If you visit my house any time of the year and are going to stay for a bit, you might be offered something to drink if I remember my manners. You will be likely be offered one of three things, milk, water or ice water.
Possibly wine but that depends upon what time of day it and how much I like you.
But the point is, we drink a lot of water around here.
In the summer, our refrigerator ice maker just cannot keep up and we have had wrestling matches for the last ice cube.
Even if it fell on the ground.
Even if the dog licked it.
Well, wait, no. Someone else can have it if the dog licked it. I have standards.
But as much as I joke about it, not having enough ice has become a serious problem for us, one that we had resorted to buying bags of ice from the gas station to solve. We had talked about getting a new refrigerator, but I love everything else about my fridge except the capacity of the ice maker.
So we suffered….
Until now. Now we have this shiny little machine!
Newair AI-215SS Stainless Steel
Portable Ice Maker
About:
The Newair AI-215SS is a portable ice maker that you can use anywhere you have an outlet to plug into. It makes ice fast and it makes a lot of it!
Key Features:
- Makes ice in as little as 13 minutes
- Makes up to 50 lbs of ice per day
- Comes with an ice scoop and removeable ice bin
- Has 3 different sizes of ice cubes
- Has an 18 hour timer so your ice is ready when you need it
- LCD operating panel
- Side mounted drain
- Self-cleaning mode
From a functionality standpoint, this machine is a LIFE SAVER for us. We no longer have to fight over the ice and we call fill up everyone’s water bottle and have more ice ready and waiting for us when we need refills.
The Newair AI-215SS is a large machine from a kitchen appliance standard – too big, in my opinion, for the countertop on a regular basis. If you are using it for a party and putting it away later, it will probably fit on most counters. We bought a small table for ours because it is a permanent fixture around here and easy for the kids to use, although I’m sure for summer parties we will put it in the garage to keep people from going in and out of the house. For an ice maker however, it is fairly compact.
The machine is easy to use. Basic use involves turning the power on and selecting the size of the ice cubes and letting it work its magic. You just have to make sure there is enough water for it to continue to make ice. It’s easy to add water, just lift the ice bin out and pour water to the fill line. We haven’t used the timer feature yet but I imagine that in the summer we will use it all the time to make sure we have fresh ice the next morning.
My kids LOVE having this machine at easy reach for them. Even if there is ice in the fridge, they like scooping their own out of here and frankly it makes less of a mess than the ice that comes out of the fridge. The fridge ice dispenser tends to send pieces of ice flying acros the floor.
Overall I have no complaints about this machine. It fills a huge void for us and we use it constantly. I didn’t realize, however, that the unit is not refrigerated. It’s more of a large cooler and the ice will melt eventually, but even in the winter we find it lasts most of the day before melting. It’s not really an issue, just something I didn’t realize.
We consider the Newair AI-215SS an integral part of our kitchen and our lifestyle.
For more information visit: Newair.com or you can purchase the Newair AI-215SS portable ice maker from Amazon.com.
Cindy Brooks says
March 8, 2013 at 2:15 amThanks for the review! I’m going to take a good look at this. This would be great when our home is full of 5th grade boys in the summer 🙂