Product review (4 stars): Like this machine - so far
First, let me say that I rated this product as 4 stars instead of 5 only because I have only had it a short time and, given the high percentage of negative reviews, cannot comment on its durability.

I bought this ice maker with serious reservations. None of these counter-top ice makers have received good customer reviews, at least on average.

But, I have a French door refrigerator with a bottom drawer freezer. It has an icemaker in the door. The icemaker is terrible. Its ice production is pathetic and the icemaker regularly fails to dispense ice even when there is some. It generates half as many ice cubes per cycle compared to most built in icemakers. It is unable to produce sufficient ice for my family.

I tried ice cube trays in the freezer but they take up too much freezer space and take a long time to freeze and are a pain to empty and refill. I thought I would try a stand-alone counter-top ice maker despite the negative customer reviews.

I bought this model about ten days ago. So far it has met expectations. It only makes maybe half a dozen cubes at a time but does so in 7 to ten minutes. The machine makes roughly gum drop shaped cubes with a hole down the center like some of the big commercial ice makers. When made, the ice is only lightly frozen. Also, the machine keeps the water to make new ice cubes and the ice cubes its already made in the same area. That is to say that the machine doesnt have a sub-zero storage area so as soon as the ice is made it starts to melt, albeit very slowly.

Personally, I don't find this to be a problem. I run the machine for maybe 6 hours and as the machines storage bin becomes full, I just dump the bin into a container in my freezer. Since the ice cubes are relatively soft and coated in unfrozen water, each batch will freeze together a bit but with a light whacking the cubes break up easily. Of course if you're using the ice as its made this issue is irrelevant.

Based on the above, many people might consider this machine to be a poor solution. However, if you compare the cost of this machine to a commercial counter-top machine, the little bit of extra effort is more than compensated by the lower price. My ice needs only require me to run the machine one day out of three and I am very happy with it.

The other great concern with any of these counter-top ice machines is quality and dependability. Customer reviews reveal a high percentage of machines that are faulty from the start or fail after a very brief period of time. Im afraid this is typical of many Chinese-made products. In defense, I bought the recommended 4-year extended warranty for about 11% of the cost of the ice maker. I have always had a rather dim view of these extended warranties but in this case I thought it warranted and worth a try. If I need to use the extended warranty, I will comment on how it worked out.