/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I don't have a fridge/freezer ice machine and never had one growing up. Whenever I've encountered one the ice seems kind of gross and smells bad because nobody properly maintains them.

>>20081878
I have a stand-alone ice maker, and while it works for my usage, for the price I paid I could have just bought like... literally more than a thousand pounds of premade ice. I wouldn't recommend it for most people, but I do love having me some RO ice water whenever I want. It's a luxury.

>>20081899
The problem with buying bags of ice of course that you need a box freezer to store it which of course if I had one of those (and owned rather than rented and didn't have to move it) I wouldn't care about an ice maker. So yeah I think it is a luxury but man I like my dranks cold in summer.

>>20081889
Yeah if they don't get used or maintained they pickup freezer smell which isn't usually the end of the world but it's not good. Little box I'm looking at does batches of like 2L at a time so I think it would be fine, especially if I get in the habit of using ice every day. Maybe that's too optimistic.

>>20081878
I have one, and god damn was it worth it when I was using it at my old rental. It shits out ice real damn fast, but they are about half as big as tray cubes. It WILL make noise, but it's kind of about the same as a in-fridge ice make. You get a "clunk" of ice as it drops into the bin. They have a fan and a motor hum to them, plus the pump for the water hums periodically. I used distilled water so I didn't have a single issue with crap/clogs/etc. My dehumidifier is louder than this machine was, I never got bothered by it.

Real easy to use too - just push a button to turn it on/off, and dump water into the bin as you use the ice to keep the sucker fed. They make fancier ice machines now, so if you are an ice nerd you can pick your cube type now. Ice in the hopper just melts back into the bin, so there is ZERO issues getting loose ice into drinks. The drawback is the ice is not cooled as low as freezer ice will be, so it melts faster.

>>20081899
Mine was $60 bucks when I got it, and I ran that fucker round the clock for 5 years. Definitely got my money out of it. You'd pay more for a chest freezer to store all that ice from the store.

>>20081878
Oh, and I had the unit similar to OP pic. It's got a little core from the finger that dips into the water.

The only other "note" about these things is that water reservoir temp affects them greatly - it will need to cool the water down first to make proper ice. So the first batch or two is actually shit ice that is thin when making it from room temp water. This stuff will melt fast and help cool the reservoir. Once the tank is cold, the ice properly comes out. So if you want ice on demand from an OFF unit, you can dump cold water into it for faster output. Otherwise if you put lukewarm or hot water in, expect 30min - 1 hr to go by before you get actual ice in the bin. The whole mess is insulated, so it will keep cool once it's cooled down. And you can run em 24/7 if you want, just replace the water as you use the ice.

100% not worth it if you have an ice maker hooked up to the water line in the fridge though.

>>20082124
>>20082145
well that fucking settles it I just pulled the trigger on this little dealie for $100. I have a spare bedroom so I'll either set it up in there or, if it fits, I can put it on a stool next to the fridge. Can't wait! This is going to be such a godsend on these summer mornings and evenings and making sure I have proper ice water for bushwalks and such. Woohoo!

>>20081878
If you can't fit 3 stacked ice cube trays in your freezer then there's too much shit in your freezer. That's like installing an auxiliary garage on your property because your attached garage is too full of old newspapers to park your car.

>>20082176
It's a small freezer anon, just like the side of a large microwave compartment. It's stacked with leftovers and sauces and shit like that so I really don't have room for lots of ice trays. A new freezer is too expensive (mine's only a couple years old) and this ice dealie is so much faster making ice anyway

I really want to get pic related. It makes nugget ice which is perfect for cocktails. I was being really lazy the other day and forgot to refill my ice trays and when I woke up and wanted a tall glass of ice water I almost bit the bullet. The only problem is it's like $500.

Funny.
Our icemaker just broke. A while ago, the motor to push the cubes out burned out so we were opening the freezer to get at the ice but now the icemaker itself just ain't doin' its thang.
Saw countertop icemakers at Lidl the other day. They were discounted, likely because it's fucking winter but ours hadn't broken yet so I didn't nab one.
Are they any good? If Lidl still has them when next either of us goes, it'd be nice to get since they were only $40.

Anyway, before it broke, it was in everyday use. We blanch and shock a lot of vegetables so that's mostly what the ice was used for but for a family like mine who uses a lot of ice, that shit is indispensable.

>>20083196
>likely because it's fucking winter
Do people use less ice in the Winter? I mean, you still want your drinks to be cold, right?

>>20083211
It already comes out ice cold from the tap in the winter months where I live. Absolutely love winter water.

>>20083268
It comes out cold in the summer time too. You don't usually use ice to cool down a room temperature drink; you use ice to make it ice cold and keep it cold while you're drinking it.

>>20081878
what are you doing that uses so much ice and why are you doing that all day long?

>>20083394
Not everybody lives alone.

>>20081878
maybe you should invest in a proper sized fridge so you actually have room for shit

>>20083435
>buy an entire new fridge just to put a few ice trays in the freezer
>buy a $100 countertop ice-maker
You're kind of dumb, aren't you?

>>20081878
I've had two Newair machines and both failed in the warranty period but when they did work they worked great

>>20083176
Sonic and Chick fil a both sell bags of nugget ice, if you have one nearby you can just grab a couple bags and put them in your freezer instead of buying the expensive machine and having it take up space.

>>20083531
A lot of people in reviews compared it to the ice Sonic makes, but I've been there maybe half a dozen times in my life so I don't really know. In any case, the idea is to not have to run out to buy a new bag of ice every time I run out (and like OP, I don't exactly have a ton of freezer space, as I do tend to buy certain things in bulk and freeze them).

>>20083541
Yeah makes sense, but $500 for a machine that just makes ice is pretty steep (for me)

>>20083547
Yeah, it's pretty dumb. The problem is that it's not entirely out of my budget, but as much use as I would get out of it I know I'd probably always look at it and think, "what was I thinking?" Then again, I spend money on a lot of things that other people don't understand, while not spending money on a lot of normal stuff other people do.

>>20083394
Anon like I said my freezer is relatively small and I keep it stocked at all times and I’m always struggling to make more room as I make batches of soup and sauce and slow cooker slop. It’s a nice fridge and as a renter I’m not interested in buying a bigass $900 behemoth. I have one smol ice tray and when push comes to shove I take it out to fit another container in.

Summers are fricken hot where I live and I’m one of those people that loves a full glass of ice with some Pepsi or coffee or water or juice poured through it, not to mention filling my water bottle with ice before a hot humid hike. I feel like as long as this thing does what it says it’s the best option, cost/value, to solve this issue entirely and lift my QoL with a nice luxury of never running out of ice and keeping my freezer strictly for food security

>>20081878
I have a separate unit for ice making.
It definitely works, but the ice is not as solid as a freezer ice maker. Good if you like to eat ice though.
Only use distilled water in them, otherwise you will get nasty gunk buildup and the taste will be off.

>>20083283
>It comes out cold in the summer time too
That's nice dear but "cold" ≠ ice cold.

>>20083963
They both turn room temperature in a couple minutes if you don't add ice.

>>20084019
It never has the chance.

>>20083605
It all depends on where you want yo spend your money. I really enjoy having ice water on demand, so I spent a decent amount on a quality ice machine that I use daily. Not everyone is in the same boat.

>>20084230
So you have to get up and walk over to the faucet every time you want to take a sip of water? Why even use a glass at that point?

I have one because the ice maker in my shitty Frigidaire freezer is defunct and all attempts to fix it have failed. Also got tired of buying bagged ice all the fucking time.
It's fine. It make ice.
The first 16 ice cubes come out kind of weak but it makes good ice after that.
I'm getting rid of it when my fridge craps out and I buy a new one to reclaim the lost counter space.

we got a sonic ice maker and i thought it was stupid because we have two fridges that make ice but damned if i don't always use the sonic ice

Really only downside of our particular model is you have to fill the water reservoir regularly and it really doesn't hold that much ice, ill fill my 64 oz water jug with it and it takes most the ice

>>20084443
>sip
And that's the difference between us, friend. I don't sip. I fill the glass and I down the glass in, like, five seconds. The only time I don't do that is with a meal.

>>20084823
>that's the difference between us, friend
You're right, I have not in fact lost my gag reflex after sucking many, many cocks. I also like water, and enjoy drinking it throughout the day.

>>20083950
Yeah I love the clink and clack of solid cubes but hopefully these little bullets are good enough and don't all melt immediately when I pour coffee into them. I have a nice 500ml insulated mug which keeps ice cold for like 24 hours. Can't wait to get this thing up and running! Distilled water is kind of hard to find in Australia but I should be able to buy 5L jugs from Woolies. Might get a couple this week so they're ready to go

>>20082157
It's back ordered at least a month. I've had to cancel and regroup. I will purchase another model once I confirm the exact measurements of the nook I plan to store it in and confirm a larger model will fit.

Annoying as I was hoping to get it this week but slow and steady wins the race.

>>20084884
>You're right, I have not in fact lost my gag reflex after sucking many, many cocks.
Your chacha sure has. Bet it's so experienced, you could sit on a popsicle and tell us the flavour.

>>20086789
Meh heh gotem!