I'm a water and ice snob. Like good-tasting water and actual-cube ice. Have high-end RO system and make my cubes manually. I make my own cubes in plastic trays that I think have a superior shape and bag the product. From time-to-time, I refill my ref/freezer dispenser-bin with it. Disadvantage is the labor and freezer-space taken during freezing. As an alternative, I once considered the product linked below. It is a countertop clear-ice maker. I don't have experience with this particular one but I do have with several other brands and types. $200-300.00 machines work wonderfully. Requires no drain. Just sits there and runs. Makes 28lbs a day. Choose your water, bag up the cubes, and freeze 'em. Don't like the noise? Put it in the garage or turn it off for a while. Breaks after a couple of years? For the price, who cares? You could buy ten of them for the price of one of the others. I know this isn't what OP asked for but may represent a reasonable alternative. Just a thought. Here is a link that might be useful: Counter-top clear-ice machine

A refrigerator fire is so frightening. This is an item we leave on all the time, and don't think of it going on fire. I am thankful you were home and that this fire wasn't worse. Fifteen years ago I had a new maytag refigerator, the night it was delivered my husband and I were suppose to go for dancing lessons, my daughters were 12. One was being a pain in the ____ and refused to eat what I had prepared, so I was making her mac and cheese at the stove when I noticed black sparks coming from the back of the refrigerator. I told my husband to call 911, and get out of the house with the girls, I ran down to shut the electricity to the house, and then ran out too. We found out soon the wall paper had burned as did part of the wall. We were so lucky to be home. I was told by the firemen if I hadn't turned the electricty off we would have lost most of the house (if not all of it). Maytag came the next day and replaced the defective refrigerator, I refused to take the same model, and they were accomadating to the upgrade. I did not see any other problems with that model. ilene

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.

We have the GE Monogram and I absolutely love it. Yes, sometimes it is oh so quiet and then it will go through spells where it is horribly noisy. Had the repairmen out several times and they are worthless. What I have learned to do is turn it off when I am in the kitchen and it is loud. It's just a cooler afterall and not a refrigerator, so it doesn't affect the ice already made. Also, this resets the machine and it isn't noisy again right away. Then I turn it back on at night or whenever I am leaving the area. I have been doing this for a year or so and it doesn't seem to be hurting it. I have about 6 months left on my extended warranty. By the way, I forgive it this annoyance because I am so happy with the ice!