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 we know whatever the house, we won't be able to afford much AC, so the Ice Maker seems an even more useful choice than it is now.

A few weeks later, and we are on the edge. The negotiations have ended, the paperwork is in progress. So we are buying a few things for the new 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. Just enough to cool my husband's water jug.

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. Makes a really satisfying WHACK when you 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, if you can empty it every few hours.

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.

13. You have to have room in your freezer to store the ice. For some people it may be just as well to just buy bags of ice.

14. If it is put away for a few weeks or months, it may be somewhat reluctant to go again when you drag it out to make ice. I left it for about 4 months, and when spring arrived and I needed to make more ice, the machine malfunctioned when I turned it on again. The Ice Making parts moved, but the water did not pump. I turned it off and on again, and on the fourth try it started pumping and worked itself right into proper form again. It tells me that maybe mineral build up or something else may cause parts to stick, and over time, that problem might get worse after the machine sits idle for a while. I now know to just cycle it on and off, and it should break loose and get going again.

15. If you use faucet water, EVEN IF IT IS FILTERED, the water may leave mineral deposits in the machine, causing the malfunctions listed above, requiring cleaning in parts I have not discovered yet (I am assured it CAN be cleaned when the pump does not function after storage). So CLEAN water helps avoid that problem. Very clean water also gives you a much better FLAVOR to the water, and I can REALLY taste the difference.

16. Consider the SIZE of ice maker you need. We have one of the LARGEST on the market, it is enough to easily keep up with our needs, even when entertaining family or friends. The SMALLER ones make 3/4 to 1/2 the amount of ice this one does. So don't just choose based on price, the lower priced machines produce less ice. You have to have enough TIME in the day to tend it, with it producing between a pint and a quart of ice per basketful, and taking 1-2 hours to fill that basket. I often run it overnight, and just empty the basket when I get up in the night (I have to get up more than once anyway), and when the water reservoir is empty I turn it off, then drain it and leave it open to dry in the morning, because it will be a few days before I use it again.

None of these things are really showstoppers for me, 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, and NOT every day, will be sufficient to keep us in ice in the summer. We have two small upright freezers, and the up freezer on the fridge, so I have ample room to store ice to keep us cool.

Yeah, we have ice trays, and we've used them. This seems to me to be faster and easier. For one thing, it fast freezes a batch of ice within 1-2 hours, instead of half a day or more. For another, it is easy to scoop out the ice, or refill the reservoir, and just let it do it's thing - and the humming, and whirring, and trickling, and beeping reminds me to attend to it, so the ice just gets made. It FEELS more convenient, even though I suppose I must attend it just about as much.

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.

NOTE: Months later, I am using it, and this is now just how we have ice when we need it. I like the thing, and I can recommend it for anyone who needs a supply of ice, and who can deal with the time and work requirements of the machine.