GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice Maker Review: The Coolest New Smart Kitchen Gadget

Some smart home gadgets may be considered essential. Smart thermostats can save you money, and smart door locks can prevent you from being locked out. But unlike those gadgets, it’s hard to argue need clever ($579, or with side tank for $629). However, you can think This little gadget – because it produces The Good Ice.

Yes, $630 is a lot of money As is the case with any countertop gadget, let alone one that simply freezes water. Spending so much money on a connected device whose intelligence is largely limited to scheduling and asking Alexa to make more ice feels like a bigger stretch. But gold nugget ice is like a hill, and many people will die on it─including my family. They cried, which just made the drink taste better. Anything that encourages kids to stay hydrated is a huge win in my book.

If you’re not familiar with nugget ice (aka chewy ice, sonic ice, pellet ice, or as my family calls it, “good ice”), it’s small pieces of ice made from flake ice frozen together. It’s truly addictive and goes well with a variety of beverages including a tall glass of water, iced tea, and lemonade. This is actually necessary if you’re making tiki cocktails.

Cube ice turns room temperature drinks into cold drinks in seconds and doesn’t melt as quickly as crushed ice. It’s also fun to chew. My daughter likes to have a glass of ice and then eat.

Unfortunately, none of the refrigerators can make true block ice. Samsung makes a Produces “ice cubes”, which are small ice cubes, but these are obviously not the same thing. So, either go to the counter or go to the drive-in.

In the week that I’ve had the Opal sitting on my kitchen counter, it has become my family’s favorite kitchen gadget. They love spooning their chunky goodness into a tall glass of lemonade or filling a Tevez glass before braving the summer heat.

The Opal is super easy to set up, easy to use, and makes ice super fast—up to 38 pounds of ice per day. It requires no plumbing, just power, but if you want a constant flow of ice, you’ll need the optional water tank. We only had to refill it on average every other day and there was enough ice in it for the four of us.

By far the biggest drawback is that the Opal Ultra is noisy. The pipes will make a high-pitched whine as the water filters, and the ice making will make a slight clunking sound. But the smart features do come in handy—you can schedule ice making in the SmartHQ app to avoid interfering with movie time—or just tell Alexa or Google to turn it off.

Opal was first launched in 2015, Ultra is the fourth version GE Profile’s popular block ice machine. It has some behind-the-scenes improvements that make cleaning the device easier. These include new anti-scale water filters, reusable air filters, and alerts (in devices and apps) to let you know when you need to disinfect or descale.

In theory, all these enhancements add up to extending the time between cleaning/descaling and keeping your ice cubes tasting better for longer. (The good news for current Opal users is that the new water filters are compatible with existing models.)

this very long. it needs a special solutions (or vinegar, if you prefer) and allow up to a day of downtime while the thing does its job. If you want it to keep producing fresh ice, you need to keep up with it. In the short time I was testing the unit, I did not get the descaling alarm, but the sanitizing alarm did, and this happened after 25 hours of ice making.

The disinfection process is essentially painless and takes approximately 30 minutes. However, combined with descaling—you need to do it once Once every two weeks to four months Depending on your water hardness – this gadget requires a lot of maintenance. (GE Profile states that if you use distilled water in your opal, you may not need to descale, but you will still need to disinfect and clean.)

Other current Ultra updates Opal 2.0 This model includes new colors (available in white or black in addition to stainless steel) and an upgraded touch display for turning power on/off, connecting to Wi-Fi, and checking status. Plus, there’s now a magnetic spoon holder and stainless steel spoons, which makes it easier to store spoons on the side of the device and should help with cleaning.

if you can get Opal 2.0 is on sale This might be the way to go. Overall, the Ultra’s upgrades feel like aesthetic and quality-of-life tweaks. You will still need to manually clean the machine, even though it may be less frequent. Alternatively, you can buy a new water filter and a new scoop with stand separately from August and use them with the Opal 2.0, although this will likely wipe out much of your savings.

The Opal 2.0 Ultra is very expensive, requires a lot of work to maintain, and takes up a large portion of my kitchen counter. But it does an excellent job of producing fresh, chewable, crumbly ice that makes any drink taste better. It’s also one of the few smart gadgets I’ve brought into my home that everyone in the family loves – and that’s saying a lot.

If you, too, crave delicious ice cubes and know the struggles you have to endure to keep getting it, you’ll be more than happy with this gadget.

Photo by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy/The Verge