If you’re craving that perfectly crunchy Chick-fil-A or Sonic-style ice at home, you can buy a countertop nugget ice maker for $150. Or you can buy one for $250 or more. But what does that extra $100 get you, and is it worth it?
We bought 5 nugget ice makers and measured how quickly they make ice, how much they can actually hold, how big the nuggets are, how noisy they get, how easy they are to clean, and—most importantly—we’ve eaten a whole lot of ice.
Quick Links to the products mentioned in this post:
- Kismile Nugget Ice Maker
- EUHOMY IM039 Nugget Ice Maker
- Typhur Fast Nugget Ice Maker (Wi-Fi) (Save 10% with code THEBBQLAB) or on Amazon
- ecozy Nugget Ice Maker
- Newair Countertop Nugget Ice Maker
- Gravitas kitchen scale
- Descaler packets
Today we’re comparing five countertop nugget ice makers because if you’re going to buy one, you might as well buy the right one the first time. So let’s see what we’re working with.
Comparing Countertop Nugget Ice Makers
Starting at the least expensive, we have the Kismile Nugget Ice Maker, which we purchased for $149.99. Next is the Euhomy IM039 at $169.97. Right in the middle is the Typhur Fast Nugget Ice Maker. It sells for $199 and is the only machine in this group with Wi-Fi connectivity.
For $219.99, we have the Ecozy Nugget Ice Maker, which takes a different approach from the rest because it dispenses the ice directly into your cup rather than using a traditional removable basket. And finally, the most expensive machine in our test is the Newair countertop nugget ice maker at $249.99.
So we’ve got a $100 spread from the cheapest nugget ice maker to the most expensive. The question is whether that extra money gets you better ice, more ice, a better experience, or if you’re just paying more for the same thing.
Water Reservoir Capacity
When shopping for any style of countertop ice maker, you’ll come across all kinds of claims about how many pounds of ice it can make per day. But you need to understand that these ice makers only produce any real quantity if you continually harvest ice and refill the water reservoir. So let’s start with the reservoirs themselves.
The Euhomy and Kismile have the smallest capacity, holding 1.1 liters or about 40 ounces of water at a time. Typhur can hold 1.5 liters, or about 52 ounces of water, and the Ecozy and Newair models have the largest capacity, holding 1.8 liters, or 60 ounces of water. These are also the only 2 ice makers that have a removable reservoir for convenient filling.
Ice Production Test
The next part of the equation is ice making speed. We were curious if any if the nugget ice makers produced ice faster than the others. We filled each ice maker with the same room-temperature water, engaged ice making, and started a timer for 30 minutes. We weighed the ice using our Gravitas kitchen scale and discovered that the Newair had produced the most, giving us 333 grams of ice, while the Typhur had produced the least, giving us only 228.6 grams of ice.
The ice quickly returned to the basket, and another 30-minute timer was set. After a total of 60 minutes of ice making, Typhur had still produced the least, at 480 grams total, and the Newair gave us the most, at 729 grams.
So if we take our 60-minute rate and multiply that by 24, the Newair ice maker could make about 38.5 pounds of nugget ice in a 24-hour period, but that’s with someone bagging up ice and refilling the water reservoir hourly.
And let’s be honest, no one is going to do that. So the more realistic question is: how much ice can each one can hold at one time?
Ice Bin Capacity
We filled each water reservoir to capacity and let each ice maker go until indicating the bin was full. I then dumped the entire bin of ice into a bowl to weigh.
Ecozy’s bin is more of an ice hopper that you really don’t have access to. So once that one indicated it was full, we were able to dump out 595 grams of nuggets into the bowl. The Euhomy bin held just shy of 800 grams. The Newair bin held a little more than that, reaching 846 grams. The Kismile and Typhur bins were both overflowing around the 900-gram mark, give or take a few.
So what does that translate to in a real-world scenario? We’re all familiar with the red Solo cup. Assuming each cup is filled with 100 grams of ice nuggets, that means that the Ecozy would only be able to serve about 6 people, whereas the rest of them would be able to serve 8-9.
However, on the flip side, the Ecozy ice would certainly be the most sanitary, whereas the other nugget ice makers would have just had 8-9 questionably clean hands reaching in. So you choose your battles.
Pebble Ice Quality
Now that we know how quickly they make ice and how much they can hold, there’s another question that matters just as much: is the ice actually any good?
We used a digital caliper to measure the size of each nugget. The Newair and Euhomy produced the smallest nuggets, both measuring 9.32mm. Ecozy and Kismile were slightly larger, measuring around 10.8mm. The Typhur nuggets were the standouts here, measuring 13.62mm in length. Typhur was the only nugget ice maker whose ice was more of a cylinder as opposed to a cube.
David and I both took turns chewing the ice and it was all nicely chewable. However, the Typhur and Ecozy ice were a little harder than the rest. The Newair and Euhomy made the chewiest ice. As you might expect, the Typhur ice pellets melt slower than the rest due to their slightly larger size.
Noise output
We’ve had these nugget ice makers all up and running regularly at the Lab for about a month. They’ve mostly been located in the kitchen, but they’ve each taken a turn sitting in our office so we could hear if there were any offensive sounds coming from each machine.
We’ve had nugget ice makers in the past make horrible sounds, so we definitely wanted to identify if that was going to be the case for any of these.
We really didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary from any of these, and after testing them all with a decibel meter from across the room for 5 minutes, they all pretty much averaged operating in the upper 50’s, which is comparable to what you would hear coming from a window air conditioner.
Self cleaning test
Countertop ice makers all need to be cleaned regularly. All of these nugget ice makers have a self cleaning function to help remove mineral buildup.
The Euhomy included 4 packs of descaler and the Typhur included 8. You can purchase decaler packets or specialized cleaning solutions, or you can also just add white vinegar to your water reservoir for cleaning, which is what we usually do.
The cleaning process was pretty much the same for all of these machines. However, once the self cleaning cycle has completed, the water reservoir needs to be drained and that’s where we see a difference in these.
Ecozy and Newair both have water tubes in the back of the machine that unhook and drain, either into a large cup or directly into a sink. I find this to be the easiest style to work with.
Euhomy, Kismile, and Typhur all have a plug in the bottom of the machine. You have to hold it over the edge of the sink, reach down, pull the plug, and allow it to drain into the sink. It’s important to make sure the plug gets returned securely so you don’t end up with a mess the next time you add water to the reservoir.
User Experience
I love that the Euhomy machine has a hook on the side to hang the scoop from, though it doesn’t seem like it’s super strong and could break easily. I wish more of these nugget ice makers put some thought into scoop storage.
Typhur includes both a metal and a plastic scoop, depending on your preference, I guess.
I’m a big fan of the ice makers with removable water reservoirs that I can take to the sink to fill up.
Smart Features
The Ecozy nugget ice maker doesn’t need a scoop since it distributes ice directly into your cup, however, don’t pull your cup away too quickly because there will still be a few more nuggets falling after you tell it to stop.
I think my favorite feature of all of these is found on the Typhur, which connects to wifi and I can program it from the app. We have a schedule set for it to start and stop making ice at certain times every day. It also notifies my phone if it needs more water or if the bin is full.
What’s the best nugget ice maker?
So in the end, which nugget ice maker wins for us? We have 5 to choose from and 2 places to use them. One of these will go to our home kitchen, and 1 will stay here for us to use at the Lab. This Newair has been in our home kitchen for the past 2 plus years, so the question is: will it be returning to its spot on our counter, or will a less expensive model take its place?
For us at home, having a water reservoir that can be removed to fill is a high priority, so that narrows it down to 2 options.
Honestly, we’re really tempted to bring the ecozy machine home. We have a Celiac in the house, and the idea of the ice dispenser means not having to worry about gluten cross-contamination on the scoop. However, for as much as we like to entertain, the smaller size just isn’t a good fit for our home; I’m afraid we would constantly be waiting for it to make more ice, so it looks like the Newair gets to come back home.
Here at work, we’re debating between the ecozy and the Typhur. The smaller size of the ecozy works just fine since it’s usually just the two of us here, but there’s a feature on the Typhur that I think seals the deal for us. I really like the wifi capability of the Typhur. I love that we can program that one to start making ice in the morning and it’s ready when we arrive. And we don’t have to remember to turn it off at the end of the day either.
So that’s how we’ve decided; how about you? Which nugget ice maker would you choose and why? Ultimately the best nugget ice maker for you comes down to your own personal preference and budget.
