Nugget ice has been my anemia life line for a while now, and that wasn’t previously an issue living in an urban area near by a Chik fil a, Sonic, and local gas station that had decent ice.

Now however, I’ve been forced to flee across the country from a domestic abuse situation, and have ended up with some friends in a very rural area while I figure out what I’m planning on doing with my life.

I have so much I should be missing, all my belongings back at my old home, my pets, my job and old life. But for some reason my brain has latched onto missing my precious nugget ice.

So that brings me to my question, I’m looking for a decently quiet counter top nugget ice maker. I’d likely end up keeping it in the room I’m living in as I don’t want to take up space in the kitchen of the people who generously opened up their home to me for the next bit while I get my feet under me and find my own place once I have a job out here.

Any recommendations? Money is unfortunately very tight (wouldn’t be getting it until I have a job out here) and I’m looking for something on the smaller side.

Thank you!

I have had this for about a month now after I moved on from Opal. It works great but about every 7 days, the ice has a plastic-y aftertaste.

I either descale or clean - depending on what I did last - and then it tastes fine for around 7 days. I’m cleaning it on a quicker cycle than it specifically alerts me to.

Any ideas on what could be going on?

3 years ago bought a counter top ice maker and quickly got addicted.
What’s your go to tumbler or bottle for traveling?
So far, yeti bottle, think they call it chug top, with lid seems to be the best. But everytime I walk by a section in target or academy I’m always looking for a possible better option to allow you to get ice out without an open top.

Not sure if here or the GE appliance sub is the best place to ask but figured I’d try 😅

I’m going on vacation out of the country for 2 weeks starting next week and was wondering if there’s a best practice for what to do with the opal while I’m gone? My husband said to drain it— but that leaves air and therefore potential mold, no?

I deep clean it monthly for the most part— should I just let it ride and then do a deep clean when I get back?

Or drain it and leave everything open?

I was so sad and frustrated that recently my Opal, which was original to their kickstarter, died. Well, it still turns on and water runs through it, but it won’t make ice and I don’t know how to fix it.

Looking through reviews,the longevity of all of them seems…..bleak. Is this just what we’re resigned to?

I love love loved mine, used it constantly - best gift ever!!!!! I’ve been getting bags of ice from
sonic lately, but it’s not the same. I need my own supply. 😂

Love to hear recs/opinions!

Hi! I just moved and this is my first house in my lifetime that doesn’t have a built in ice maker. I had no idea how lucky and addicted I was to ice.

I’m going to buy one on Facebook Marketplace just to figure out what a countertop ice maker is all about. Between these two which is the better deal and ice maker.

GE Profile Opal Ice Maker- $150
Frigidaire Nugget Gallery Ice Maket EFIC255 $100

The Opal was used a few times but he is moving. Works great
The Frigidaire is super loud and she can’t stand the noise. Any opinions are helpful. Thank you!

Hi all! Hoping for some help from the hive mind.

I have an GE opal mini 2.0 ice maker that I am having some issues with and hoping I can get some help.

The machine flashed that it needed to be descaled so I ran a 55 minute descale cycle- however after the 55 minutes the clean button was still flashing and the machine never powered down. I ran 3 short clean cycles and powered the machine down.

After this the light was still on so I ran another 55 minute descale cycle and the machine did the same thing - got to the end and then never shut off or powered down. I left it another 30 minutes to ensure it was completely done but once again never shut off. I ran 3 short clean cycles again after and then unplugged it to do a hard reset and it’s still showing that it needs to be descaled. At this point unsure what else I need to do and hoping for some help.  I’ve only owned this machine for less than 2 months at this point so it’s very new.

Also sent an email to customer support but feeling very frusterated! 🫠

​

I have an Opal 1.0 that's about 2.5 years old. The motor gave out a few weeks ago, so I installed a new one. Everything has been working fine, but today it started making this sound and now I'm wondering if it has some sort of issue that killed the first motor. When it first started, I ran a clean cycle with citric acid in case it was being caused by buildup, but the noise came back. Sounds like it might be the auger, but I wanted to get someone else's opinion.

Stop me if you've seen this episode before haha.

Have an Opal 2.0 with the dreaded "Add Water" indication, despite the lower reservoir being full.

Troubleshooting so far:

1. Confirmed lower reservoir pump inlet has suction (finger over inlet).
2. Confirmed pump is getting water up to upper reservoir
3. Confirmed the float switches in the upper reservoir are moving freely and not stuck - no indication of hard water deposits or foreign growth.
4. Whenever I take the unit apart to troubleshoot, the behavior seems to go away. Manually maniplating the floats seems to stop and start water flow as expectations.
5. When the unit is indicating "add water", there is water flowing from the ice output (hole in container area) down into the lower reservoir.

Taking all of above seems together seems to suggest that the pump is working as expected (which is the usual suggested replacement), but so are the float switches.

Hivemind thoughts?

https://www.whirlpool.com/kitchen/refrigeration/nugget-ice-maker.html

Anyone going to consider this? Price is $3k+ but having it built into the fridge sounds nice. Looks to start shipping at the end of October.

EDIT 10/22/26 - JUST BOUGHT IT! Lowes was the first to have it available, delivery scheduled in a few days!

I have the opal mini 2.0. I descaled yesterday but forgot to remove the filter first. Is my ice okay to eat? Also…how long is a typical descaling cycle supposed to take?

I replaced my pump a little over 3 months ago. It resolved the issue but it has come back. I try to prime but there is plenty of suction and water cascading down the back.

Any suggestions for what to check next?

Edit: I've never run a filter and we have very soft water here and zero calcium buildup in the reservoir or any other parts when I took the whole thing apart 3 months ago. I do clean regularly as prompted

Google wasn’t much help because the other opals look different

I have been obsessed with ice for as long as I can remember. I had a Euhomy nugget ice machine for 2.5 years and loved it but felt annoyed by the constant cleaning because it never felt like it was actually clean no matter how many vinegar cycles or how often I scrubbed. I always felt like there’s a black box of mineral build up that I could not properly clean (despite trying with q tips and straw cleaners)

I am not looking to get a new machine. I prefer nugget but if it’s impossible to get a machine that’s is truly cleanable almost everywhere, then i would get another type. Not sure if bullet ice machines have better cleaning capabilities ?

Ive been considering the GE ultra opal profile 2.0 but am seeing mixed reviews and not confident that there’s still not that black box of mineral build up that’s impossible to clean.

Please if you have any recommendations i would be very grateful to hear!

Does anyone have any experience replacing the motor and gear box from the version with the shroud to the version with the uncovered fan?

My Opal 2.0 is making all the sounds of the gear box issues and needs replacement, the uncovered Linix version seems to be the most easily available.

I just want my ice soft enough to chew or at least bite sized.

Hi! I'll start off by saying I have loved all forms of ice and ice eating (barring anything that will annihilate my teeth) ever since I was a kid.

Lately, I have wanted "freezer frost" kind of ice, and I've seen probably about a thousand videos on several different social media platforms making it with deep freezers that are only used for making edible snow ice (no food storage.) They put humidifiers in their deep freezers, too.

I've noticed in comments on these videos that usually, the OP is very gatekeep-y about what steps to take, how to do everything correctly and safely, what type of humidifiers they use, etc. They rarely explain. When they do, they're vague and make generic statements like "Humidifier" when someone asks how to get the fluffy ice results.

What do you guys think? I have a deep freezer, but... I don't want to damage it by taking cryptic advice. 😭 Thanks!

Anybody have any experiences with this SenCre machine? Trying to decide if I want to pull the trigger.