manufacturer support on the back end is worse than a bad joke. Just burned a bill on pure crap. additional edit- After contacting Frigidaire and then the group they have handling warranty on this unit called Curtis International I was basically told 'tough luck' in regard to ANY level of service or satisfaction on their end. I contacted Amazon back in chat to see if anything could be done, and they stepped up and took the unit back alongside a refund. It really doesn't matter if this is the best countertop ice maker on the planet. The way the manufacturer and their support group handled this was poor beyond measure. DO NOT support manufacturers that want to treat customers this way. I will not ever knowingly spend another penny supporting Frigidaire after this.

We have had this for about a month now and absolutely love it. I go thru a lot of ice during the day and it keeps up. We had talked about getting one for a couple of months but never used one before and wasn't sure how well they would operate. Our Air BnB on vacation had one and after using it for 2 weeks, we came to the conclusion that we needed to get one..very very convenient and puts out a lot of ice quick. We use it as our main ice source instead of the fridge ice maker. This would be great for a mini bar or dorm room as well. Even with as much ice as I use, we still only need to fill with water every day and a half. It takes up very little space and can be put just about anywhere there is a plug in. Melting ice drips back into the water tank so there is no loss of water if you don't use the ice and it knows when ice is being taken out and makes more. If ice is not being used, it doesn't keep making ice..it just goes into a 'sleep mode' as I call it, but as soon as you take ice out, it starts making ice again. Its very easy to clean (pretty much same as a coffee maker for hard water deposits) and without a doubt one of the most functional appliances we've purchased.

If you ever need a Countertop Icemaker , THIS is the machine for you ! The Icemaker in her Samsung Refrigerator took a dive . We purchased this machine after thoroughly reviewing the various Icemakers available and are more than happy with the choice . Makes a batch of Ice Cubes in around 7 minutes . Easy to clean , available in several finishes / colors to fit right in with the decor in your Kitchen , while not taking up alot of Counter space . QUIET operation . Can't say enough good things about this machine . And it's way less expensive than replacing the Icemaker in the Refrigerator .