The Best Countertop Ice Maker 2022, Tested and Reviewed

Table of Content

• The best countertop ice maker overall: GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker with Side Tank
• Other countertop ice makers we tested (a.k.a. budget picks)
• The best countertop ice maker for clear ice: Luma Comfort Countertop Ice Maker
• NewAir Portable Countertop Ice Maker
• Igloo Automatic Portable Electric Countertop Ice Maker Machine
• Luma Comfort Countertop Clear Ice Maker
• NewAir Portable Countertop Ice Maker

So above all else we focused on how quickly and how well the machines produced ice, paying little attention to the listed output for each. To get a full 26 pounds of ice, you’d have to stockpile batches in your freezer all day. If you have the counter space and the cash, we recommend splurging for the GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker with Side Tank because it provides a seemingly endless supply of “the good ice” . If you prefer crystal clear ice in an actual cube, the NewAir Luma Comfort will provide it for less than half the price of the Opal.

So, to find a model worthy of the space it takes up, we tested several ice making machines at a variety of price points. One—a countertop nugget ice maker—stood out above the others, but they all did what they were supposed to, which is to turn out ice quickly and efficiently. And to learn more about how we tested ice makers and what we looked for, scroll toward the bottom. This portable ice maker from NewAir, the same company that makes the Luma, does everything the Frigidaire does with all the same features, but it’s more compact. It has a footprint of 8.74" x 12.32" and stands just over a foot tall. You can choose a stainless-steel or matte black body and purchase an extended warranty if you buy directly from NewAir.

The best countertop ice maker overall: GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker with Side Tank

For thicker ice cubes, you can turn off the machine then hold down the power button for five seconds, which restarts it in a different mode. Any appliance that’s going to take up semipermanent residence on the kitchen counter has to be worth it. Even the smallest ice makers are pretty bulky, though none of the machines we tested were unreasonably large either. When it was time to make ice, we cleaned each ice maker according to the manual, then filled the reservoirs to their max capacity with filtered water and watched each machine do its thing. We took note of how long each machine took to start making ice and complete a full batch, we scooped and chewed a ridiculous amount of ice, and we refilled each machine when necessary. Setting up the Opal 2.0 takes a little extra time because you have to run the self-cleaning cycle four times before the first use—but after that making ice takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Filling the water tank is easy via a dedicated opening on the top of the machine and within 15 to 30 minutes you’ll have your first tray of 24 connected clear ice cubes. There are indicators for both a minimum and maximum water level and alert lights for an empty water reservoir and full ice basket. But for as useful as we find them, we concede that they can clog your counters.

Other countertop ice makers we tested (a.k.a. budget picks)

But no matter what type of ice you crave or how much you have to spend, a countertop ice maker is a useful addition to your kitchen because the ice it makes isn’t like regular ice—it’s cool ice. And by “cool,” we mean not rock-solid like what you’d get from an ice cube tray or your freezer’s built-in ice maker. A freestanding ice maker produces ice that’s cold enough to chill a cocktail but still soft enough to be perfectly chewable. The GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker is the Tesla Model S (that’s the fancy one for non-car folks) of countertop ice makers, both in terms of luxury and tech. But what really makes this the best countertop ice maker is the type of ice it produces.

The manual recommends cleaning the machine once a week with a solution of diluted bleach and water. NewAir markets the Luma as a portable ice maker, but like any appliance with a compressor, it shouldn’t be transported on its side. If it does end up horizontal, it should rest upright for a while to ensure optimal performance. So while it’s small and lightweight enough to move (25 pounds, compared to the Opal’s 38 pounds), it can’t be quickly tossed in a trunk and then plugged in the second you reach your destination. When you need ice and you need it fast, these portable ice makers get the job done.

The best countertop ice maker for clear ice: Luma Comfort Countertop Ice Maker

Like the other machines in this style, the lid has a viewing window into the ice basket and a drain plug on the front underside makes it easy to empty and clean. Its see-through ice bin holds up to 48 ounces at a time and for a better look at how much is inside, you can turn on the LED light. A drip tray helps to protect your counter, and you get a basic ice scoop too (alternatively, there’s a pricier model with a push-button dispenser). This machine connects to Wi-Fi and has its own should you want to schedule a fresh batch of ice while you’re away from home or you want to control your ice maker via Google or Alexa. Of all the machines we tested, the Opal 2.0 produced the most ice, and thanks to the side tank, produced it consistently.

While we expect any machine to make some noise, we paid attention to the noise level of each while actively making ice and resting. Since 1995, Epicurious has been the ultimate food resource for the home cook, with daily kitchen tips, fun cooking videos, and, oh yeah, over 33,000 recipes. Whether you're making soft-serve, gelato, or loading it up with mix-ins, homemade ice cream is an indulgence worth undertaking. We drank a lot of coffee to find the best machine for caffeinating your mornings.

The Best Countertop Ice Maker for Pellet Ice, Clear Ice, and Frozen Drinks

Also, some customer reviews rightly highlight that the machine is fairly noisy when working. But it’s perfectly quiet when not actively making nuggets, and we wouldn’t expect a machine that magically produces Sonic-quality ice to do so silently. Even with the tank attachment, the machine itself is sleek and fairly slim, and though its footprint is slightly larger than the other ice makers we tested, it’s worth every inch of counter space it takes up, and it’s just short enough to tuck under a cabinet. The Luma can make up to 28 pounds of clear ice a day and the control panel is simple and intuitive.

While you could save a few inches and a few bucks by opting for a model without the side tank, we don’t recommend going that route. The tank functions as an additional water supply and triples the Opal’s water storage capacity. Without the tank attachment, you’d have to fill the water reservoir much more often, and considering how quickly this ice can go, we’d recommend the side tank if you’ve already decided to splurge on the Opal 2.0. Filling both the water reservoir and the side tank takes some getting used to—the drain tubes were a little awkward to work with at first and we spilled.

NewAir Portable Countertop Ice Maker

If you just need ice and you need it quickly, these more affordable countertop ice makers are nearly identical in terms of performance, capacity, size, and price. They all make the exact same cloudy but chewable bullet-shaped ice in two different sizes—and they do it quickly too. After the initial setup, you can expect to hear the first cubes drop into the included ice basket within about 10 minutes. So if you aren’t particular about the type of ice you’ll get and want to spend less than $200, you can confidently choose any of the following machines based on personal preference (or sale price, if you’re lucky).

The brand’s self-proclaimed “good ice.” Though some reviews sometimes mistakenly call it “crushed ice,” it’s actually made by compressing ice flakes into perfectly chewy little nuggets. It’s the kind of ice that comes from a dwindling number of fast-food soda fountain dispensers and ice aficionados may know as Sonic-style ice. Though it looks much smaller than the Opal, this compact ice maker by Frigidaire is just about the same depth and only two inches narrower (17.8" D x 11" W x 14.9" H) and comes in four finishes, including stainless steel.

It can produce up to 26 pounds of bullet ice in 24 hours and after the initial setup, the first batch will drop down from the Evaporator Fingers (yes, that’s what they’re called) into the ice basket within about 10 minutes. Once the basket is full, the machine will stop automatically but will start again once you empty the ice basket—unless the water level is too low, at which point an Add Water indicator illuminates. You can check the ice basket via a viewing window on top of the machine. Cleaning is easy too; just remove the plug on the front underside of the machine to drain and rinse.

After unboxing we let the ice makers sit on the counter undisturbed for two hours. Like refrigerators, new ice makers should remain upright for an hour or two before being plugged in to make sure any jostling of the compressor and other parts that occurred during shipping settles out. According to the manual, the inside of the Luma only needs to be wiped down with a warm, damp cloth before it's ready to start making ice. After that cleaning instructions are simply to clean with a diluted detergent solution as needed, which is easy to do thanks to the drainage port on the back; simply rinse the interior with the suggested solution, drain, and dry. Unlike the Opal, the Luma doesn’t have a self-cleaning function. We’re partial to clean lines and sleek designs, but understanding that everyone has different preferences, we favored machines that offered more than one color or finish option.

How to Build a Fireproof Closet Doing it safe and right!

Table of Content

• Understand fire rating classifications when building your fireproof house
• Composite decking
• What are the Benefits of Buying a pre-made Fireproof Box?
• Top Six Reasons to Choose a Custom Home Builder

If you want a fireproof closet or afireproof storage room, then you may want to put some emphasis on making the wood fireproof. Garage doors are a key access point too – metal panel doors are your best bet again, but you’ll need to make sure these doors are very tightly fitted to prevent embers from sliding under. When framing your windows, experts suggest that steel framing is the most flame-resistant option, followed by aluminium, with vinyl as the least resistant.

Doing this will mean that you critically look at the requirements for fire resistance, such as selecting the right building materials, installing fire alarm systems, etc. At a time when house fires are so rampant, building fireproof homes is a necessity. These homes can help avert damage to property, bodily injury, and fatality. As you’ve seen in this guide, anyone can make their homes a little more fireproof by taking just a few practical steps. For your deck, you can go for fireproof construction materials like concrete, stone, tile, or brick. Fiberglass insulation is commonly used in residential and commercial buildings.

Understand fire rating classifications when building your fireproof house

You can use a hand drill or screwdriver to make holes in the toolbox that match your lock’s cylinder . We would never have to worry about our belongings being damaged in a fire in a perfect world. But unfortunately, fires can happen anywhere, and at any time, so it’s important to take precautions to protect your possessions. Candles can be a fire hazard, as they can be knocked over. The flame can also spread to nearby fabrics or something could fall on top of it.

Space heaters, particularly the older kind with open heating elements, can be dangerous. Keep anything flammable well away from a heater, and make sure that the heater is not in a place where it could be knocked over by a pet or child. But the basic rule is to put 3-layers outside and one layer inside the closet. If you have wall studs, then make sure to wrap them evenly. From our point of view, we can see a couple of reasons as to why someone would need to know how to build a fireproof closet.

Composite decking

Primarily this material is built for sealing off the inside and transmitting heat gradually and preserving the safe. You can easily make a fireproof safe to protect your valuables, which can be retrieved once you’ve extinguished the fire. There are several items in the house that you might have that you can use as a fireproof safe. In this article, I’m going to teach you how to build a fireproof safe that is simple yet effective. To ensure your fireproof box is effective, drill holes in the bottom for airflow.

This will allow paper products to burn, as they need oxygen to ignite. Use a metal file or hand drill to avoid damaging the box’s integrity. Keep the number of holes to a minimum to prevent heat from escaping. Making your home more fireproof is a good idea for anyone. However, it's a particularly good idea if you live in an area prone to wildfires. If you're building a new home, you can take steps to build with materials that will slow down fires.

What are the Benefits of Buying a pre-made Fireproof Box?

Use a clean rag, brush, or vacuum to clean the front of the detector of dirt and debris. Avoid using spray cleaners on the detectors as they can cause damage. An easy way to remember to change your batteries in your smoke detector is to do so whenever you set your clocks forward and backward in the spring and fall.

You just need to buy the pre-made one which will be delivered right to your doorsteps. Making your bedroom more fireproof requires some effort on your part, but is well worth it. Reinforced fireboard safes are made, but could have an extra thick exterior steel layer to provide higher standards of anti-theft security.

Step 3: Don’t use connected wooden racks

Install sprinkler heads on theroof, and over decks or patios around the house, as an added safeguard against approaching wildfires. Driven by wind, flames travel over areas covered with combustible items, such as weeds, shrubs, and trees.Strategically landscaped spaces can protect your house from an approaching wildfire. Driveways, decks, patios, water features, and incombustible vegetation can all be used to form such a defensive perimeter. But if you store money in a fireproof safe, the safe will protect your money. Many companies sell safes specifically for storing money. We will discuss how you can make something fireproof, likefireproofing walls.

They are fireproof and will prevent the fire from spreading outside of the room it started in. Perhaps the best option is to use insulated concrete forms , these are effectively blocks of polystyrene encased in concrete. They have the strength of concrete and are fireproof while being great at insulating your home.

Every time you do the laundry, try to clean out your dryer lint. Dryer lint is one of the leading causes of fires in the home. Therefore, make sure you clean it out regularly, at least every four to six loads. Now take 2 to 3 quarters of water and mix all the items together.

Burning embers roll off before they have time to burn through. Inform homeowners that they need to clean gutters to maintain fire safety. While ICFs have been around for decades, their use has mostly been limited to commercial and institutional buildings, such as hotels and schools.

Although mineral wool can’t stand up to temperatures quite as high as other options, it is classified as non-combustible and has been shown to reduce fire spread rate. The safest place to set up a safe must be at the corner where two exterior walls meet. It gives a heavy safe the most security and helps to prevent fire exposure.

How To Build A Fireproof Safe

Table of Content

• Step one: Using sheetrock for insulation
• Building with Fire-Resistant Materials
• Insulation and Fireproof Coatings
• Effective Ways on How to Make a Fireproof Box
• How to Build Fire-Proof Homes
• Make Your Apartment Walls Come to Life with These Renter-Friendly Wallpaper Ideas

Ask any homebuilder about building a fire-resistant home, and they’ll point to insulated concrete forms as a key component in your home’s construction. ICFs are polystyrene blocks that connect together like pieces of Lego to create your home’s shell, locking out sound and weather. They’re made up of concrete, making them one of the most fire- and heat-resistant construction materials around. There are several types of mineral wool to choose from including glass, rock and slag wool.

Of course, having a detached house helps as there is no risk of family jumping from the neighbor’s property to yours. If you’re planning on building a home, then you should opt for detached and budget for using fireproof materials, it will pay off in the long run. You should also invest in smoke alarms to give you a warning, it won’t stop your house from burning, but it will give you time to either deal with it or get out. "We're especially interested in different kinds of materials for fences and decks," notes Smalley. While "fire people" tend to focus primarily on the use of non-combustible materials, he explains, builders talk about changing the layout of lots or the way streets interact with properties. With all the new tech, especially concrete printed homes available today, one would think this form of construction would be used in high fire danger areas.

Step one: Using sheetrock for insulation

You should also install a smoke detector directly outside the door of the room. This is to give you advanced warning, providing you with time to act before the fire gets to your door. If you have a long hallway outside of your house's bedrooms, install a smoke detector at either end and outside each bedroom door along the hallway. As the effects ofclimate changecontinue, wildfires in the U.S. are steadily becoming larger and more destructive than ever. In 2020,wildfires burned 10.1 million acresdestroying thousands of homes. The Western U.S. is especially susceptible to wildfires with cities likeColorado Springs, CO, andSacramento, CAexperiencing a high risk of fire damage.

Fireproof tiles or siding are generally made from stone, brick, or stucco. For siding, specify non-flammable material, such as fiber-cement siding, Cultured Stone, brick, or stucco. Vinyl siding may be adequate if fire can find no route to burn too close to the house , but all gaps and crevices beneath the vinyl must be sealed--or fire could find a way into the structure. To protect the base of the siding, where wood sills may overhang the foundation, consider putting a perimeter of crushed stone, so fire can't get a foothold adjacent to the house.

Building with Fire-Resistant Materials

Extreme heat alone is enough to shatter glass or trigger combustibles inside your home without the blaze even entering your house. A fire extinguisher’s principal purpose is to aid in the clearing of an escape route if necessary. Buildings must have fire extinguishers on-site and have people trained to use them. One of the appealing features of this type of coating is that when dry, painting the interior or exterior of the building will not damage the film. Intumescent spray film coatings are hydrate-containing epoxy-like substances.

These are areas of your home where flames will be trapped and where the hottest temperatures will be in the midst of a blaze. Because of this, you need to focus on the structural integrity of these parts of your home with extra layers of protection, such as adding a perimeter of crushed stone or a firewall. The sight of a looming blaze of fire can be intimidating but flying embers, about the size of a hand, pushed along by wind are usually the culprit behind 90 percent of fires spreading. Embers can fly up to seven miles from a wildfire, ending up in gutters and smouldering for hours before starting a secondary fire. For increased safety, choose metal gutters over vinyl, which could melt and drop fire onto the sides of your home.

Insulation and Fireproof Coatings

You should check your fire alarms twice a year to make sure they're working. If you have a fire alarm connected to your electrical system, you may need to call an electrician to get it fixed. If you're constantly tripping the breaker or blowing a fuse, you either have something wrong with your electrical system or you are overloading your outlet. Try putting less on that outlet, and if you still have a problem, you need to call an electrician.

They are light as well and thus easy to move frequently. As the name implies, they use fire-prone board panels as their substrate for insulation. You can place these boards into the home safes’ structure spaces during the final assembly phase. An old toolbox is a good starting point for a fireproof box, as it will already have a handle, flat surfaces, and a sturdy bottom.

It’s best to keep the home safe at the lower floor in a house with multiple levels. Whether your house or condo is fitted with an emergency device, it is wise to install it inside the sprinkler radius. Composite safes contain thin steel walls and a specific cement-like material prone to fire. A polymer that is poured into the storage container makes these types of safes durable. The safe’s structure continues to differ from manufacturer to manufacturer and can contain mixtures of gypsum, or some other fire-resistant materials. This blog post has taught you how to make a fireproof box.

Keep in mind that many rural fires begin as vehicle fires. Also, outbuildings such as garages and storage sheds often contain flammable materials, such as paint thinners and gasoline. By keeping them detached and well separated from the main house, a bigger loss may be prevented. The answer for many of them will be ICFs —polystyrene blocks that fit together like Legos to form a house's shell. Filled with concrete—one of the most fire—and heat—resistant of construction materials—ICFs create solid insulated walls that lock out sound and weather. They can reportedly withstand a fire for up to four hours.

Primarily this material is built for sealing off the inside and transmitting heat gradually and preserving the safe. You can easily make a fireproof safe to protect your valuables, which can be retrieved once you’ve extinguished the fire. There are several items in the house that you might have that you can use as a fireproof safe. In this article, I’m going to teach you how to build a fireproof safe that is simple yet effective. To ensure your fireproof box is effective, drill holes in the bottom for airflow.

This will allow paper products to burn, as they need oxygen to ignite. Use a metal file or hand drill to avoid damaging the box’s integrity. Keep the number of holes to a minimum to prevent heat from escaping. Making your home more fireproof is a good idea for anyone. However, it's a particularly good idea if you live in an area prone to wildfires. If you're building a new home, you can take steps to build with materials that will slow down fires.

Fireproofing a steel structure involves spraying fire-resistant coatings on the roof, walls, and floors. Any type of fireproof coating should be able to protect metal at a critical temperature of around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t want to sacrifice the aesthetic of a wood door for the fire protection of a metal door, there are a variety of fire-resistant wood doors to choose from.

After everything is said and done, it’s time to put on the finishing touches. Your fireproof box contains your house’s blueprints and your old family photo album. A fire safe is a container that can be used to store documents, records and other items that are important in the event of a fire. As homeowners infire-prone statesbegin to rebuild, they are sure to wonder whether or not it’s possible to construct a home that will have no issue withstanding another wildfire. While it may not be possible to construct a fully fireproof house, there are many different precautions you can take to make your home as fire-resistant as possible. Essential items and fixtures at home can be damaged in a fire.

Wall And Ceiling Lighting – What Should You Know?

Use a clean rag, brush, or vacuum to clean the front of the detector of dirt and debris. Avoid using spray cleaners on the detectors as they can cause damage. An easy way to remember to change your batteries in your smoke detector is to do so whenever you set your clocks forward and backward in the spring and fall.

If you're looking to make your current home more fireproof, you can reduce fire sources in your home to help protect your home from in-house fires. But there are some things we store there that need fireproofing. Like you can find flammable liquids, combustible materials, space heaters, and much more. If somehow these materials get radiant heat, there will be a massacre. While West Coast architecture leans towards stylish Spanish tile rooves, the style is notorious for cracks and openings that allow embers to sneak into and start another flame.