We moved to a new town, and when we did, we stayed with someone else until we could obtain a home of our own. Just a hard economy right now, and finding a good deal on a home is a hard thing, rent or buy either one. So having some breathing space, staying with someone else, just made sense.

The weather was hot and muggy when we got here. But this home has a fridge with an ice maker. It saved us.

Me, staying at home, with the AC on a little high just to make sure it can be paid for, and it not being quite enough to keep me cool. I used ice and ice water all day long. Cup after cup. I bought an insulated cup, which seems not nearly large enough, though it is a 28 oz cup.

Kevin, he takes it to work, where he works in a warehouse that does not have AC. No point, the doors are open for receiving and dispatch. So he overheats like nobody's business, and takes a 1 gallon water jug each day, with ice water swimming in ice cubes.

The convenience of ice on demand has been beguiling. Oh, we love it. And it helps keep us more comfortable in a very critical way. So we thought maybe we'd like this to go with us. But we cannot afford to buy a new fridge and have the water lines installed into the home we are buying.

Now there are some issues with this ice and water.

The fridge has a filter. But the water is SO BAD, the filter just can't quite produce drinkable water.

So I buy bottled. In the clear bottles. It tastes best, and I trust my taste buds to tell me whether the water is good or not. It isn't. Even filtered, at least with that filter.

So I compromised. I used the ice, but added bottled water to my cup. It ends up being tolerable. But not the best for my liver and kidneys.

One day in WalMart there is Kevin, looking at a display of end of season closeout Ice Machines. Those little ones that go on the countertop. There's one on sale. Too much for today, and besides, we don't need it yet, the house is not even in the works at that point.

But now, we are on the edge. The negotiations have ended, the paperwork is in progress. So we are buying a few things for the house.

The water filters.

The showerheads.

The paint.

The curtains.

The wheels for the kitchen cart. One is broken. New floors, I don't want to damage them.

And the Ice Machine. A Frigidaire copper Ice Machine. This is not the smallest or least expensive machine you can buy. It is not the largest or most expensive either. Around $100, and really pretty!

We aren't ready to move yet, but I am testing the machine.

It is different than a fridge/freezer ice machine.

This one has issues you MUST deal with. Otherwise you are NOT going to be happy with it.

1. You must fill the reservoir yourself. This is an ADVANTAGE to me, I can fill it with CLEAN water.

2. The basket fills quickly. Like in less than 2 hours. This means it is actually making a lot of ice. But you have to attend it if you want a lot of ice.

3. The basket holds about 1 quart Ziplock bag full of ice. Not too bad. But not a huge amount.

4. The Ice is WET. It does not refrigerate HARD, and the ice is formed on metal fingers, dipped in the water, so when it drops the ice into the basket, it is WET. It STAYS WET, because the ice basket sits above the water reservoir, and some of the ice at the bottom does melt some during the wait times. The longer it waits, the more ice melts. It stays cold inside, but not cold enough to freeze it more.

5. Wet ice means if you put the ice into the freezer, it freezes together. You have to hit it really hard to break it up.

6. The ice cubes are bullet shaped, and can be thin, or thick, depending on how cold the machine is as it is making them, and depending on how long the ice has sat after being made. There is a hole down the middle, from the metal finger that the cube forms on. If you set it for small cubes, the cubes are short, if you set it for large, they are longer.

7. The ice is NOT as COLD as it is from the freezer. It melts faster, so you have to use more if you use it right out of the machine, and it will water your soda more. Otherwise, you put it in the freezer, and it gets colder, and that is no longer an issue.

8. It does require some maintenance and cleaning, but not much. It just means you want to be sure to ONLY use CLEAN water, and NEVER get messy fingers or spills inside it. No, this is not the thing to use to make Lemonade Ice Cubes!

9. The water reservoir holds enough water for 4-5 baskets of ice. It means you don't have to fill it often, and it can run almost all night on a single fill up.

10. It isn't noisy, but it does make noise. It hums, whirs, clatters, and rumbles. You can hear it, and it cues you to go empty the basket or whatever, but it isn't noisy enough to disrupt thought processes or disturb sleep.

11. When the water reservoir registers as Empty, it still has about 1 1/4 cups of water in it. You have to pull a plug on the bottom to drain it. This involves moving the machine forward on the counter, so the drain hangs over the edge, and putting a container under it, then pulling the plug to let it drain. Best not to tip it up to do that, for one thing it won't drain, and for another, you'll move the oil in the compressor, which may be an issue if you need to start it up again right away. It isn't hard. It is just a little inconvenient.

12. When not in use, the lid MUST be left open at first, to let the water evaporate out. Otherwise you'll have the same problem with mold as you do with a fridge that has been turned off and left closed.

None of these things are really showstoppers, but using it is DIFFERENT than I expected.

So far I'm pleased with the output - it is producing MUCH more than I can use in 24 hours, and I suspect that one fill up of the water reservoir per day will be sufficient to keep us in ice.

I like this thing, and I think it will be a good option for us until we can think about a built-in Ice Maker.