Inside the Best Nugget Ice Makers Available Today and What Makes Each One Worth Buying
See which countertop ice makers deliver the perfect chewable crunch and which ones are worth adding to your kitchen.
Ice nugget makers have surged in popularity as home kitchens chase the soft, chewable pebble ice found at fast-food restaurants. Here’s how the top-rated ice nugget machines compare on speed, output and smart features according to leading reviewers.
What are ice nuggets and how do they differ from regular ice cubes?
Ice nuggets are small, chewable pieces of ice, usually the soft crunchy kind you can easily bite through. Regular ice cubes, by contrast, are hard and dense.
The texture is what sets nugget ice apart. Summer Rylander with Food & Wine described the ice produced by the Euhomey Smart Nugget Maker as “crunchy pebbles that reminded us of fast-food restaurants.” That fast-food comparison is a big reason countertop nugget ice makers have taken off with home cooks who want a chewable pebble instead of a hard cube in their drink. Reviewers at Popular Mechanics, Good Housekeeping and Men’s Health have all rated leading models on how closely their output matches the real thing.
Which ice nugget maker is the best overall pick?
The Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice Maker draws the most consistent praise from reviewers, standing out for output speed, smart controls and design.
Popular Mechanics says the Opal 2.0 Ultra “churns out ice at a rapid enough pace to keep round after round of cold beverages for a sizable gathering.” The publication also praised its “easy-to-use app that offers smart functions such as scheduling alerts for maintenance” and noted that “its sleek design has a timeless vibe that won’t look dated two years from now.” For buyers who want one countertop machine that handles both entertaining and daily use, the Opal 2.0 Ultra is the pick reviewers keep coming back to.
How much nugget ice can a countertop machine produce in 24 hours?
Daily output ranges from about 34 pounds on compact machines to 44 pounds on larger models, according to reviewer testing.
Lizzy Briskin with Good Housekeeping reported that the Cowsar Nugget Ice Maker fills a full ice bucket in one hour and 13 minutes and can produce about 34 pounds of ice in 24 hours with continuous water refilling, calling that figure “among the highest of any machine we tested.” One full water reservoir yields 3.25 pounds of ice, though the machine’s smaller footprint means more frequent refills than larger competitors.
John Thompson and Joe Morales with Men’s Health said the Newair Nugget Countertop Ice Maker delivers “up to 44 pounds of nugget ice daily from its sleek all-black stainless steel body,” making it one of the highest-capacity countertop options reviewers tested.
Which nugget ice maker offers app control and smart features?
The Euhomey Smart Nugget Maker and the Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra both offer app-based control, while the Newair Nugget Countertop Ice Maker skips smart features in favor of design.
Summer Rylander with Food & Wine wrote that with the Euhomy, “you can remotely start and stop ice production no matter where you are.” Popular Mechanics highlighted the Opal 2.0 Ultra’s app-based “scheduling alerts for maintenance” among its smart perks, calling the interface easy to use.
The Newair takes a different tack. Men’s Health noted “there are no smart features” on the countertop model but pointed to design details, including an LED light that illuminates the ice in the viewing window, as reasons for its appeal.
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