which one did you decide to go with? Are you happy with your choice? I am also looking at that true I can find absolutely no reviews

I am planning on buying the True but have not pulled the trigger yet. I will do so in a little bit - we are close to the point of the remodel where we will want the appliance on site. I won't know for a few months until the project is done and we are back in the house to truly report on its performance!

were you able to find any reviews at all from someone who actually owns the machine?? I haven't been able to find a single one

I would hate to make a $3,500 mistake and find out it's Extremely Loud and or unreliable. believe me I have been searching for about a month now and I can't even find a display item

I will look through my notes tonight to see what I found. Compared to other appliances I researched heavily and had lots of data/reviews, this one was more gut feel / leap of faith based on reputation of manufacturer, aesthetics, and the fact that I was buying other True appliances for the bar area.

I looked through my appliance notes on Evernote and didn't find any links to any reviews from someone who provided first-hand experience. The links I found were more from websites like Yale Appliance and other industry reviews, which to be honest, seemed superficial. I ultimately decided I liked the looks/features of True enough to purchase it despite the lack of deep reviews, driven partially by brand reputation and the product warranty. It seems that from what I can tell, most ice makers have some degree of noise to them. If you find any other references let me know, otherwise I am hoping to report happy news about the product when it is installed and we are back in the house post-remodel!

thanks for the information. I need to purchase one that can accept a custom panel as I am replacing a trash compactor in my Center Island. I have yet to find a single one that doesn't have some awful reviews. Not a single one. it sounds like they all break frequently and are expensive to fix almost making them disposable. also they all seem to be Extremely Loud and because I need a pump they are all in the mid $3,000 and up range. I don't mind spending the money if it's not going to make a racket and break. people must own the true, I am really surprised there is not a single review. I reached out to true and even they didn't respond. they do have a 3-year warranty however. decisions decisions

Awesome - that is great to hear Rich! Sounds like we are pretty much in the same boat in terms of requirements and the research into these items. If you do end up getting to check out the unit in person it would be great to get your perspective on it. Ultimately I was OK with the leap of faith based on brand reputation, product warranty, and aesthetics, and the fact that there didn't seem to be a perfect choice in terms of completely avoiding the reliability risk and noise issues of ice makers. I also trusted the advice of my local salesperson (Albert Lee Appliance in Seattle), whose recommendations and advice on other appliances I chose was credible and consistent with online information I found. It won't be a few months (~July) until project is done and I hopefully have some real world experience to share. If you get yours sooner would love to hear how it goes. Good luck with your remodel!

if I wind up getting the true in the next few weeks I will definitely make a bunch of videos and throw them on YouTube and send you the link. number one there are absolutely no customer-based videos and number two if I make a mistake it can potentially prevent you from making the same one. FYI I believe there is a $150 rebate that is not very well advertised. go to the AJ Madison website and search for the ice maker and there was a link to a current rebate of $150. unfortunately true has a minimum price policy so I don't think there are any Bargains to be had at all it was somewhere around 3460 or some odd number like that

Okay. ordered. it should be here in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted.

I'm not sure if you are interested, but there is a hvac guy I follow on you tube. he hooked up thr true in this video



I'm planning to do it myself so it's helpful

well, it's installed. Fantastic purchase but I know why they are the most repaired appliance. if you are interested in my opinion let me know. You won't be sorry getting the True. I'm very glad I did

Most standalone icemakers are crap. Don't even get me started about U-Line. Scottsman has equally bad reputation. I had another manufacturer recommend Perlick to me and this is what I have now...so far so good.

Thanks for the pictures Rich! I am glad you are happy with it. Can you elaborate on "I know why they are the most repaired appliance."? I can guess, but would be curious to get your opinion based on having the product in hand. I am excited for our renovation to get to the point where I can have and enjoy this!

Okay, here it goes....... First off, compared with everything I read, the True is whisper quiet. it is in the middle of the run of cabinets and there is a granite counter on top. I was thinking of getting something that made small ice nuggets but those have an auger and I hear they are very loud. this unit is whisper quiet. you cannot hear it running at all. When you open the door when it's making ice what is the equivalent of a waterfall pretty much. Constant running water.
The reason I believe these things break so often is that it's "in motion" 24/7. and in freezer ice maker makes ice which stays Frozen until you use it. the compartment where the ice is stored is not even refrigerated. That keeps the ice fresh. so the machine is in a constant state of making ice, spraying water to make ice, ice melting and being pumped down the drain. it is almost always doing something. and I think that kind of constant action lends itself to breaking. I hook it up to a surge protector to try to save the circuit board if we have an electrical Spike. I have well water with a water softener where I live and there's about 500 parts per million of mineral which is pretty much the natural enemy of these machines so in my basement I hooked up a reverse osmosis system with a calcium cartridge that brings it to about 25 parts per million. after that filter I put a commercial ice machine Endurice cartridge made for commercial ice machine. that has some kind of slime inhibitor specifically for ice machine. We will see how that holds up. hopefully it will last. So far the True rep I spoke to did not exaggerate at all with respect to the noise.
there is also that $150 rebate that's not advertised. It's good through 2018

So have you been happy with the True ice maker? Was trying to decide between True and Sub Zero. Thanks

So far it's been great. ice is crystal clear and machine is quiet. Led colors are nice too

Do any of you happen to know if True ice makers can come with a pump to drain?

How did you rationalize paying such a premium price? I had an Electrolux ice maker that gave us a lot of trouble and died. I am hooked on great easy ice now thought.

I want to buy something reliable and great - but am a bit concerned with the super high prices.

We've been back in the house for ~2 months now and I've been able to use the ice maker a fair amount. I am really happy with the purchase. I don't have any other machine to compare it to, but so far, the ice has been clear, beautiful, and plentiful! I find myself having whiskey on the rocks in the evening a bit more before, just to use the ice maker (or maybe another reason)? Anyway...

I like the clear ice, the LED colors inside the ice maker, and the overall fit and finish of the unit is very solid. As for noise, it is generally very quiet, and I don't notice it much, but I would echo the previous comments where it is pretty much doing something. The unit is pretty well insulated, so the noise is not noticeable. The main exception is that when a new batch of ice is dumped into the hopper, you will hear that for sure. When the ice maker was first filling up, I was a bit worried about whether it was a mistake to put the unit it a prominent area (living room bar), but it was more pronounced at the beginning since the ice hopper was empty (more distant to fall = bigger crashing sound) and was dumping new ice every 30 minutes. Once the unit was filled up, the ice dumps have become less frequent, and less loud. From other forum posts I have read, I think all ice makers have this issue, so it doesn't seem like there's any avoiding this if you want clear fresh ice.

Bottom line: pricey, but I have had no regrets about getting this. Hope this helps!

Joe

Joe,

Congrats on the remodel and the new True ice machine! The LED colors look great. Good to finally see some reviews, pictures, etc. Like your wet bar, nice stuff.

Below are two pictures of my subzero UC-15i, 3 years old and running flawlessly. I saw some questions earlier in the thread about noise, custom paneling an ice machine, etc. Figured these pics would be useful. I had heard the subzero was one of the quietest on the market, and it is generally, except when the ice drops. I added some sound dampening material to the backside of panel because when the ice drops it is pretty loud. I can say that I've seen many other ice machines since then and these things are always somewhat noisy no matter what, especially when the ice drops, there's no way around it. And they are running quite often because the ice is constantly melting, but that's the only way to have it if you want clear, fresh ice. Knowing that the True has insulation probably helps quite a bit, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's the quietest out of them all. True is know to be very high quality.

I looked at the videos and the true and subzero seem very similar in design and quality. And their prices are about equal (Roughly $3,500).

If this thing ever dies I'd probably get the true for the LED colors alone.

Congrats again, we use our ice machine several times a day and once you go clear ice, you won't go back to the freezer stuff ever again.

Chris: The true comes with a pump and is outdoor rated, I don't think you can get it any other way. The subzero has four models, one with a pump and one without, and outdoor rated and not outdoor rated. Very cool that True simply puts everything into one model at a similar price.

Joe: Did you install your true with the pump activated or did you disable it and use a gravity drain?

Hi Art,

The pump is active on mine. I think we had the option of doing a gravity drain in the location that we installed, but given that it had the pump installed, I think it drains out through the adjacent bar sink drain. I wasn't sure whether there was an option to disable the pump on the True machine.

Pump can be disabled, but since true has a quality/quiet pump then in some ways a pump can be better.

Just be sure it's connected to an open site drain/air gap if draining to the adjacent bar sink/drain pipe. Most residential plumbers don't do this properly in my experience. Ice machine drains get gross very quickly and you need proper drainage.

We purchased the True undercounted Ice Maker, but we are very unhappy with the noise. All the comments here are saying it is whisper quiet (a prominent reason why we order this unit); however, I hear mine running all the time - with the door shut. I understand the thud of the ice cubes dropping - they are big, but hearing the motor running reminds me of the old style dishwashers. Note: My 2 Thermador dishwashers are truly whisper quiet. I am regretting my decision to purchase this appliance. We have owned lower end appliances that did not make this much noise.

I have a True in order for my remodel. Everyone still happy or any updates? Main worry is noise!

We have the True ice maker in our kitchen & it does make a lot of noise when the ice cubes drop. I would recommend putting it in a basement bar, but not in your main living area.

No such thing as a quiet ice machine, unfortunately.

We just installed a True ice maker in our basement wet bar. We love it! I added a water filter line to my sink as well. We love having clear ice in our filtered water during the COVID at home workdays and for a cocktail in the evening. The ice cubes are large, clear and seemingly bottomless with the 70lb daily capacity. LED lighting is a great touch and the quality is second to none. Best in class by far!

Considering an undercounter ice maker in the kitchen and leaning towards either the True or the SubZero. Would love to hear if the owners in this thread continue to like theirs. I'm OK with noise when the ice drops (to be expected), but would like to know if you find them noisy all the time now that you've had them for a few years.

Still loving my Subzero UC-15 every day. I don't really notice the noise anymore, I did when I first got an undercounter ice machine, but got used to it pretty quick. The location of the ice machine is important, ours is in a wet bar. But the glory of clear ice far outweighs the noise :)

can anyone share a picture of the actual ice cube produced by the True ice maker? Is it an actual cube or is it round?

It makes top hat style ice (same as subzero). Do a youtube search, you'll find a few videos showing the ice.

Is the ice the slow melt?

We have the 15” True ice machine. It is LOUD. We have in installed in a wet bar near the kitchen. I agree with the others that the ice dropping is very loud. Whenever I clean it out, I do it in the morning so we don’t wake up the house at night with crashing ice cubes. Our unit is almost 3 years old and the LED indicator stopped working. It also gets moldy very fast, so I find I have to take it apart more often than 6 months. One of my neighbors has a machine that makes the soft ice cubes(like at Chick-fil-A) and her machine is so much quieter.

Hi! Thank you for your comment. I am considering purchasing the True refrigerator (that does not include a ice maker) and the true ice machine for my kitchen remodel. This is such a difficult decision. If I do not purchase the ice maker, I will have to go with a SUBZERO frig. But I am concerned about the maintenance that you speak of. How often do you have to take this unit apart? I thought the clean button helped with this ...

It’s very easy to clean. It’s a cycle, and you need a new filter every year which is around 95 from true. They have a great video on you tube going through the entire cleaning process.

here is a link to it. https://youtu.be/jQhjdznQupw I would assume it’s exactly the same as the Subzero. I got the True and it is great. It has a better warranty than the SZ and that is very important as these things run 24/7/365. I have a vid up on you tube detailing my machine. we use it daily. ps you want a machine with a pump drain, not a gravity drain.

Why pump and not gravity?

True design flaw.

I just replaced a True Residential Ice maker after suffering through two major leaks that destroyed a ceiling and a floor. The True model has a design flaw in the rear drain hose connection that is prone to leaking. True uses a "push to connect" fitting for their drain rear hose vs a more secure and reliable clamp connection. The push to connect fitting will fail over time just from the wear of water running through the line.. Models from Scotsman use the clamp connection.

True Customer Service offered no solution other that to ask me to cut the hose and reconnect it. I did this and the unit leaked 4 months later creating additional water damage.

I installed a Scotsman SCCG30 and immediately noticed the clamp type connection on their drain hose. I feel much better with Scotsman despite the lack of the fancy lighting that came with the True Model. Unfortunately, I am out of pocket thousands from this "Truly terrible" product experience.

@Joseph Guinta

Thanks for the information. In this picture is the flawed connection at the ”1” in the upper right corner?

If that is the push to connect port for the exterior drain hose, then yes. It is hard to determine in that picture. The hoses shown in the lower 3 pictures show that drain hose. The hose connects in the rear through that fitting.

Valerie Kahrs do you know what brand of nugget ice machine your neighbor has. Would like to find a quite, reliable one.

I have two True undercounter ice makers, one in kitchen and one in basement wet bar. Ordered True brand during a remodel based on recommendation of our long time decorator. They are somewhere 6-7 years old, some of the first True made They have been maintenance and relaibility nightmares since almost day one.

I have both a follet nugget ice maker which ic a countertop model and the True Residential ice maker. Both can be slightly noisy from time to time. both are well made and both serve their purpose. the nugget ice machine is great for chewing ice, however it melt super fast. the top hat ice maker makes large solid ice which takes longer to melt. i feed both of these with a reverse osmosis system with three tanks in series. True requires a drain, because it has a pump, you can run a line 3/8” to the kitchen drain. both work great and require annual cleaning. i paid for a pro to do it the first time, now i do it myself. very easy to do.

Looking into this as well, I priced both brands out and they came to around the same ($7150 CAD) so unsure if i want to take the leap on that price tag. Originally purchased a Whirpool when we first built our house 10 years ago and the damn thing did not work a day in its life. It is still sitting there looking pretty. I am far to nervous to spend money on something that wont work.