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Posted

Please educate me. We are remodeling kitchen and need an undercounter ice maker. We already have a water line to the location. 
Any tips on a reliable ice maker (for undercounter installation, not portable) that is a good value (cannot imagine what goes into a Scotsman ice cube to make it three times more costly than a Whirlpool ice cube)? Looking for reliability, value and esthetics (combo of steel and glass). Thanks 

Posted

I’ve always heard Hoshizaki makes the best ice makers. Anecdotally, I’ve never seen our Hoshizaki ice machines at work being repaired once in 12 years. The Whirlpool one was repaired annually.

I would do this one since it produces nugget ice. The smaller the cubes, the better, IMO.

https://www.katom.com/440-C80BAJAD.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwlqOXBhBqEiwA-hhitJ0Jm9HLg_gvOjozljIN5o6hv9ERc7Q1ZzzfEEPOPIAvSpdxHV3MjRoChxEQAvD_BwE

Posted
On 8/2/2022 at 8:09 AM, statsman said:

Please educate me. We are remodeling kitchen and need an undercounter ice maker. We already have a water line to the location. 
Any tips on a reliable ice maker (for undercounter installation, not portable) that is a good value (cannot imagine what goes into a Scotsman ice cube to make it three times more costly than a Whirlpool ice cube)? Looking for reliability, value and esthetics (combo of steel and glass). Thanks 

 

We purchased and installed a Scotsmand undercounter cube ice maker over 7 years ago.  It makes perfect cube ice and we researched a lot before buying as we were spending too much money on bags of ice.   I think we paid about $2200 for the ice maker and installation back in early 2015.   No issues with it so far and it is a great ice maker.  

Only negative so far is it can be loud so we limit when we run it to make more ice.  Normally, we run it overnight.  I would suggest putting some sound proofing the area where you install it.   Next house in a couple of years, we will change where we put it and the pantry right now is the leading location.     

Posted

Thanks. Honestly, I was hoping to get something more in the $1k range, maybe a few hundred more. I know those are the lesser brands. Any knowledge of them?

Posted

Only thing I'll add is to figure out if the icemaker you settle on requires a floor drain.  Some do, some don't.  

I had a GE Profile undercounter - it was pretty decent.  

Posted

I'm kind of curious - what is the draw of the undercounter ice maker?

Is it that you need that much ice? Is this from entertaining all of the time? Lots of kids?

About the only time I've ever felt like I needed more ice than what my ice maker in my freezer makes is when we were hosting a good-sized party at my house and then I would just run down to QT and grab 3-4 bags of ice and be good to go.  So I guess if I was doing something like that almost every weekend it would be nice to have the auxiliary ice maker, but outside of that I don't see how I would need that much ice....?

So what I'm saying is tell me why I need to go buy one right now so I can let the wife know we are getting and undercounter ice maker.

 

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, oSuJeff97 said:

I'm kind of curious - what is the draw of the undercounter ice maker?

Is it that you need that much ice? Is this from entertaining all of the time? Lots of kids?

About the only time I've ever felt like I needed more ice than what my ice maker in my freezer makes is when we were hosting a good-sized party at my house and then I would just run down to QT and grab 3-4 bags of ice and be good to go.  So I guess if I was doing something like that almost every weekend it would be nice to have the auxiliary ice maker, but outside of that I don't see how I would need that much ice....?

So what I'm saying is tell me why I need to go buy one right now so I can let the wife know we are getting and undercounter ice maker.

 

 

I didn't go with undercounter because there are more cost effective ways to get a lot of ice, but I did look into them.  Fridge ice maker couldn't keep up with demand from wife and 3 kids.  When schools opened back up the wife and kids would drain the fridge maker completely in the morning feeling up water bottles.  Throw in we were still buying ice for lake trips on the weekends.  I have a counter top that's paid for itself already just in bagged ice savings.  I'll store reserves in the deep freeze in the garage.  An undercounter would be more of just the ultimate convenience.  They also generally make a prettier cube than you typical fridge.  Like I said it's a flex more than anything.

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Posted
Just now, Gene Parmesan said:

I didn't go with undercounter because there are more cost effective ways to get a lot of ice, but I did look into them.  Fridge ice maker couldn't keep up with demand from wife and 3 kids.  When schools opened back up the wife and kids would drain the fridge maker completely in the morning feeling up water bottles.  Throw in we were still buying ice for lake trips on the weekends.  I have a counter top that's paid for itself already just in bagged ice savings.  I'll store reserves in the deep freeze in the garage.  An undercounter would be more of just the ultimate convenience.  They also generally make a prettier cube than you typical fridge.  Like I said it's a flex more than anything.

Thanks that makes sense.

We just don't go through that much only having a newborn and toddler... I assume as the kids get older our ice demand will increase significantly.

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Posted
2 minutes ago, oSuJeff97 said:

Thanks that makes sense.

We just don't go through that much only having a newborn and toddler... I assume as the kids get older our ice demand will increase significantly.

My kids are shitheads.  They'll find the biggest glass they can find to fill with ice for a sip of water and never touch it again.  Plus my fridge is a Samsung so I just shut the ice maker off once we get countertop one because I was tired of dealing with it.  If I were building or remodeling, I'd would opt for an undercounter just for the convenience, but I can't justify as a stand alone purchase.

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

My kids are shitheads.  They'll find the biggest glass they can find to fill with ice for a sip of water and never touch it again.  Plus my fridge is a Samsung so I just shut the ice maker off once we get countertop one because I was tired of dealing with it.  If I were building or remodeling, I'd would opt for an undercounter just for the convenience, but I can't justify as a stand alone purchase.

Correction:  All kids are shitheads.  They'll find the biggest glass.....

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Gene Parmesan said:

My kids are shitheads.  They'll find the biggest glass they can find to fill with ice for a sip of water and never touch it again.  Plus my fridge is a Samsung so I just shut the ice maker off once we get countertop one because I was tired of dealing with it.  If I were building or remodeling, I'd would opt for an undercounter just for the convenience, but I can't justify as a stand alone purchase.

You should hire an actor to spectacularly slip and fall on one of the puddles created by the condensation of the kids glass. Have him really play it up, screaming, flailing and falling to the ground. Maybe have his arm fly off in the process. Then as the kids are screaming their asses off at this trainwreck of an accident, have him stand up get in their faces and completely deadpan say, "And that's why we don't leave big glasses of water all over the house."

I bet it would scare them straight.

Edited by Dutchrudder
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Posted

On the subject of ice makers (this may or may not be what you need), I recently purchased a GE Profile 2.0 from Costco for my wife's birthday.  She loves Sonic ice, and this thing really does make it that way. Soft ice, good crunch and in small pieces is ideal for ice chewers.  She loves it, told all her friends about it, and uses it every day now. It sits on our appliance counter top, and runs 1.5 hours 3 times a day (each meal time) to make ice for her.  It uses a separate tank for water filling, but it's easy to refill.  Only issue with it is the noise it sometimes makes, kind of an intermittent rattle. If you want soft ice, it's great.  

Posted

Thanks. The reason for the purchase? Our remodel’s esthetics drove us to a counter depth refrigerator, so we have less ice capacity. This will fix that. 

Posted (edited)
On 8/3/2022 at 9:39 PM, statsman said:

Thanks. Honestly, I was hoping to get something more in the $1k range, maybe a few hundred more. I know those are the lesser brands. Any knowledge of them?

Where we currently live, I have the Scotsman in the kitchen, but we do have a GE model in our bar area.   The Scotsman is what we mostly used, but the previous owner had the 2 GE Ice makers so we removed one and put the Scotsman as we prefer that model.  GE works fine and my guess they are a lower priced option.   The GE model make ice flakes.

 

Edited by bborange
Posted (edited)
On 8/2/2022 at 8:34 AM, CooterBrown said:

I would do this one since it produces nugget ice

[CSB]My parents used to have an in wall ice maker in the hallway to their kitchen which produced ice I can only link on the web to something referred to as "gourmet ice."  It was cylindrical with a dimple on the top that pressed that end of the cube into a slight lip.  It was quite good, but I never thought to look up how to describe it.[/CSB]

Edited by dcbc
Posted
On 8/4/2022 at 12:50 PM, Dutchrudder said:

Sorry, meant GE Profile Opal 2.0.  Here's a link to it:

GE Profile Opal 2.0 | Countertop Nugget Ice Maker with Side Tank | Ice Machine with WiFi Connectivity | Smart Home Kitchen Essentials | Stainless Steel https://a.co/d/iuFkBHB

That thing looks huge.  Is it?

Posted
On 8/4/2022 at 6:10 AM, Native Horn said:

Only thing I'll add is to figure out if the icemaker you settle on requires a floor drain.  Some do, some don't.  

I had a GE Profile undercounter - it was pretty decent.  

The workaround for that is a condensate pump, pumping the runoff into a (hopefully nearby) drain line.  But, you've gotta have room for the pump behind the icemaker. 

little-giant-condensate-pumps-554425-64_

 

At our surgery centers, we always installed Scotsman, and they were really reliable.

Posted
3 hours ago, dcbc said:

That thing looks huge.  Is it?

Yeah, it's kinda big. The unit itself is 17.5 tall x 13.43 deep x 16.5 inches wide. It's pretty heavy too, but once you get it setup, you only need to fill the water tank on the side.  I have it on a schedule to make ice for 1 hour at 6am, 11am and 5pm for meal times, otherwise it will make ice all day and night, which is a waste of energy.  

We do have a whole home water filter and softener, and I would recommend getting one of those for your house regardless, but this machine will perform much better if the water is filtered first. You could buy distilled water for $1 a gallon at the store and use that too, but either way, you need to keep scale and hardness out of the machine for longevity, and to reduce the frequency of cleaning. 

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Posted
On 8/4/2022 at 10:52 AM, Gene Parmesan said:

I didn't go with undercounter because there are more cost effective ways to get a lot of ice, but I did look into them.  Fridge ice maker couldn't keep up with demand from wife and 3 kids.  When schools opened back up the wife and kids would drain the fridge maker completely in the morning feeling up water bottles.  Throw in we were still buying ice for lake trips on the weekends.  I have a counter top that's paid for itself already just in bagged ice savings.  I'll store reserves in the deep freeze in the garage.  An undercounter would be more of just the ultimate convenience.  They also generally make a prettier cube than you typical fridge.  Like I said it's a flex more than anything.

I am you, you are me.

I'm not looking for under counter. I'm fine with manually filling a counter top one. I see the GE Profile linked. Other recommendations? 

Posted
On 8/3/2022 at 8:53 PM, bborange said:

 

We purchased and installed a Scotsmand undercounter cube ice maker over 7 years ago.  It makes perfect cube ice and we researched a lot before buying as we were spending too much money on bags of ice.   I think we paid about $2200 for the ice maker and installation back in early 2015.   No issues with it so far and it is a great ice maker.  

Only negative so far is it can be loud so we limit when we run it to make more ice.  Normally, we run it overnight.  I would suggest putting some sound proofing the area where you install it.   Next house in a couple of years, we will change where we put it and the pantry right now is the leading location.     

That's probably the right answer. Follett makes some nice looking semi-compact countertop designs but I don't think they get great reviews for reliability. Thor has the best value for built-in ice makers but check with their reliability and noise levels. That is who I would probably go with, but I'm cheap.

Posted

Kitchen aid here - just had to order a new one - $2400, if you get the 15” vs 18” it’s a little cheaper. The wife & kids love it. We don’t even have the ice maker in the fridge hooked up.

  • 6 months later...
Posted

Fridge ice maker shit the bed. Wiring harness in the door got the wires that trigger the fill cycle broke.

Looking at 5-6 weeks, maybe they can get the part, but they don’t tend to make those on their own often? Hell, I dunno. Other option is a new door at 3/4 the price of the fridge, which they don’t recommend.

So, need an ice maker. Don’t have room under counter, so need a countertop model.

Any recs?

 

Posted

FWIW I saw on Americas test kitchen they ranked the igloo their favorite. It’s cheap if you want to try it first. I almost bought an ice maker but instead I just ordered a replacement part for my Samsung. Will see how long it lasts this round

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Posted
3 hours ago, thunderlounge said:

Fridge ice maker shit the bed. Wiring harness in the door got the wires that trigger the fill cycle broke.

Looking at 5-6 weeks, maybe they can get the part, but they don’t tend to make those on their own often? Hell, I dunno. Other option is a new door at 3/4 the price of the fridge, which they don’t recommend.

So, need an ice maker. Don’t have room under counter, so need a countertop model.

Any recs?

 

Here is my current setup:

Icemaker.pngI

I'm a Sonic ice chewing dude all day. I have been through three additional ice makers, before this one. All made really good ice. All others succumbed to lime scale. Our water is really hard, and the scale made them eventually just grind to a halt even with routine cleaning and descaling. I went to this pitcher, made by Culligan, that gets the ppm down to RO level water. The problem, the water is so pure and clear that you have to eat it fast for that Sonic ice texture, or it will end up a hard, clear crystal. But, the ice maker, itself, is clean as a whistle.

CHIEF

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Posted

I love Sonic ice but couldn't find one that was right for what I wanted to spend a few years back. So I buy 2 bags of ice from Sonic and keep them in my deep freeze. I have a cheap plastic pitcher that I keep in my kitchen freezer and fill up with that ice. Then when I need some more I just pour it into my cup. When it's empty I refill it with the ice bags. Currently enjoying some now in a Sonic Sunrise with a little Gin.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 7/7/2025 at 5:05 PM, huge said:

U-Line makes a badass sonic ice undercounter but it was NOT cheap.  

I love it.

Ice is great, but I'm on my 5th service call in about 8 months.

Posted
44 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

They all seem to be money pits.

When my parents bought the house I spent most of my formative years in, it had two Sub Zero ice makers---one in the kitchen/breakfast room and one in the bar.  I don't think there was ever a point in the time they lived their (my mom was there nearly forty years) when both were functional at the same time.  At a certain point, they just gave up on the one in the bar and kept repairing the one in the kitchen

Posted
On 7/11/2025 at 1:08 PM, dcbc said:

When my parents bought the house I spent most of my formative years in, it had two Sub Zero ice makers---one in the kitchen/breakfast room and one in the bar.  I don't think there was ever a point in the time they lived their (my mom was there nearly forty years) when both were functional at the same time.  At a certain point, they just gave up on the one in the bar and kept repairing the one in the kitchen

I don't own one yet but I wonder if it is better to save a ton of money with the Thor icemaker and when it breaks, it isn't quite the money pit. 

 

https://www.burkett.com/blog/post/how-to-know-when-to-replace-your-ice-machine

Ice machines are a staple in every commercial kitchen. A good ice machine is the difference between foggy cubes and a crisp, refreshing drink. Sadly, with every piece of equipment comes a lifespan. With proper cleaning, a quality ice machine will last around 4 to 5 years on average, sometimes even longer. So how do you know when it’s time to replace your ice machine?

The first thing you need to do is locate the problem. When your ice machine is on the fritz, there are two main reasons: either your ice machine has been overworked, or the filter has. A filter is less expensive and easier to replace, so let's start there!

The Filter

Manitowoc AR-10000 14,000 Gallon Arctic Pure Water Filter Manitowoc AR-10000 14,000 Gallon Arctic Pure Water Filter

You want your customers to have the purest ice, right? The first step toward pure ice is a good filter. Ice filtration systems are simply water filters in your machine that filter the water before freezing. Your unit may require between one to three filters, depending on the size of your ice machine.

Routine Replacement

These filters should be replaced every 6 months to reduce wear and tear on the machine, ensuring your unit is working as intended.

The act of replacing your filter is so important that Ice-O-Matic even offers an extended warranty for doing so! If you purchase a 3-in-1 water filter with a new Ice-O-Matic machine and replace the filter every 6 months, the warranty on the evaporator is extended from 5 years to 7 years!

Learn more about water filters and why they're important to your ice machine with this blog post.

Know the Signs

Without routine filter replacements, you may run into issues more unappetizing than a worn down machine. Does your ice have a bad taste or odor? Is it cloudy or off-color? Knowing the signs your filter needs a little TLC will help you catch any problems and take preventative steps in the future.

Mineral Deposits: Municipal water companies only remove contaminants that are harmful to human health. Many dissolved minerals are not harmful, therefore are not removed. Mineral laden water results in ice that appears cloudy and can make a drink smell and taste unappealing.

Slime Build-Up: Slime build-up can result from a poorly maintained ice machine. Ice made from a slimy machine will appear cloudy with a slight yellow, green or red tint and can cause illness, especially in those with weakened immune systems.

Chlorination: Chlorination is the process of adding chlorine to water in order to treat it and kill harmful germs. Residual chlorine remains in the water supply giving the water an unappealing taste.

Mineral deposits from hard water don't only collect in your filter and cause mineral laden water, this build up of scale is harmful to your ice machine as a whole. This brings us to our next stop in your ice machine journey!

The Machine

Scotsman Meridian HID312A-1 Countertop Ice Maker & Dispenser Scotsman Meridian HID312A-1 Countertop Ice Maker & Dispenser

We already mentioned that the average lifespan for a commercial ice machine is around 4-5 years. However, your ice machine works hard day and night and sometimes it gets a little worn out. We can definitely relate. There are multiple reasons your machine may not be quite as efficient anymore.

  • Heat. The enemy of ice. If your kitchen is consistently hot, it's very likely your ice production has dropped. When the ambient temperature heats up, so does your water, forcing your ice machine to work even harder to produce your ice supply.
  • Dirty Condensers. A dirty condenser coil is one of the main reason for service calls. A condenser coil that is dirty, slimy, or grimy will prevent warm air from filtering out of your machine. What did we say heat was again?
  • Scale. Build up of mineral deposits, or scale, is a big cause of ice machine failure. Make sure to clean the machine consistently, as well as replacing your filter every 6 months.

All of these obstacles can wear down your ice machine and cause that average lifespan to start declining. A good rule of thumb is if you've noticed an uptick in your service calls, it's probably time for a new ice machine.

What next?

Is it time to replace your ice machine? If so, the next step is picking out the right machine for your business! There are endless options between brands, air or water cooled, ice shape, machine size, and so much more. Let us help you find the perfect fit!

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