Do you ever walk by a product in the store and do a double take? Wait. Who am I kidding? I pretty much do that in every store I go to these days. 😉
Yada Yada Yada. I was in Crate and Barrel recently and as I was passing by their appliance section noticed something I didn’t recognize. Or rather, it took me a minute to register exactly what it was.
On sale. For $549.95
Say what!?
Maybe it’s just me. I’m not an ice person. I basically just drink three things; water, tea and hot chocolate. Maybe once or twice a year I’ll order a Shirley Temple if I really want to go big and get something exciting. I also prefer to drink water at room temperature.
So the thought of laying down some serious bucks on frozen pellets of water has zero appeal to me. Even if I threw big parties, I still wouldn’t pop for the thing. Not when you can pick up a couple of ice cube trays at the dollar store for a buck and make your own.
Now according to the maker of this product, it “ makes a batch of ice in less than 20 minutes—and you can schedule fresh ice through the app for parties and cocktail hour.”
Here’s the thing. If my life ever gets so complicated that I need to schedule an ice machine to make a fresh batch of ice through an app…. I’m doing something wrong.
But that’s just me. But I’ve got to know…Would you spend $549.95 on an automatic countertop ice maker?
~Mavis
Jess says
I LOVE nugget ice but not enough to spend that kind of money on it. But there are people that will… This world is WILD!
TC says
I got this from Costco for $300 before black Friday. Came with the side tank and 4 filter bonus as well. Even if the Samsung ice maker in fridge worked wouldn’t produce enough ice for us to replace all the big gulp equivalents and the gas money to get them. Bonus of at home is it’s easier to push ice water and unsweetened tea vs what’s at 7-11
Jennifer says
Its a huge thing on Tiktok, and there are ads everywhere. Apparently you can get a nugget ice maker for under $100, so no to the $549. I love ice, hated traveling in Europe years ago because my “extra ice, please” took me from 5 cubes to 8. Dd doesn’t have an ice maker in her fridge and if I had the money, I’d definitely buy one so that when we go, she didn’t have to buy a bag of ice. Still, not the $549 one. I’d buy a new fridge first or install a water line.
Laura Rose says
Water lines can be extremely expensive. They are a top cause of home owners insurance claims. Lot more expensive than $600.
Jayne says
Would I? No. But my son-in-law is a really into the bartending arts, it’s one of his major hobbies, and they live in an apartment with a tiny fridge and freezer. He had wanted one for a very long time, did all kinds of research, and asked for one (no idea of the cost) as a birthday and Christmas gift. And he loves it and uses it daily. Yes, a countertop ice maker may seem silly to us, but many people have expensive hobbies that others can’t understand. Golf, for example — less than five golf outings and the ice maker would be paid for. Knitting can be very expensive. Baking for pleasure is pricey. Taking fitness or yoga classes costs big bucks. Even your rug-hooking kits add up very fast. You get my drift. Almost everyone has a guilty pleasure that costs money and it all boils down to people’s priorities and what they’re willing to pay for their indulgences. So the ice maker seems crazy to some, and would be a total waste for many of us (I wouldn’t want to give up the counter space!) but other hobbies and indulgences we don’t think twice about are ridiculous to others.
Patti Vanderbloemen says
I could not have said this better! To each his own!
Ca says
Well said, Jayne. My husband has been threatening to buy one for years. He does go through a massive amount of ice. We have 8 trays in our freezer! Crazy, I know
Michelle says
Very well said, Jayne!
Sue S. says
Spot on Jayne. I spend far too much money on yarn and rug hooking supplies but I would buy a bag of ice before I’d plunk down that kinda money for that kinda item. I use ice cube trays in my s/s fridge because I didn’t want the bother and hassle of plumbing and potential leaks. AND we have very cold water right out of the taps anyway.
PD says
Completely agree! Gourmet ice maker is not for me. Neither is an Aga range. But folks splurge in different ways!
Cathy says
Very well put Jayne.
I participated in the crowd fund when this was being developed. I got a better deal on the price. I love the nugget ice and my ice maker quit in my refrigerator about the same time.
Sometimes we all splurge on something.
Linda says
No, I would not. I love ice but not that much. I had to call my sister when I left to go to her house and remind her to put an ice tray in the freezer because she did not use ice. Nope, that is too expensive.
Practical Parsimony
Tim says
I’ve had an Opal for 3+ years ($400 on Black Friday). Wife loves nugget ice. It’s superior in many ways to cube/bullet, and it’s hard to come by a good nugget maker without dropping serious coin.
Some people spend THOUSANDS on a purse when they can get something off the rack at Walmart for $20. To each their own. I don’t see the problem with a few hundred bucks on an ice maker that our entire family can use and enjoy for years.
Jennifer G says
They also make undercounter ones that cost a whole lot more than that. Daughter is building a house & they are getting one for their family of 5. It will be used but isn’t something I’d spend on.
Mona R McGinnis says
Absolutely not. The recipe for making ice isn’t that hard! I don’t have a fridge with an icemaker. I’m told that’s usually the first thing to break down on those fridges. I seldom buy ice either. When I’m anticipating heavy ice use I just fill/empty more trays.
Tammy says
This is the kind of thing you see on social media. I follow someone on YouTube who created a coffee bar off their kitchen and installed something along this line. For someone who makes content, there are tax deductions for the purchase (or a lot of times the companies will either sponsor posts or give their products to the content creator for air time), plus “link in description” which generates income as other people click through and purchase the items.
I think social media prompts people to buy things like this when they wouldn’t otherwise.
Sue S. says
Yup, that’s why we don’t use/follow/buy in to/any kind of social media. I get all the social media I want by following bloggers like Mavis and several others. The rest of it is useless to me.
Wendy C. says
So our freezer quit making ice when we moved into our new house because of poor water pressure or something. 🙁 We live in the south, so you need ice in the summer. So yes, we bought a countertop ice maker, but not for that much money! I think we spent less than $100 on it?? But that’s cheaper than a new fridge (which wouldn’t help anyway).
Anne in VA says
We have always had a couple ice trays in the freezer. We built a new house a couple years ago and it was a standard item in the build to include a water line to the fridge. I was so excited that we would have ready-made ice all the time. We bought a decent fridge- not the fanciest but not the most basic either. The ice maker worked for about one year and then fell apart. Yes- fell apart! First it filled the ice bucket with water which made a huge chunk of ice. It took a few weeks for me to figure out how to make it stop. I did enjoy the big chunks of ice for the big cooler in summer. The ice maker has been the biggest disappointment of all the add-ons for our house. We are back to ice trays.
Holley says
NO! I agree with Jess – this world is WILD!!!!
Lori says
No! Not even if I had millions.
Linda says
My niece bought a Nugget ice machine about 5 years ago. She loves it. I don’t know how much she paid & I didn’t ask since I wasn’t paying for it!
Susan says
I have sensitive teeth and never liked icey things, but we inherited a Hamilton Beach ice maker from my sister when she moved overseas, and I love it! We have an ancient fridge with no ice maker and apparently I DO like ice water and seltzer, especially in the summer. It’s great when company comes over so we don’t have to give them freezer burned cubes from the tray (yuck) or buy ice. Or, when you’re supposed to plunge eggs or veggies into ann ice bath, I can finally do it, ha! I have also heard people in RVs or campers like the countertop ones if they don’t have a freezer. Would I buy one? Nope, but it’s been surprisingly convenient and nice to have. Who knew!?
Dawn says
No, but I did spend $69 on one at Aldi! My freezer is usually so full of stuff I don’t have room for ice trays and it seems whenever I wanted ice I didn’t have any so my $69 find works for my purposes (namely, when I feel the need to engage in impromptu mixology).
Margo says
My mother came to mind when I read this. My mother had a knack for letting whatever was on her mind slip out of her mouth. She was a very funny lady, but sometimes we would cringe as she gave an impromptu opinion out loud, usually in a place where discretion would probably have been wiser. One of her favorite sayings when she would see an overpriced item like this ice machine would be, “are they on drugs?” So like mother like daughter…. Guess what just came out of my mouth ?.
Sue S. says
What a hoot! Love your description!
Annette says
Depends. Is it as good as Sonic ice?
Tim says
It’s the same. Maybe not quite as ground up because it’s not in a huge commercial ice bin under hundreds of pounds of pressure, but it crunches and chews just like Sonic ice.
Cindy says
No and I wouldn’t buy an AGA stove either. To each his own I guess.
Rosemary says
The ice maker in my fridge broke and it is out of warranty – we are not getting it fixed. We don’t use much ice and we do have ice cube trays to make ice if we want it. I would not buy a countertop ice maker because it would use up valuable countertop space (plus I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on it). Having an app to make ice is just too much 🙂
Lana says
Absolutely not even though here in the South we use a ton of ice every day. Our fridge ice maker makes so much that we dump it once week to keep it fresh. Besides no way I want to give up that much counter space.
Karen says
Woot! This means I saved $549.20 by using my two thrifted for $.75, in original sealed packaging, ice trays with lids. And there was me being excited about saving $9.20 plus tax, over buying the same trays new. I can’t wait to try out the recipe for ice cubes on Food.com.
You made my day!
Jam says
It’s “pebble ice” and it’s a big deal in the social media influencer “mom” space. Like they have their diet cokes with pebble ice and their Stanley cups. On Black Friday they are all pushing people to get it because it is $100 off or some amount like that. Pebble ice isn’t very common in normal ice makers or even most restaurants, you do need a special ice machine to make it or you can buy it pre-made (Sonic sells bags of it).
I agree I would rather put that money somewhere else. Everyone has places they like to splurge money that they think makes their life better. I prefer gardening supplies or fruit trees to pebble ice 🙂
But that’s where a lot of the demand comes from.
Angela D. says
Yes!!!! One hundred times: YES!!! Our ice-maker on a new fridge went out after only 3 years. Hubby wouldn’t agree to a service call $$$ and when a friend claimed they had theirs serviced 3x– that was all Hubby had to hear: LostCause.
We purchased 20# bags at Costco for the next 4 years— UGH! Kids and I are the ice people and yes, it’s the “soft” pebble ice, similar to Sonic, etc.
Three of us go into that ice maker no less than 3 times a day, each of us.
I usually only put ice in my tap water; not a soda drinker. And we enjoy the taste of our rural well water; we’re not purchasing water to make the ice.
Knock-on-wood, my Kitchenaid ice maker is WONDERFUL and I paid just shy of $400 off of QVC, less than a year ago.
So happy to be done hauling ice and going home to separate it into gallon-sized freezer bags!
Of course we had first tried MANY different ice trays, the cheap ones and the expensive, but the hassle of it: water spilling, going for ice to find out that it’s not frozen— and the freezer burn taste! No.
For us, it was $$$$ well-spent. We love it, and it’s FUN! I also have ice whenever I need it to cool down hard-boiled eggs, or to put in a cooler, etc.
Ashley Bananas says
I am not bougie enough for this kind of luxury lol
Tracy says
Nope. I wouldn’t even spend $100 a few years ago to replace the broken ice maker in my refrigerator. I took the ice maker out and put ice cube trays in its spot.
Kayla says
I can’t imagine spending that much on ice. It took my husband over a year to convince me to buy a countertop ice maker that was under $100. And the only reason we bought it is for our autistic daughter that is picky about ice. Ice can’t be square apparently, but must be used for water at all times. The machine I bought has been worth it, but never over $500… ouch.
Peg says
Our fridge’s ice maker died this past summer. When an appliance repairman was here in the fall to repair another appliance, he looked at the ice maker too. It is going to cost almost as much to repair the ice maker as what we paid when we bought the fridge brand new. Nope. My husband never uses ice, and I quit earlier last year. I have two ice cube trays and have made ice twice since the ice maker died. It’s a first world problem. When I was in Israel a few years ago, people there looked at me like I had lost my mind when I asked for ice.
PD says
Some people want a fancy ice maker. Others prefer an Aga range. To each their own, I suppose!
Staci W says
😀 Very true!
Jre says
Well…… I’m pretty cheap on most things but have bought a 300.00 counter ice maker. Wonderful pellet ice and so fast. This was for our cabin and our ice maker in fridge doesn’t work and our water is well and pretty icky so we buy big bottles of bottled water for the machine. Our immediate family at the lake very often in the summer is 9 adults and my 13 grandkids and the ice maker is amazing! Used constantly.
Lindsey says
Would not buy this, but I entered a contest to win one. Husband goes through an insane amount of ice…
Mark says
$549?? I about had a heart attack when I spent $89 on an igloo one a few years ago. My freezer is always packed full though so I never have room for ice cube trays.
Bobbi says
Lol. I donated one to the thrift store. As I understand it, the ice was ‘wet’ so it melts quick. As an ice cruncher extraordinare, that doesn’t work for me. LOL Plus I can not imagine all the mold sitting inside the machine just waiting to make someone sick. Bleck!!!
Amanda K says
If I had (1) the extra income, (2) the countertop space, I’d totally buy it. My dentist, my neurologist both scold me I love ice, iced tea and iced coffee and ice water is all I drink. I cannot stand room temp water. Even through my worst migraine I will still be chewing ice. It’s a food group for me lol.
sandy says
I have to admit I thought about it. I have a 1915 all original kitchen. There is no place in the kitchen for a refrigerator…let alone one with an ice maker. We had undercounter commercial refrigerators -3 side by side of years until they finally started making n good quality home drawer undercounter refrigerators and freezers with an ice maker that we placed in the service porch area off the kitchen, an used butcher block for the top.
After much research- I got 2 refrigerator drawer units, and one top refrigerator and bottom freezer with a wonderful dreamy coveted much appreciated lovely ICE MAKER.
I drink iced tea by the big “dumb cup” and smile every time I fill it up. The cost of 3 kitchen aid double drawer units? Don’t ask…but it is worth every penny and every ice cube.
SueD says
No. But I did buy one several years ago for $25. We don’t use it often right now, but I went through a lot not long after we bought it. I prefer drinking ice cold water or seltzer water. When I need to brine something, the countertop icemaker is plugged in and used. We’re on well water; we run it through our Berkey filter.
Sue says
No, I don’t have enough counter space nor a butler’s pantry.
My fam goes through a ton of ice daily. We have a door-dispensing fridge icemaker. When you’re from a family of 7 and you’re the only one who could ever be assed to fill those darn trays, CONSTANTLY, while everyone else took advantage of your largesse? You grow up to be an adult who insists on an icemaker.
And if it breaks (which is has, due to hard well water) it gets repaired, pronto. I’ll be DANGED if I listen to anyone try to tell me otherwise.
Zadu says
Never say “never”, but…
PROBABLY never. 🙂
I guess it comes from all those years I lived in Europe.
Sue S. says
Mavis, this was an absolute S-C-O-R-E!!! topic. I loved the comments and laughed out loud at just about every one. Keep ’em coming!
Wendy Steele says
I agree-who would’ve thought an ice maker would generate so many comments-and a surprising amount of digs at the Aga Range!!! Jeeesh!!!
Tonya says
I have an ice maker for when the power goes out. This may seem strange, but you can plug it into generator to make ice to use for the food in the refrigerator so it doesn’t spoil as quickly. Its like camping, just put all your food in a cooler and fill with ice. Also a bread maker can be used for the same reason, a loaf of fresh bread during an emergency will calm nerves.
Rhea Strauser says
We had two at work for something like 60 employees – plus some 20-30 more when training was in session. I’m unsure of the cost, but DEFINITELY not over $500 bucks. So, yes, for work it made sense.
My sister has two under counter machines but is also known to give parties for a hundred or so of her “closest, nearest, and dearest friends” as well as business related parties. For her, it’s almost a requirement.
For me – nope, no thanks. My current fridge ice maker works just fine. If it breaks, I’ve got good ole fill ’em-up-yourself-ice trays.
Patti says
A lot of people who camp regularly or full time buy counter top ice makers so they don’t have to use coolers for ice. It is hard to keep ice in the freezer because of size, plus travel when you cut it off. Not sure I have heard one for that price, though.
Jre says
Yes I forgot to add above but we camp (several campers grown kids/grandkids) and mostly at state park and these are a great tool and money saver to park purchased ice.
Mimi says
For me it’s just one more thing to say no to. The older I get the more I embrace minimalism.
It’s not just the cost but also the waste of resources used to manufacture, operate and eventually dispose of.
Rachel says
It’s not just ice, it’s nugget CRUSHED ice! I would buy one, but I’d shop around to get the best price. Assuming that I had a place to put it. I love love love crushed ice!
Anne says
My grandmother told me a long time ago “Everyone spends their money differently” meaning everyone’s priorities are different. I love ice but when I need more for parties or entertaining I go buy a bag of ice. If I went through ice a lot more, I would look at ice machines for sure. Just have to look at whether you would get your money back for the investment. That’s what it comes down to.
Pat says
Not even if it was free! That’s just something to clutter up the counter.
Nicole says
I’m a little late with a comment on this but I thought I should say this. Last year I was visiting my sister (who has one of these and loves it) and I mentioned how much I love to chew ice. Like almost compulsively! She mentioned to me that I can be a sign of vitamin B 12 deficiency. I saw my doctor and I’m now doing vitamin B 12 shots and my craving for ice has completely gone.
Jre says
I was a constant ice chewer and finally it struck me to get my iron checked (I’m a nurse and low iron in pregnancy and ice chewing is more common) but I was in my 50’s. But that was the reason and with meds and then iron infusions no more OCD about ice. Just something to think about too.
Carolyn Rust says
Countertop – no. Built in to my refrigerator – in a heart beat. My dad was in vending most of my life and the best thing in the world (to me) was the crunchy ice from the cup vendors. Those little nuggets are as close as I can find these days and I love them.
That being said – my mother started eating ice as her health failed and the sound of someone crunching on ice absolutely sets my teeth on edge. I will leave a room if there is too much ice crunching around me.
Deidre Renee Gould says
I bought one before Black Friday when it was $449. I’d been looking at it for year and finally decided to splurge and buy it for myself. It takes up some counter space but well worth it. We use it more than the ice maker in the door of the fridge.
Jillbert says
Would I spend the money? Uh, no. H*** no! But I’d love it if one showed up at my house.
Sarah says
I have this. It’s amazing. I’d probably pay 3x the price. lol
tc says
I hate ice but then I am a Brit who drinks hot tea on 100 degree days. If I order a cocktail at a restaurant I tell them not to even show it the ice, I love them room temp; our regular places are used to me now and don’t flinch but if we go to a new place and I ask for no ice and room temp cocktail they think I am mad, my HH has to explain its because I am a Brit and they like everything warm including their beer (ha, ha). The other part is that I don’t trust commercial ice machines check this out https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=1641825&page=1#:~:text=Both%20Roberts%20and%20Katz%20said,from%20sanitized%20city%20water%20supplies.
DJ says
I have one and did not spend $500.00 for it. It’s handy and constantly makes ice. If you want a lot of ice at once, the larger more expensive ice maker would be better but if you just want to keep ice going all day, the small countertop one is great. I paid 76.00 for mine and love it. It allowes me more refrigerator space for food.
Taii says
No, I’d rather buy food or have too many bills to pay. But I did just purchase a new one to replace ours that went out. It took me a week of searching for the cheapest (including shipping) with great reviews. It was $67 I didn’t want to spend on ice, but in the long run it’s less than I would spend purchasing on ice throughout the year…don’t like my ice tasting like the freezer. For our family it is worth that much at least.