Product review (5 stars): Hollowed Be Thy Cubes
I received a free item to review.

And I cant think of a more accurate description: the ice cubes are shaped like hollowed-out rounded cones, not the semi-circular solids many refrigerator built-ins produce nor the classic cube shape you get with plastic trays in the freezer (I can remember when the trays were aluminum, with a pull-up release lever).

Ive had these cone-shaped cubes with drinks before and one advantage is theres less displacement in the glass so you get more of what you're drinking. And some people enjoy the mini-frosted-mug effect. The downside is if you enjoy sucking on, sloshing around, and biting down on your ice cubes, the cone shape tends to break down quickly as the rounded walls thin down.

It takes just over a 6-cup Brita pitcher-full of water to fill the icemaker to the max indicator  its nice that the indicator doubles as a ledge for the cube basket and is easy to see rather than a raised line I have to squint or feel around for. The compartment lid stays open by itself so pouring is comfortable.

Its very easy to operate  the start/standby button displays either a solid snowflake icon (standby) or a blinking one (running). Select from three sizes of cubes that are noticeably different (although all are cone-shaped). Theres a Set button for the clock and auto-on/off timer function you program similarly to digital clocks on stereos and microwaves.

Unfortunately the buttons are press tabs rather than actual buttons, but they protrude enough that the response is adequate.

Youll have to read the instruction page to identify the other warning icons and to troubleshoot: low water, jammed cube, etc. Theyre not intuitive and not terribly easy to see with the lit-LCD screen facing straight out, but I didn't encounter any if the handful of times Ive used the unit so far.

Speaking of facing, of the three icemaker models Ivation offers in this class, this one closely resembles our Japanese rice cooker in shape and color and makes for a nice pairing on our storage island.

That said the ice maker is quite big sitting on our countertop  larger than our rice cooker and deeper than our coffeemaker. Its the kind of unit wed expect to haul out when entertaining, while we rely on our refrigerators built-in for everyday crushed ice and small cubes.

It took about two hours to make medium and small-sized cubes using just about all of the water Id poured in. The unit will detect and go into standby when the basket is full so theres no worry about overflow. I emptied the basket twice, the first time at about the one hour mark.

One thing to be aware of: changing cube sizes in the middle of a run (after youve emptied the basket and resuming with water still in the unit) doesnt take effect immediately.  With about half the water remaining I still got mostly medium-sized cubes before the small-size finally kicked in.

The drain plug is positioned in the back lower right side corner and its easy to tilt the ice maker over the edge of a sink and twist the cap off  and pull out the little push seal.  I suppose that makes for a more secure seal with the unit typically on a countertop, but theres no mention in the instructions and it took awhile to figure out why the water wouldnt draining! An extra push seal is included underneath the basket along with the cube shovel.

The noise of the compressor is slightly less than what I hear with the refrigerator door open. Theres no detectable vibration while the unit operates. The intermittent sounds are water flowing into the evaporator chamber and the cubes themselves clanking into the basket.

Bottom Line: The ice maker is well-made and attractive  though too large to keep permanently on our (not so large countertop). The hollow cone-shaped cubes are an acquired taste but if you entertain a lot and need to crank out more ice than the fridge can handle (or you don't have a built-in), its a handy and easy-to-use addition.