The rental house we are in has a KitchenAid undercounter ice machine that is about 6 years old. This is the second machine in the house that is about 15 years old. As Sophie said, ice machines made by the Whirlpool Corp are basically the same no matter the brand. I'll share our experience for the benefit of others. I love the clear ice but am not crazy about the small, square cubes. They melt relatively quickly. If I were installing an ice machine, I'd want to go with a model that produces large cubes. But then those cost more than a KitchenAid, I think. We live in an area with relatively soft water. Even so, water takes a toll on the valves of the ice maker. In 6 years, the water valve has been replaced twice. We realized the ice production was way down, did some research and discovered the water valve was the issue. Once it was replaced, we realized the ice cubes had been getting smaller over the months but gradually enough that we didn't notice. For hard water areas of the country, I would recommend supplying the machine with reverse osmosis treated water. We have cleaned the ice machine with the special cleaning solution every 6 months based on when the "clean" light comes on. That process is simple. We use the solution recommended by the manufacturer and it is pricey - about $13 a bottle, one bottle per cleaning cycle. As this is a rental house, I do not want to use any other solution that I've read about on the internet that would be cheaper. As far as mold, when we moved into the rental house, it had been vacant for about 3 months. The AC had been on (at maybe 78-80 degrees) and the ice machine was on, too, but there was a lot of mold throughout the areas exposed to water. This type of mold is always challenge to life in the hot, humid South. I thoroughly cleaned the mold and it has not returned but I do keep an eye on it and clean as needed. The ice machine makes several different sounds as it goes through its cycles - draining noises, gurgling, cubes dropping. I don't find them obnoxious but then I am not a "hearing" sensitive person. The machine does put out a lot of heat as any machine that cools/freezes does. This should be a consideration for placement. I sure as heck wouldn't want it in my cooking zone. We are building a new house and considered an ice machine but just could not justify the luxury. In my opinion it is truly a luxury item because of the initial cost and the fact that it makes ice all day, every day. Ice production is not based on usage. If we entertained groups frequently, we probably would have planned for one.

I don't have it at home and never have but I have it at my weekend lake place and I did it again there when I got a new fridge up there. 1. What style of refrigerator do you have? (FD, S/S, CD FD, bottom freezer, etc.) I have a side by side in both places - home is 42" built-in, lake is 36" regular depth 2. Would you get it again - yes or no I did get it again at the lake place - would never get it at home 3. Why or why not Reason I got it again at the lake place is because we have a lot of visitors in the summer and it gets used alot. Also people for some reason have evolved into not being willing to drink water out of a faucet. So they take two sips from bottled water and then waste the rest. I stopped offering bottled water and direct them to the ice/water dispenser and they go along with that. 4. What do you like best about this feature? Above - guests seem to like it and I personally like lemonade with crushed ice in the summer and it makes good crushed ice. 5. What do you dislike most about this feature? It's kind of a mess - unsightly mineral deposits in the bottom, ice flying out on the wood floor, water dribbling down the front of fridge, etc. Another drawback a friend recently pointed out - if you have the ice dispenser in the door - as I do. Her power went out for a period of time - ice melted and water leaked damaging her wood floor.

True. I can think of several uses for large amounts of ice (what's your drought status?) on a farm. Besides just cold drinks, tailgating and picnics coolers. ;) It doesn't sound like it really matters to you where it goes, starting with your current situation where you put the old one out at night, like an overactive cat. :) In that case it comes down to the tradeoffs of things like ease of cleaning, ease of installation and maintenance, going to the garage for ice (though you can put a small insulated ice bucket in your fridge or freezer to cut down on trips to fill every glass of tea) vs. having the noise in the kitchen and losing the kitchen storage for the machine, etc. BTW, as an aside, we had a bag of party ice for a recent occasion, and I asked one of the girls to put some in the ice bucket on the drinks table. She used the ice from the freezer--and thus all the refills as well. So the party ice got dumped in the freezer in the ice drawer (twice again the size of the ice maker basket). The bag had what looked like hand chipped ice, fairly large pieces for the most part, though I'm sure there must be a machine that mimics that. Anyway, the evaporator in the freezer makes the ice clump up but it's pretty easy to break up. The party ice has required an ice pick from the first, and I'm not happy about it being wielded in my freezer. I'm going to just dump it when I get a chance. Moral: Choose a machine that doesn't make the ice clump. :)

The top hat machines are not close to the nugget machine as far as noise levels. They make the ice in completely different ways. The nugget machine make almost no noise when it is making the ice. It basically pushes the water up through a large rotating chilled tube that forms the ice and as it rotates the slices off the ice into nuggets kind of like a pasta machine. If you want the chewable ice this is the way to go. The one thing to make sure of is to have the best water you can going into the machine. It uses almost 100% of the water for ice production so whatever is in the water will be in the ice. The top hat machines are nosier that the nugget machines just because of the way that the ice in made. But they are perfect crystal clear because of the way that the ice is made. If you do have a true commercial machine I think the SCC models will be quieter just because commercial equipment is generally noisier. If you want ice for a bar and want clear ice for cocktails the top hat machine is the way to go. If you can go with the gravity drain machine and not have the pump to get the water out that will save some money and also be quieter when the machine is running.