2.2L Andrew James Ice Maker Machine – Portable Countertop Ice Machine for Home, Electric Ice Dispenser with Scoop & Basket, Self-Cleaning, Small or Large Ice Cubes

Dithered for years over buying an ice maker and finally found this one at a very good price. The unit fits on the work top no worries, it's about the same size as a bread maker so it goes under the microwave no bother. The cable is a reasonable length and it's quiet in operation. When you start making ice the first few drops of "cubes", they're actually more like thimbles, will be smaller than the full size. I usually fill up the water trough, and leave the machine to run for half an hour, then pour the made ice back into the water trough and leave it to run. The ice then seems to reach its maximum size. Wait until the basket is full, bag up the ice, and stuff it in the freezer or use it straight away. I'll leave it running for an hour or two doing its thing. You can get initial ice in really just about 10 mins. Small thimbles to be sure, but they are ice and they do work. I normally make two medium freezer bags worth of ice and then drain the machine, clean it up and dry it off, and put it away until I need more ice. I'm very happy with it. Great price, quiet, quick-ish, and good ice.

Excellent ice maker. Really easy to use. Great design. Keeps making ice until you stop it which is great. I use the large sized ice cubes size. l use spring water and the ice cubes come out crystal clear.

Bought this at the start of the summer and it has been running a few months now. As someone who tends to load all my drinks with ice usually bought at £1 a bag from the local supermarket, it has probably paid off a big chunk of its price in the last 3 months alone. The unit is very well constructed. It's an extremely sturdy design with a very stylish and eye-catching exterior. If you have it sitting on your kitchen counter it's going to be a definite conversation piece when guests are around. It starts producing ice thimbles (I call them thimbles because that's pretty much the shape they are) within about 10-15 minutes of first being switched on, so you won't be left waiting. It's fairly noisy at several stages of the ice-making procedure, but not excessivly so. If it's in the room next door with the door closed and a TV or conversation going on you probably won't even hear it. The ice cubes it produces are smaller than in the bags of ice you buy from supermarkets or service stations, and the unit seems to freeze them at *just* below 0C (compared to ice cubes in a freezer that would be a few degrees more sub-zero). The increased surface area/mass ratio (sorry, science geek) and proximity to the freezing point means the ice tends to melt much more quickly than ice from other sources. Basically, it makes ice fast but the ice it makes also melts fast. For a couple of people looking top-ups to their drinks it works fine. If you're hoping to keep a whole dinner party topped up then you might need to move the ice to a fridge freezer unit or a well-insulated ice box. Which leads into my final comment on the product. It's a device that requires a certain amount of attention and monitoring. It's built and designed to produce reasonable amounts of ice over a short timeframe. If you leave it switched on for a couple of hours it will fill up its ice bucket and stop making more ice. That's not a design flaw, it's more the nature of the product. It produces ice fast when you need it, but the machine is designed to produce on-demand. It's not designed to be an always-on ice maker.

Although a great machine and makes ice quickly, doesn’t take up to much space on the counter top but where it disappointed me was the reason we bought it. It was described as self cleaning … definitely not true. You still have to wash and clean it out yourself , dry and if not in use used bicarbonate soda to kill off any bugs etc. little disappointing on this front

Great product that makes ice quickly

A very robust machine, it doesn’t take long before you have ice , I made so much ice and only used 1/2 the tank of water. It’s quieter than my kettle when running, it is quite heavy so be careful when emptying the tank. Would recommend ☺️

This ice maker was originally reviewed as follows, labelled 'Mixed Feelings' and with two stars: "I’ve had Andrew James stuff before; the last one was a portable induction hob that I bought from them a couple of years ago: well made, seems like decent materials. Does the job okay and certainly no reason for complaint. However I’d say there were these things to consider before you think about playing this much for the ice maker... It’s noisy. Very noisy. I was surprised at what a mechanical process the icemaking is, so every stage creates its own noise and you don’t get much break from the row it makes. It clatters and crashes its way through the process and, while I can see why it makes the noise that it does, it’s crashing and banging that I could do without! I also suspect that it is not very power efficient. I haven’t attached a power meter to it yet but I would be interested to do so and I’m pretty sure it’s going to show a rather high level of consumption. I also think it might be a good idea to have included what I guess you to call a ‘snooze’ function, so the making process can be paused, and the ice already made can just be preserved at the current temperature. Lastly, it appears that you can’t do anything to stop the ice in the basket all sticking together, which is a real pain in the neck. Sorry, Andrew James, but this was not a great purchase." Now, I'm adding the following: This really is not good. There is a base plate fixed to the bottom of the machine which carries large, cross-head screws (which appear to hold the whole thing together). At least one of these ugly fixing screws protrudes so far outwards from the body of the machine, and has such worn and abrasive heads, that they have caused significant damage to the kitchen work surface that it sits on. Worse still, whilst the supplier has agreed to accept it as a refund/return, I apparently have to pay the cost of return postage on this very heavy device myself, and I'm given no information about either how I reclaim that cost or how I get my worktop repaired. Looks like I'm going to have to get snotty with Amazon before I'll make any progress... I'd say avoid this purchase on all counts.

A superb product, which, for me, has helped to make this current heat more tolerable! Unfortunately, I don't have access to a freezer so for me this is absolute bliss to have! Mine is having the greatest test ever, working through these past few weeks of incredibly hot weather here in the UK. It's been running almost constantly since I purchased it . It is so easy to use and I have a supply of ice always available for adding to glasses of water and other drinks for myself and my family (the ices aren't cubes, they are cylindrical in shape.) It is solid, sturdy and somewhat heavier than I expected, but the weight creates the stability so I don't have any problem with that. The seven controls/indicators are placed at the top front on the lid of the machine. These are:- a 'Power' indicator, which glows green when the machine is on; a 'Power On/Off' button and 'Select' (for the size of ices) - 'S' for small and 'L' for large. (the chosen size indicator glows green.) At the top left beginning of the Controls/Indicators, there are two 'action required' buttons which light up red to indicate 'Water Required' or 'Ice Full.' Underneath the machine, out of sight, at the front, there is a rubber bung which you gently ease out to empty out any water that needs to be replaced, etc) so the machine needs to be placed either at the edge of a surface, slightly overhanging, so you can operate the drainage (and hold or place a receptacle under it to catch the water.) Or, being safety conscious, I prefer to just pull the machine forward to slightly overhang when I want to drain it and I replace the bung and ease the machine back immediately afterwards. I have other Andrew James products, which I have found absolutely reliable, but this Ice Maker goes to the top of the list for Design, Ease of Use and Service (tested almost constantly from the date of purchase to present day)