topic Re: Portable Ice Makers in Kitchen

Portable Ice Makers

In-x-s — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:28:20 GMT

I was tempted by last summer's Cook's Essentials ice maker but decided it was an expensive appliance just for our camper. This year with the new bigger cubes option made it more tempting -- so I ordered.

Does anyone have last year's model or one similar and does it work as you expected or is it just another appliance for the junk shelf in the pantry LOL

Re: Portable Ice Makers

CelticCrafter — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:49:27 GMT

Unless you do a lot of entertaining, I think it's one of those expensve things that will take up valuable real estate on the pantry shelf.

I know I could buy more ice than I'd need in the rest of my lifetime for that much money!

. . .

debic — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:45:27 GMT

I know a couple people that have them and love them. I'd probably get one if I had someplace to put one.

I make my own cubes every day as I drink a lot of ice water. Buying ice may be cheap, but it's certainly not convienent.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

Carmie — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 12:48:26 GMT

I have a portable ice maker in my camper. It is not from QVC, but similar. I have owned it for several years.

I like that it makes ice pretty fast and it's easy to operate. What I don't like about it is the fact that it does not store the ice once it is made.

Ours will turn off once all of the water is gone or the ice bucket is full. When the ice bucket is full, you must remove all of the ice and bag it and store in the freezer, or it will melt. Once the ice melts, the water runs back into the water storage section where it will be made into ice again.

I use mine occasionally. I find it's easier to just buy a bag of ice.

I would love it if it would store ice like a commercial ice maker. The only part of the ice maker that gets cold is the metal parts that actually make the ice. The section that hold the ice does not get cold, it's just like a plain old ice bucket.

I only paid about $80 for mine. QVC's model is quite expensive.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

In-x-s — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 13:45:55 GMT

Thank you for the responses -- I know the Q one is a little pricey but I liked the larger ice cubes. I wouldn't want to pay the hundreds of $$$$ it would cost to get one that would keep the ice after making it as a commercial one would. For us to make a few bags ahead of time for the cooler and then take the machine with us I'm hoping will work out. We have a small freezer compartment in the camper but it doesn't hold a full size tray and takes so long to freeze a tray for ice.

We had an ice maker in our home freezer but it stopped working and figured this was the cheaper option to fixing that one!

Re: Portable Ice Makers

In-x-s — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 13:50:02 GMT

@CelticCrafter wrote:
Unless you do a lot of entertaining, I think it's one of those expensve things that will take up valuable real estate on the pantry shelf.

I know I could buy more ice than I'd need in the rest of my lifetime for that much money!

I don't do any entertaining (other than myself LOL) but we generally buy 10-20 pounds of ice each weekend throughout the summer for camping plus we do use some throughout the week that we make at home so this would pay for itself in once season.

Re: . . .

Nightowlz — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 18:18:45 GMT

@debic wrote:
I know a couple people that have them and love them. I'd probably get one if I had someplace to put one.

I make my own cubes every day as I drink a lot of ice water. Buying ice may be cheap, but it's certainly not convienent.

@debic I also fill ice trays with our reverse osmosis system. All I drink is water & it has to be cold. I have 2 gallon jugs full of water in the refrigerator at all times plus another 6 qt jug with spigot to fill my glass. I started using one of those little insulated thermos type bottles to drink water in since it keeps it cold all day plus it does not sweat. I'm also using less ice.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

SharkE — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:38:18 GMT

I got one and love it. Cheaper then getting in car, fighting the lines at the machine and paying for it or finding out it's all gone after you drove to get there.

Keeping mine. LOL

. . .

debic — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:39:28 GMT

@SharkE wrote:
I got one and love it. Cheaper then getting in car, fighting the lines at the machine and paying for it or finding out it's all gone after you drove to get there.

Keeping mine. LOL

Or frosted and stale.

Re: . . .

SharkE — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:46:59 GMT

Hi again hahahhahaha

I'm getting ready to go buy the stuff to make choc ice cream in my new Cuisinart ice cream maker

. . .

debic — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:49:05 GMT

Sounds cold!

Re: . . .

SharkE — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 16:05:21 GMT

I can only hope hahahah

Re: Portable Ice Makers

Renata22 — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 21:17:27 GMT

I'm an ice eater so I've gone through several of the countertop models of different brands. I love the little ice cubes they make. They seem softer, which is important to an ice eater. 😊

Re: Portable Ice Makers

kitty4me — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 22:06:31 GMT

Do any of these store the ice? I thought I heard her say if you want clear ice you boil the water let it cool or use distilled water? I like clear ice.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

In-x-s — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:03:23 GMT

@kitty4me wrote:
Do any of these store the ice? I thought I heard her say if you want clear ice you boil the water let it cool or use distilled water? I like clear ice.

I'm sure they make ones that store the ice similar to the commercial ones but for home use, however, the price would be pretty outrageous!! I believe there is one on Q that holds only 6 pounds of ice and it's about $475.

I would much rather transfer the made cubes to my own freezer in any amount I feel I need.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

aubnwa01 — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 03:26:52 GMT

I think the Opal Ice Maker makes nugget ice, but I think it's pretty spendy.

Re: . . .

karol59 — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 01:28:04 GMT

YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A BIGGER KITCHEN, I AM GLAD YOU LIKE THE ICE MAKER, I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT ONE MYSELF

Re: . . .

In-x-s — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 11:41:48 GMT

Because this is so large, I did give it thought as to where I'd put it. I decided the logical spot was my laundry room on the counter next to the sink when in use because it is right next to my spare chest freezer. When not in use it should sit nicely on top of the mini-fridge we have in there.

Re: . . .

karol59 — Sat, 17 Jun 2017 21:03:11 GMT

oops, this was meant for Sharke.

Re: Portable Ice Makers

Tigriss — Sun, 18 Jun 2017 00:12:37 GMT

My granny got her's at Costco for $89 or so. It is the same model. She loves it for family gatherings. My aunt also loves her's, so it is handy and very useful. It does take awhile to make ice versus buying it.