{"id":1782166,"date":"2022-07-06T12:21:34","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T16:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=1782166"},"modified":"2025-01-22T18:54:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T00:54:53","slug":"ge-profile-opal-nugget-ice-maker-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/ge-profile-opal-nugget-ice-maker-review\/","title":{"rendered":"GE Profile Opal Countertop Nugget Ice Maker: Feature Test, Performance Analysis, and Our Verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the closest Sonic Drive-In was about an hour away. In-N-Out Burger<\/a> reigns in that part of the country, but my sister and I were always enticed by the mystique of Sonic\u2014its rollerblading waiters, its buddy-comedy commercials and its seriously robust menu.\r\n\r\nIt wasn't until I was attending college in the Midwest that I was finally able to try the fast-food phenom for the first time, and I was instantly hooked. Not for the reason you might expect, though. I came for the corn dogs and tater tots, but I stayed for the ice. Yes, the ice.\r\n\r\nAs any Sonic aficionado knows, the restaurant uses small, pellet-like ice in their drinks. It's crunchy, cold-but-not-too-cold perfection. And for seemingly inexplicable reasons, it makes everything taste better.\r\n\r\nSo, you can only imagine my excitement when I heard about the GE Profile ice maker<\/a>, a state-of-the-art countertop ice maker that exclusively produces nugget ice or, as GE likes to call it, \"the good ice.\" I tried it for myself to see just how \"good\" this ice really is.\r\n

What is the GE Profile ice maker?<\/h2>\r\n\"GE\r\n\r\nThe GE Profile ice maker<\/a> is just what it sounds like: An ice maker that creates nugget ice. Although it's also available in black, we purchased one with a stainless-steel finish. It's meant to fit on a kitchen countertop and, while fairly large, is still portable. It's famous for going viral on TikTok, just like these other \"the internet made me buy it\" products<\/a>!\r\n\r\nThe sleek, modern-looking appliance, when purchased with an optional side tank, measures about 17 inches tall, 14 inches wide and 17 inches deep. You'll love these other aesthetic appliances you can get on Amazon<\/a>, too.\r\n\r\n[SINGLE_AFFILIATE_PRODUCT product_name=\"GE Profile Ice Maker\" short_description=\"Not only can this tabletop ice maker produce as much as 38 pounds of ice per day (at a rate of 1.6 pounds per hour), but it can pump out the first batch in as little as 10 minutes or less. That means you'll never be without your favorite ice.\" image=\"2105642\" image_credit=\"VIA MERCHANT\" pr_name=\"Amazon\" pr_url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/GE-Profile-XPIO13SCSS-Stainless-Nugget-dp-B0964BF4N7\/dp\/B0964BF4N7?tag=tohmke-20\" pr_display_text=\"Shop on Amazon\" retailers_2_name=\"Home Depot\" retailers_2_url=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com?id=131817X1598243&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.homedepot.com%2Fpep%2FGE-Profile-Opal-24-lb-Portable-Nugget-Ice-Maker-in-Stainless-Steel-with-Side-Tank-and-Wi-Fi-connected-XPIO13SCSS%2F320324360\" retailers_2_display_text=\"Shop on Home Depot\" retailers_3_name=\"GE\" retailers_3_url=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com?id=131817X1598243&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geappliances.com%2Fappliance%2FGE-Profile-Opal-2-0-Nugget-Ice-Maker-with-Side-Tank-XPIO13SCSS%3F\" retailers_3_display_text=\"Shop on GE\" retailers_4_name=\"Lowe's\" retailers_4_url=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com?id=131817X1598243&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lowes.com%2Fpd%2FGE-Profile-Opal-24-lb-Drop-down-Door-Countertop-or-Portable-Nugget-Ice-Maker-Stainless-Steel%2F5013575773\" retailers_4_display_text=\"Shop on Lowe's\" \/]\r\n

GE Profile Ice Maker Features<\/h2>\r\n\"water\r\n\r\nThere are a number of different components to the GE Profile ice maker<\/a>. Here's what we learned about each feature:\r\n

Ice Maker<\/h3>\r\nThere's not much to say about the easy-to-use ice maker itself except that it does its thing\u2014and fast\u2014behind the scenes, a testament to its design. It's quiet and nice.\r\n\r\nAlthough it's on the large side, presumably due to all the necessary mechanisms hidden behind the stainless-steel exterior, it's not needlessly bulky. It would fit on most standard countertops.\r\n\r\nAnd despite its intention for personal use, this machine cranks out ice at an impressive rate and has the ability to produce up to 24 pounds in a single day. Its ice bin can hold 3 pounds of ice at a time. And once that bin's ice is mostly empty, the machine knows to begin creating more.\r\n

Side Tank<\/h3>\r\nThe side tank, a slim rectangular accessory that sits snug against the ice maker, holds up to three times as much water as the ice maker alone, meaning the machine requires less refills with this handy attachment.\r\n\r\nThere is a removable cap on the bottom, allowing the tank to be filled with water. When I was testing, I saw no fill line, so I simply filled the plastic tank about 75% of the way, which seemed to work well. Within five to seven minutes, ice was already tumbling out.\r\n

Ice Bin<\/h3>\r\nThe ice bin is where the ice deposits and remains until it is manually scooped up. This well-insulated component, which functions like a drawer, is made of clear plastic so the ice is visible to users. It holds up to three pounds of ice at a time. Plus, it's easy to pull in and out, though it could stand to be a bit deeper. At no point did the ice begin to melt, clump together, etc. But here's how to keep regular ice cubes from sticking together<\/a>.\r\n

Ice Scoop<\/h3>\r\nThe machine comes with a top-quality, heavy metal ice scoop that attaches to the machine via a magnetic holder<\/span>. I found that I needed about two scoops of ice to fill a cup to my desired level of fullness.\r\n\r\nThis scoop is the only way to dispense the ice. There is no automated, hands-free mechanism.\r\n

Drip Tray<\/h3>\r\nThe plastic tray juts out about three additional inches from the bottom of the ice maker. It has a slight lip to catch runoff and does a great job of keeping the surrounding surface clean and free of melted ice.\r\n

How We Tested It<\/h2>\r\nTo test this appliance, we assembled it in our kitchen, a process that was surprisingly simple. As stated above, we splurged for the side tank, which makes the machine cost $100 more, but enables it to hold about three times as much water. This add-on isn't essential, and the machine works without one.\r\n\r\nI also appreciate that there aren\u2019t a ton of buttons or modes. Using the machine is very straightforward. There are three buttons total: a power button (on\/off), a clean button that engages the machine\u2019s cleaning cycle, and a light button. While the machine only makes one kind of ice, it does it very well! We\u2019ve had zero issues with ice clumping, melting, or being deformed while using the machine. It truly makes the perfect tiny, crunchy nugget ice.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nOnce we filled the side tank and connected it to the machine via a rubber tube, the appliance was churning out ice in mere minutes. From start to finish, we had ice within an hour of opening the ice maker, which was great because we hosted a dinner party of about 15 people the day we opened the machine. I don\u2019t think other machines would have been ready to use as quickly or as intuitively<\/span>. And we tested it (gladly, I might add) with just about every type of beverage, from lemonade to sparkling water to canned cocktails<\/a>.\r\n\r\nConsuming the ice\u2014and the drinks that go along with it\u2014is the fun part, but it's not the only part. We also cleaned the machine weekly as part of the testing.\r\n

Cleaning<\/h3>\r\nThe first step isn\u2019t in the manual, but you\u2019ll be glad you did it: Save the ice! Dump it in a freezer-safe container<\/a>,\u00a0then<\/i> get to work.\r\n\r\nFor the cleaning process, you'll need water, bleach and a little time. The instructions in the manual are thorough and easy to follow, which made us grateful\u2014nobody wants grungy ice. It takes about three minutes to run the bleach cleaning cycle.\r\n\r\nAnd nope, the ice doesn't taste like bleach afterward because you run three water-only rinse cycles after cleaning (or more if you\u2019re nervous). But we found that three rinses do the trick.\r\n

Pros<\/h3>\r\n