Countertop Ice Maker » countertop crushed ice maker http://www.countertopicemaker.net Portable countertop Ice Makers Reviewed Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:13:51 +0000 en hourly 1 Countertop Ice Maker http://www.countertopicemaker.net/countertop-ice-maker/ http://www.countertopicemaker.net/countertop-ice-maker/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:53:40 +0000 Matt Sawyer http://www.countertopicemaker.net/?p=8 Welcome to the site on Countertop Ice Makers. I have tried to include everything from the smallest ice makers to the ones that border on the professional side. You will find all sizes and types here, from the sophisticated and expensive, to the cheaper brands that might suit you just fine. The ice maker has come a long way since the early days when ice was quite a commodity. The term ice box comes from when perishable goods were stored in a wooden box and ice was purchased and put around the perishables. Later this changed to metallic boxes and smaller chillers were developed and made into refrigerators. Smaller still is the modern day countertop ice maker which is used mainly for parties or where ice is used often in the household.

Magic Chef Countertop Ice Maker
One of the most popular is the Magic Chef Countertop Ice Maker which is perfect if you find yourself buying those bags of ice from the convenience store. It makes ice as quickly as six minutes and about 30 pounds of ice in 24 hours. It has a four pound capacity, but some people said that it didn’t keep the ice cold very long. So with this model you should probably be ready to use the ice as you go. Ice is made quickly so you can keep filling the water tray. Another issue with the Magic Chef was that some say it wasn’t very reliable and would quit working after a few months. There is a one year warranty on the unit and many have been sold without issue.

Countertop Crushed Ice Maker
I did find a machine that made both cubes and crushed ice. It is the Whynter SNO ICE-100S and runs around $350. It’s portable, too, and a lot of people like it. There is a direct hose connection, if you want it to be a little more permanent in your home. It draws water from a 3 gallon tank and keeps making cubes but will dispense them crushed on demand. There are a few other units on the market that make crushed ice, but keep in mind that the machine has to actually masticate the cubed ice.

Waring Pro Professional Countertop Ice Maker
This was a real cool unit and I’m not sure why Waring discontinued it, but if you can find one still out there on the ‘net, buy it. It can make about 35 pounds of ice a day and has simple LED controls that let you set cube size, cycles, and how fast the unit should run. There is an ice storage basket and small cubes can be served up in about 8 minutes. Talk about sweet. But I would try all the online stores that have sold the Waring Pro Professional Countertop Ice Maker and see if there is one still in stock.

Best Countertop Ice Maker
If you had to pin me down, I’d probably go with the Haier line of countertop ice makers because overall I believe most people have been satisfied with them over any other brand. That is not to say you can’t get a good ice maker with another brand, it is simply to say according to my research they had fewer problems and did a better job at what they were designed to do.

]]> http://www.countertopicemaker.net/countertop-ice-maker/feed/ 0 Countertop Crushed Ice Maker http://www.countertopicemaker.net/countertop-crushed-ice-maker/ http://www.countertopicemaker.net/countertop-crushed-ice-maker/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:57:13 +0000 Matt Sawyer http://www.countertopicemaker.net/?p=12 Even though most refrigerators come with it, a crushed ice maker can be an interesting decision. One line of thought is that door ice dispensers are the single most thing that breaks on a refrigerator. The other thought is that the ice maker, refrigerator and people aren’t often in the same living space. But normally the refrigerator is near a water source. There are countertop crushed ice makers on the market that are not hooked up to a water line, so the operation is going to be different.

You’ll need to manually add water to the unit, stored in a tank, when you want the ice. When the crushed ice is made, you take that ice and use it, or place it in your freezer and make more. These units are fairly quick making ice in about eight minutes or so. When the tank is empty, the unit stops until the ice starts melting. Then it uses that water to create more ice. So the need to empty the unit is up to you.

If you opt for a larger ice maker, they do sell them, restaurant style that cost around $5,000, but you probably don’t want something like that in your home.

Problems with the countertop crushed ice maker are that it is slightly high maintenance because it needs to be kept pretty clean all the time. This is done best with soap and water. The chilling units on the ice maker have had problems in the past, and some continue to plague the industry. I’ve reported on these and you need to make sure that your ice maker comes with some sort of warranty of at least a year because they typically die around seven months.

You can find the countertop crushed ice makers on dozens of websites, but I’d stay away from second hand units sold on eBay only because the chiller units do not last long and chances are you will buy one that will have only a few hours left on it with no warranty. There are great websites with fantastic money back guarantees that you need to shop for. Many offer free shipping as well.

Dealing with the manufacturer can be a pain. Be prepared to fight for your rights. Every one I’ve seen has been made in China.

The Whynter Sno Ice 100s is more of a sno-cone maker, but even it has had trouble holding up as a reliable unit. Maybe you’ll have better luck. Now you can find a lot of these machines on eBay, and I am not saying don’t buy there – I’m just saying make sure you open lines of communication with your seller and get a warranty on the unit for at least one year. And if you can get a phone number, that’s a bonus.

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