Thread: How many have their own ice cube machines

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:06:07 +0800, phil..c wrote:

> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

i have one. i think there are the rule rather than the exception in the
u.s. the in-door ice and ice water dispenser is a little rarer.

your pal,
blake

"phil..c" <[email protected]> news:gshrvv$fj$[email protected]: in
rec.food.cooking

> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here
>

I have one. It's inside the freezer part of the refrigerator. The fridge
also dispenses chilled water if one should want some. I like it. I use
the ice cube trays for freezing stock.

Michael

--
You can find me at: - michael at lonergan dot us dot com

"phil..c" wrote:
>
> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?

In the US the majority of refrigerators sold in the past ten years contain
an auto icemaker... today most new units are ordered with the through the
door cubes, crushed, and water. Very few residences have stand alone
icemakers

> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

Where is here?

blake murphy <[email protected]>
news:1dtmy0oi52pgu.b0ivq72qy8q0$.[email protected]: in rec.food.cooking

> On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:06:07 +0800, phil..c wrote:
>
>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>>
>> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here
>
> i have one. i think there are the rule rather than the exception in
> the u.s. the in-door ice and ice water dispenser is a little rarer.

Hmmm... maybe I wasn't paying attention but when we were shopping for
new fridges, the ice cube and water dispensers seemed to be the rule
rather than the exception. The cubes and water come right out of the
front of the freezer door. The ice dispenser will also dispense crushed
ice instead of cubes if you want. That comes in handy when making
smoothies.

All that said, I can say I made a mistake when I picked out our current
model. I seldom use the water dispenser but I *must* have the ice cube
maker. Seems like I go through a lot of ice and ice cube trays are a
pain. I should have bought a top freezer model with an ice cube maker
in the top of the freezer. Our old fridge is downstairs but too small
for the area we need for it to fill out the kitchen are the fridge is
in. Live and learn.

I really don't care much for the side by side we currently have.

Michael

--
You can find me at: - michael at lonergan dot us dot com

Michael "Dog3" wrote:
> blake murphy <[email protected]>
> news:1dtmy0oi52pgu.b0ivq72qy8q0$.[email protected]: in rec.food.cooking
>
>> On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:06:07 +0800, phil..c wrote:
>>
>>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>>>
>>> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here
>> i have one. i think there are the rule rather than the exception in
>> the u.s. the in-door ice and ice water dispenser is a little rarer.
>
> Hmmm... maybe I wasn't paying attention but when we were shopping for
> new fridges, the ice cube and water dispensers seemed to be the rule
> rather than the exception. The cubes and water come right out of the
> front of the freezer door. The ice dispenser will also dispense crushed
> ice instead of cubes if you want. That comes in handy when making
> smoothies.
>
> All that said, I can say I made a mistake when I picked out our current
> model. I seldom use the water dispenser but I *must* have the ice cube
> maker. Seems like I go through a lot of ice and ice cube trays are a
> pain. I should have bought a top freezer model with an ice cube maker
> in the top of the freezer. Our old fridge is downstairs but too small
> for the area we need for it to fill out the kitchen are the fridge is
> in. Live and learn.
>
> I really don't care much for the side by side we currently have.
>
> Michael
>

Yes we looked at new fridges and those with the ice makers internal
seemed a waste of money and used valuable space and chewed too much
power. And lucky to produce 3 kg of ice per day

But a few of these are starting to appear

http://www.oo.com.au/prod/HMPSIM/1b.jpg

getting 18 kg a day of lovely cubed and hollow ice

Great for keeping the salads and sea food fresh

and the clink of ice in fine crystal with a decent Whiskey
adds ambiance to Susan Boyle type voices

Reckon it was a steal at $99.00 for folding money
Last one in the shop end of month type haggle

"phil..c" <[email protected]> news:gsi3du$5fh$[email protected]:
in rec.food.cooking

> Yes we looked at new fridges and those with the ice makers internal
> seemed a waste of money and used valuable space and chewed too much
> power. And lucky to produce 3 kg of ice per day

I'm fortunate to have a chest deep freeze and 2 refrigerators so storage
isn't an issue with us. If we still lived in a condo storage *would* be
an issue.

>
> But a few of these are starting to appear
>
> http://www.oo.com.au/prod/HMPSIM/1b.jpg
>
> getting 18 kg a day of lovely cubed and hollow ice

That's a cute looking gizmo. Where would you put it? If it goes on a
counter top you're wasting more space than you would by buying the fridge
with the ice maker intenally.


>
> Great for keeping the salads and sea food fresh
>
> and the clink of ice in fine crystal with a decent Whiskey
> adds ambiance to Susan Boyle type voices
>
> Reckon it was a steal at $99.00 for folding money
> Last one in the shop end of month type haggle

Let us know how it works. That thing looks ideal to keep in a garage.
Nice and handy for when you have folks over for some outdoor fun.

Michael

--
You can find me at: - michael at lonergan dot us dot com

phil..c wrote:
> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
Never seen one here (NE US) except in commercial applications (bar,
foodservice, hotel etc).


> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

Don't know? I guess it depends where "here" is?

"phil..c" wrote:
>
> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

A dedicated stand alone ice maker, or an automatic ice maker built into
a refrigerator? The later is extremely common in the US, most any new
refrigerator other than an absolute bottom end unit will have an ice
maker as standard equipment. A dedicated stand alone ice maker is
somewhat common for folks who do a lot of entertaining and can out pace
a normal refrigerator ice maker.

brooklyn1 wrote:
> "phil..c" wrote:
>>
>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> In the US the majority of refrigerators sold in the past ten years
> contain an auto icemaker... today most new units are ordered with the
> through the door cubes, crushed, and water.

Tell me about it. Try finding a side by side without that feature,
it wasn't easy. I wound up buying the floor model at the appliance
store.

nancy

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 12:45:05 -0400, "Nancy Young"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>brooklyn1 wrote:
>> "phil..c" wrote:
>>>
>>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>>
>> In the US the majority of refrigerators sold in the past ten years
>> contain an auto icemaker... today most new units are ordered with the
>> through the door cubes, crushed, and water.
>
>Tell me about it. Try finding a side by side without that feature,
>it wasn't easy. I wound up buying the floor model at the appliance
>store.
>
>nancy

My Kitchenaid came with the option to have the ice maker. I decided
not to...learned my lesson, the wife had it installed during summer.
Don't know why I didn't have it installed in the first place. Option
was something like $500 extra at the time.

phil..c wrote:
> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

Haven't been without one as an adult ever. Have missed them when living
overseas though.

Goomba wrote:
> phil..c wrote:
>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>>
>> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here
>
> Haven't been without one as an adult ever. Have missed them when living
> overseas though.

let me clarify that. I've always had one in the US, but never had one
overseas in various apartments. Of course in one place the water was so
chock full of minerals that the ice maker would probably be damaged in
short order from the build up.

Ice cubes have arrived in phil's town.

Can indoor plumbing be far behind?

Miss Anne Thrope wrote:
> Ice cubes have arrived in phil's town.
>
> Can indoor plumbing be far behind?
>

see
http://www.danscartoons.com/hvac7_demo.gif

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:06:07 +0800, "phil..c" <[email protected]>
shouted from the highest rooftop:

>Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
>Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

We don't have or want one because we both don't like the taste of the
ice cubes they make. But my father and step-mother bought one of the
first icemaker-refrigerators available and it gave them no end of
problems.

Not that I can imagine ever needing more ice cubes than we can make in
trays and store in the freezer container supplied with our fridge. And
on the odd occasion that we're having a party that requires additional
ice cubes for keeping beer, wine, sodas, etc cold, I buy two or three
bags of commercially made ice. But I wouldn't use it *in* drinks.


--

una cerveza mas por favor ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mon 20 Apr 2009 06:06:07a, phil..c told us...

> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

That could me one of several things here in the US. The most "dedicated"
unit would be a standalone unit about the size of a mini refrigerator that
does nothing but make ice cubes, and generally at a fairly high production
rate.

Then there are several flavors of refrigerator/freezer combinations that
have an ice maker in the freeezer. The simplest of these is a unit that
makes repetitive batches of ice and dumps them into a bin in the freezer.
You open the freezer door and grab some cubes. (Actually, they are almost
all semi-circular in shape.) More elaborate units, particularly the side-
by-side model freezer/refrigerators, make ice in much the same way, but are
capable of distributing it through the door in either whole cubes or
crushed. Most of these models also dispense chilled water. A couple can
also dispense flavored beverages in the same manner.

The additional mechanisms of the latter provide many opportunities for
problems. I currently have a top freezer refrigerator with a simple ice
maker in it and I prefer it. I've never had a problem with it since we
bought it 3 years ago.



--
Wayne Boatwright
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the verb
to eat, in the active and in the passive. ~William Ralph Inge

phil..c wrote:
> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>
> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here

I have an ice maker built into the freezer of my fridge. There is also a
cold water dispenser.

We had them hook the fridge water line to the reverse osmosis system. We
have wonderful ice.

--
Janet Wilder
way-the-heck-south Texas
spelling doesn't count
but cooking does

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Mon 20 Apr 2009 06:06:07a, phil..c told us...
>
>> Not talking about water in trays but dedicated ice maker ?
>>
>> Just wondering as they are becoming popular here
>
> That could me one of several things here in the US. The most "dedicated"
> unit would be a standalone unit about the size of a mini refrigerator that
> does nothing but make ice cubes, and generally at a fairly high production
> rate.
>
> Then there are several flavors of refrigerator/freezer combinations that
> have an ice maker in the freeezer. The simplest of these is a unit that
> makes repetitive batches of ice and dumps them into a bin in the freezer.
> You open the freezer door and grab some cubes. (Actually, they are almost
> all semi-circular in shape.) More elaborate units, particularly the side-
> by-side model freezer/refrigerators, make ice in much the same way, but are
> capable of distributing it through the door in either whole cubes or
> crushed. Most of these models also dispense chilled water. A couple can
> also dispense flavored beverages in the same manner.
>
> The additional mechanisms of the latter provide many opportunities for
> problems. I currently have a top freezer refrigerator with a simple ice
> maker in it and I prefer it. I've never had a problem with it since we
> bought it 3 years ago.
>
>
>
I'm on my third fridge with the simple ice maker in it. I did put a
filter cartridge in the line to keep the ice maker from clogging up. We
have a lot of calcium hardness in our city water. The old Gibson fridge
ice maker did clog and quit working. It was cheaper to just buy a new
unit and install it plus the filter. Appears most of the refrigerators
with ice makers all use the same ice maker. Sort of like electric
stoves, most are actually made by GE and just branded for the company
that sells them. The filter did the job and I just have to change it out
annually.Have it earmarked on my calendar on this computer so I don't
forget.

I've seen too many of the ones with multiple functions go defunct and
they cost a fortune to replace or repair. The simple things are best.

George Shirley wrote:

> I'm on my third fridge with the simple ice maker in it. I did put a
> filter cartridge in the line to keep the ice maker from clogging up. We
> have a lot of calcium hardness in our city water. The old Gibson fridge
> ice maker did clog and quit working. It was cheaper to just buy a new
> unit and install it plus the filter. Appears most of the refrigerators
> with ice makers all use the same ice maker. Sort of like electric
> stoves, most are actually made by GE and just branded for the company
> that sells them. The filter did the job and I just have to change it out
> annually.Have it earmarked on my calendar on this computer so I don't
> forget.
>
> I've seen too many of the ones with multiple functions go defunct and
> they cost a fortune to replace or repair. The simple things are best.

Right. Consumer Reports states that the majority of repairs are
performed on the water/ice function on a 'fridge. When we purchased our
new bottom freezer/top fridge GE Profile fridge we sought out the model
that only has a basic ice maker. You have to pull open the freezer
drawer to get to it but we don't have gadgets going through the door.
We've gotta have our ice, but not a lot of bells and whistles.
Goomba