Is the Frigidaire Ice Maker Worth It?
By Tom Reddick, appliances · updated 2026-07-26
Worth it if you use ice as fast as you make it
Worth it if you use ice as fast as you make it
around $95price at time of review — check Amazon for current
- Worth it ifyou host or entertain often and want fresh ice on tap
- Skip it ifyou want to build up a big stockpile of ice for later
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Picture the moment mid-party when you open the freezer drawer for more ice and find nothing but a solid brick, fused together from days of half-melts and refreezes. Everyone's cup is sweating, someone's already suggesting a gas station run, and you're standing there wondering why the thing that's supposed to be simple never is. A countertop ice maker promises to fix exactly this, but the real question is whether it makes ice fast enough to keep up, or just becomes one more appliance you have to babysit.
A Frigidaire ice maker like this one solves it through timing, not magic. Inside, a small pump sprays water up over a set of metal fingers, and because that surface chills hard and fast, a thin shell of ice forms on each one in about seven minutes. Once the ice has bulked up enough to resist the water flow, the machine senses it and ejects nine bullet-shaped cubes into the basket below, then starts the cycle again. That's how it reaches its 26 pound daily output, it isn't freezing one big batch, it's stamping out small batches over and over. The part worth knowing before you buy is that the basket doesn't freeze that ice solid, it just holds it. Leave it sitting a few hours and it slumps back into a puddle that drains through the tank via the drain plug, ready to be reused as more water. So this machine is built to run continuously, not fill a bin and shut off. The LED panel and viewing window exist so you can watch levels and decide when to scoop, not to check in once a day like you would a freezer.
So you're not buying an ice freezer, you're buying an ice tap, something that makes ice on demand while people are around to use it, not something that banks it for the week. That reframe answers whether it's worth it: if you need a steady stream of fresh ice during the hours you're actually entertaining, this nails that. If you want to fill a cooler once and forget it, you're fighting the machine's own design.
Worth it if
- you host or entertain often and want fresh ice on tap
- you have counter space for a stainless appliance running near-constantly
- you want ice within minutes rather than the hours a freezer tray takes
Skip it if
- you want to build up a big stockpile of ice for later
- you don't have anywhere to drain or refill water regularly
- you need ice that stays frozen solid for hours without attention
Not for anyone hoping to stockpile ice for later, this makes it fast but doesn't keep it frozen.
If you host regularly or keep a bar cart busy, this is a quiet yes, run it before people arrive and let it keep cycling while they're there. If you're after a big stash of ice for a weekend trip or want something that freezes ice solid and holds it for hours, skip it, that's a job for your actual freezer, not a countertop unit built to make ice fast and use it fast.
Check price on Amazon · around $95 or Add it to your Amazon cart to sit on it
Before you go
Can you leave your Frigidaire ice maker on all the time?
Yes, it's built to run continuously since the basket doesn't freeze ice solid, the machine keeps cycling to replace ice as it melts back into the reservoir.
Why is my Frigidaire ice maker not pushing out ice?
Most often the water level in the tank has dropped too low for the pump to reach the freezing fingers, so topping up the tank or checking the drain plug is the first fix.
Full spec sheet
| Brand | Frigidaire |
|---|---|
| Model Name | EFIC117-SS |
| Product Dimensions | 9"D x 13"W x 13"H |
| Capacity | 26 pounds |
| Wattage | 105 watts |
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