If your refrigerator doesn’t have an ice maker, or your ice maker is far from your home bar, what you need is a countertop ice maker. These are small machines that make ice, which you can then store in your home fridge or in a mini-fridge at your bar.
Just plug one in, add water to it and wait for the ice to form. These are also great for use in RVs and vacation rentals that don’t have fridges with built-in ice makers.
Top Picks
- Best Overall: COWSAR Water Cooler Dispenser with Built-in Ice Maker
- Highest Capacity: Newair 45 lbs. Portable Countertop Clear Ice Maker
- The Big Name: GE Profile Opal Countertop Nugget Ice Maker
- Self-Dispensing Feature: KBice Self Dispensing Countertop Nugget Ice Maker
- Budget Pick: Frigidaire Compact Countertop Ice Maker
Tips for Using Countertop Ice Maker Machines
- Use distilled or filtered water. This makes your ice taste better and also keeps your machine operating well for longer. Some units specify that they can work with soft tap water, too.
- Note that these machines will not keep stored ice cold. You have to use it or transfer it to a freezer or cooler for storage. If you don’t, the ice melts inside the machine, but they will recycle the water and make more ice from it so it’s not a loss.
5 Best Ice Makers for Home Bars
This amazing little countertop machine dispenses hot and cold water as well as ice. It's a complete water and ice dispensing machine for any room in your home.
- Dimensions: 6.7 x 10.9 x 19.2 inches
- Makes 12 pieces of ice in 6-10 minutes
- Dispenses hot and cold water. The hot is warm enough for making cocoa from an envelope or a cup of ramen noodles
- Fill it by pouring water into the reservoir or by putting a 3-5 fallon water cooler style jug on top of it.
- Comes with an intelligent control panel and indicator light
- Low noise
- Fits into small spaces and can easily be moved - perfect for traveling or use at the office
- Installing it is as easy as turning it on
- Reviewers recommend turning it off at night to save electricity, since it will just keep making ice as the previous ice melts back into the reservoir
- No water hookup required
GE Profile is a well-known brand name in appliances, recognized for its quality. The Opal 2.0 ice maker is no exception.
- Produces 24 pounds of "Opal" nugget ice per day, which is made from compacted ice flakes to retain flavor. It's similar to the ice sold at Sonic fast food restaurants
- Side tank lets you produce 3x more ice
- Ice that melts goes back into the reservoir and is used to make more water
- No water hookup required
- Can easily be moved around in your home or RV
- Quiet, fast and easy to use
This is the biggest ice maker in this list, but only by 1 pound.
- FrozenFall technology flash-freezes water in layers. This gives you crystal-clear ice that melts slowly. Perfect for cocktails!
- Makes up to 45 pounds of ice in 24 hours
- Lots of options: settings let you make ice quickly, or choose its thickness, choose between hollow or soild or in between.
- Large clear viewing window so you can check progress
- Easy to use LCD display lets you know when you need to refill water or empty the ice
- Dimensions: 12”W x 16” D x 17-1/2”H
Get nugget ice - little pebbles of ice - from this ice maker.
- Uses environmentally friendly refrigerant
- Self-clean function keeps it clean and running efficiently
- Dispenses ice with the push of a button
- Easy to use: just fill with water and turn it on. In 25 minutes you have crunchy ice, similar in size to crushed ice from a refrigerator ice maker
- Can use soft tap water (hardness under 100 PPM) as well as distilled, bottled, or RO purified water
- Produces 30 pounds of ice every 24 hours, or 1-2 pounds an hour.
- Has internal storage to hold 2 pounds
- Compact size is great for small spaces
- Reviewers rave about KBIce customer service
From a brand that's been around forever, this Frigidaire ice maker produces bullet ice cubes.
- Make ice in less than 9 minutes and store up to 1. 7 pounds at a time
- Compact size
- Produces up to 26 pounds of ice per day
- User-friendly control panel lets you know when you need to refill water or empty the bin
- See-through window lets you know what's happening inside the machine
- Comes with a scoop and ice basket