Getting ready for an ice maker purchase for the outdoor kitchen by the pool. We are conflicted on the type of ice. Would you prefer:

• A. Pellet ice (i.e. Sonic style)
• B. Cubed ice

The outdoor maker would primarily be used for drinks made while in the pool. Lots of vodka and rum type drinks but would also be used for non-alcoholic as well obviously. I have cubed ice in the house if needed.

I like pellet ice because I like to crunch...but vodka/tequila/rum might melt it too quick. Maybe have pellet ice outside and keep an ice chest with ice better suited for the liquor concoctions?!

Sonic

I prefer large cubes for my iced tea and for whiskey, but since you already have that in the house, I'd probably go sonic style. When can I come over for a swim?

You mind posting a link of the ice marker you go with? I'll be in the market in the coming years and would like to save this info

Sonic is great and FIL brings his own bag of his sonic ice(he has that style of ice maker) wherever he goes for his whiskey, so it works great for that.

Problem is he has a ton of maintenance and problems with his, and it's top of line. It's just a more complicated method to make that type of ice so it can break more frequently...

Love sonic type ice but that melts too dang fast for any good cocktail type drink.

country said:

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Getting ready for an ice maker purchase for the outdoor kitchen by the pool. We are conflicted on the type of ice. Would you prefer:

• A. Pellet ice (i.e. Sonic style)
• B. Cubed ice

The outdoor maker would primarily be used for drinks made while in the pool. Lots of vodka and rum type drinks but would also be used for non-alcoholic as well obviously. I have cubed ice in the house if needed.

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Thought all you fancy pants three yellow star folks would have both.

My customer owns a large appliance repair company in dfw and he prefers Scotsman.
https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/

We've got a "Sonic" ice machine and love it, especially the kids. Great being able to crunch it during a drink.

That said, it does melt pretty fast when by the pool unless you have it in an insulated tumbler (Yeti, RTIC, etc). Also, doesn't last nearly as long as other ice in a cooler.

Sonic

Cube.

Sonic ice waters down flavor.

Agree with everything CSTXAg says. We have the Manitowoc nugget ice maker. It holds around 40 lbs and can make up to 70 lbs a day. Have had it for 5 years and haven't had any problems with it.

Following since I have 3 stars and do not have one.

Where you guys installing? Does it need a drain line outside? And where is best place to find or purchase from?

Scotsman SCN60. Sonic/nugget ice. Awesome for regular and mixed drinks. I've had this one for 4 years with no problems. https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/nugget-ice-machine

We have this one in our butler pantry. We love it, but I don't think I would recommend for outdoor install. The storage bin is only insulated, but doesn't keep the ice frozen. These machines constantly make ice as it's designed to melt away slowly. We have the internal pump model that pumps water to a nearby sink and had to replace it after 18 months. If you get one of these, get one that has a drain line and make sure you install a floor drain nearby. I believe these are very low maintenance.

We clean ours religiously to keep it free of scale and slime. Plus we have a series of filters to make sure the water is free of impurities.

We love it and so do all or friends, but expect to spend $4500 installed with all the extras.

Cube for outdoors. Scotsman is the way to go too.

We had the Sonic style ice maker from Scottsman posted above. It crapped out in 3 years (partly our fault). Rather than repair it we decided to replace it with a cube style. Sonic ice is nice from time to time, but, most applications cube makes more sense.

Also know that the ice in these makers usually melts pretty quick because the machines don't have additional refrigeration so the cubes tend to be more practical

Last, don't forget to do maintenance. The one we had crapped out because we bought our house new and the maintenance component wasn't stressed enough in our walk through.

We picked appliances for our house a few weeks ago. We went with "sonic ice" mainly because we drink ALOT of ice water in our home. Plus, we have a big ice maker at the grain elevator (named for my wife's great grandfather)less than a mile away, so for cooler fills and such we can utilize that. We have ice molds for spheres for pouring bourbon over.

Scotsman

2Jacks said:

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Scotsman SCN60. Sonic/nugget ice. Awesome for regular and mixed drinks. I've had this one for 4 years with no problems. https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/nugget-ice-machine

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$3000 buys a lot of sonic ice!! You can buy a bag of sonic ice at a sonic for like $2....

I live 38 miles from the nearest Sonic, and 22 miles from the nearest store that sells ice. Factor in time and diesel costs, its an hour trip and a hell of a lot more than $2 for a bag of ice. When we go fishing, it sure is nice I take the coolers to the garage and fill them up with ice from my ice machine, rather than trying to fit a F250 and 32 foot trailer into a gas station.

Regardless if you go cube or nugget, I went with RO+ for supply water versus the standard ice maker filters and it has worked out well. Inexpensive RO with re-mineralization. Simpler than it sounds. Use it for supply water as well as a drinking water tap near the ice maker. Keeps the icemaker internals scale free and makes awesome sonic ice water. I clean the icemaker yearly even though it doesn't seem to need it. RO unit from amazon - ispring RCC7AK. 4 yrs and still going strong!

country said:

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• A. Pellet ice (i.e. Sonic style)

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Another vote here with a caveat that larger ice molds for bourbon are a must

2Jacks said:

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Scotsman SCN60. Sonic/nugget ice. Awesome for regular and mixed drinks. I've had this one for 4 years with no problems. https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/nugget-ice-machine

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Yep, that's the one we have.

Also, regardless of whether you go with 'sonic' or cubed, make sure you install an inline water filter on the supply side. Ensuring your ice maker has debris and sediment free water will give you better service over time.

Old RV Ag said:

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country said:

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Getting ready for an ice maker purchase for the outdoor kitchen by the pool. We are conflicted on the type of ice. Would you prefer:

• A. Pellet ice (i.e. Sonic style)
• B. Cubed ice

The outdoor maker would primarily be used for drinks made while in the pool. Lots of vodka and rum type drinks but would also be used for non-alcoholic as well obviously. I have cubed ice in the house if needed.

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Thought all you fancy pants three yellow star folks would have both.

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Nope. That is only the very select few that have the secret 4th platinum star. It's by invitation only and you can't even see it unless you have one.

blindey said:

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Old RV Ag said:

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country said:

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Getting ready for an ice maker purchase for the outdoor kitchen by the pool. We are conflicted on the type of ice. Would you prefer:

• A. Pellet ice (i.e. Sonic style)
• B. Cubed ice

The outdoor maker would primarily be used for drinks made while in the pool. Lots of vodka and rum type drinks but would also be used for non-alcoholic as well obviously. I have cubed ice in the house if needed.

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Thought all you fancy pants three yellow star folks would have both.

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Nope. That is only the very select few that have the secret 4th platinum star. It's by invitation only and you can't even see it unless you have one.

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I laughed. But, it's probably true as there are other forums on this site that you have to know how to get to as they don't exist in the list.

2Jacks said:

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Scotsman SCN60. Sonic/nugget ice. Awesome for regular and mixed drinks. I've had this one for 4 years with no problems. https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/nugget-ice-machine

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just wait and you will. Ice machines are the most frequent appliances to break. I have one upstairs in my game room and one at the outdoor kitchen. I just left the one in the game room broken the last time it broke for like the 5th time. Keep the pool one going but I've had to call the repair guy out at least 3 times for that one. upstairs is GE and the outside one is Kitchenaid. They all break.

bookmyer said:

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2Jacks said:

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Scotsman SCN60. Sonic/nugget ice. Awesome for regular and mixed drinks. I've had this one for 4 years with no problems. https://www.scotsmanhomeice.com/nugget-ice-machine

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just wait and you will. Ice machines are the most frequent appliances to break. I have one upstairs in my game room and one at the outdoor kitchen. I just left the one in the game room broken the last time it broke for like the 5th time. Keep the pool one going but I've had to call the repair guy out at least 3 times for that one. upstairs is GE and the outside one is Kitchenaid. They all break.

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And if you by anything Samsung related to ice making its guaranteed to break.