NewAir Nugget Ice Maker Review: Now Enjoy Nugget Ice At Home

The other day we decided instead of buying a constant supply of nugget ice from Sonic Drive-Tru’s – why not purchase an ice maker that produces our own supply of sonic, pellet, or sonic ice every day.

We quickly went to NewAir.com, and completed our order. The process was simple and easy to complete.

Now we wait.

It didn’t take long for the product to arrive, and I found that the packaging was put together nicely.

Nothing got damaged in transit.

First Impressions of the NewAir Nugget Ice Maker

I recently reviewed the Opal Nugget Ice Maker, and so I was excited to see how the NewAir Nugget Ice Maker would compare.

Right out the of box, I thought that the NewAir Countertop Nugget Ice Maker had a sharp design. It’s not a wide unit, but it’s stainless steel design and one button control made, it stand out from the other appliances on my counter.

What is nugget ice? Learn more here from our friends at icemakergeeks.com.

I appreciate that the unit is not terribly heavy. It’s 34 pounds, which is a signifiant weight, but not as heavy as the Opal Nugget Ice Maker, which weights over 40 pounds. I struggled to get the Opal Nugget Ice Maker onto my countertop, but the NewAir ice maker seemed to be a little easier to move around.

This ice maker features a simple design. As far as the exterior of the unit is concerned, this ice maker is wrapped in stainless steel, it has one operation button at the front, and it has two indicator lights (ice full and add water) on either side of the button.

At the back of the unit, you’ll find a two way water hose that runs up the centre of the ice maker. This hose makes emptying the ice maker’s water reservoir easy. You’ll also find three vents on this machine: one at the back and on both sides.

The top of the ice maker features a lid with a medium sized window. The window made it easy to see inside the ice maker without having to open the lid.

Inside the unit you’ll find an ice scoop (a really nice addition to this unit is the slot so that the ice scoop can fit nicely inside the ice storage container), and the water reservoir under the storage bin.

This ice maker does not need any water lines or connections whatsoever. You just fill up the water reservoir to the fill line, turn on the unit by hitting the button on the front, and it’s going to start the ice cycle.

No need to have this ice maker by a sink or water supply – which is very handy.

The height of the ice maker with the lid up is about 2 feet. This is the distance you’ll need, if you decide to place it under your countertop.

Operation of the NewAir Nugget Ice Maker

We followed the user’s guide for preparing this nugget ice maker for first use.

We washed out the water reservoir with a damp cloth, and cleaned the ice bucket as well.

We also ran the SELF-CLEANING feature on the unit for about 2 minutes. All you have to do is hold down the front button for about 3 seconds, until the button flashes purple and blue. After we were done cleaning, we held that same button for 3 seconds.

At the beginning, the unit was quite loud. Water began to run down from the top of the unit into the water reservoir, until the ice maker was cold enough to make ice.

You can definitely hear the compressor running as the unit begins the process of making nugget ice.

After a few minutes, you see the first bits of nugget ice forming. It’s really just slush in your ice bucket. It doesn’t take that long before that slush begins to form nugget ice.

The ice maker works well. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast this ice maker produces nugget ice. It didn’t long at all before I could scoop ice from the storage container, and into my glass.

Specifications of the NewAir Nugget Ice Maker

Let’s get into the specs and features of this ice maker.

You can make 40 pounds of nugget ice each day. This is by far, the most ice any countertop nugget ice maker can produce. I found that the ice was a little harder than commercial units, but it was still nugget ice.

You’re going to get nugget ice in only 5 minutes. This means that this countertop nugget ice maker is also the fastest nugget ice maker on the market.

As I mentioned above, the unit comes with a self-cleaning feature that keeps your ice maker clean, and your ice tasting great. All you have to do to activate the self-cleaning feature is hold down the front button for 3-seconds, and then let it run as long as you want.

The storage bin can hold just under 5 pounds of nugget ice, which is great for having nugget ice available for friends and family.

I find it a little annoying that when the indicator light comes on (especially when the storage bin full light came on), it will not reset and start the ice process until it’s corrected by pushing the power button twice. This means when the ice bin is full, during the day if you don’t check in on it, the ice will all melt.

It’s annoying when you have no ice in the ice bin, and have to restart the ice cycle from the beginning.

Overall, it’s a solid ice maker that produces nugget Ice for a fraction of the cost that a commercial nugget ice maker would run you.

Price

Before we continue this review, let’s talk about price for a moment.

This unit is going to cost about $550. It’s significantly more than other portable ice makers, but they don’t make nugget ice.

A comparable ice maker would be the GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker which also costs about $550.

The price for this unit is a lot lower than commercial ice makers which, up until now, was the only way of getting nugget ice in your home.

A commercial nugget ice maker could cost you as much as $2000, and would require a professional to hook it all up.

The NewAir Nugget Ice Maker doesn’t require a professional installation, so it’s a good price for a nugget ice maker that produces chewable ice, right out of the box.

Verdict

I like this unit, and decided to push aside my old countertop ice maker, and only use this unit.

I love how fast it is. I find that it produces ice quickly, and my family doesn’t have to wait to fill their glass with ice, when they want it.

Is it perfect? No. It is a cheap alternative to a commercial nugget ice maker which is the reason I purchased it.

If you would like to purchase this ice maker, or want to learn more about it. You can check out NewAir.com here.