Ice makers, compared on what is actually published

Prices and specifications checked 9 September 2026

Four things we found that change the decision

1. Running cost is irrelevant. A whole summer of ice costs a few dollars in electricity, in every state. Everyone shops as though efficiency matters here and it does not. The running cost register shows the working.
2. Some of the biggest brands cannot be repaired at all. Devanti and Anko (Kmart) state in their own published policies that they do not supply spare parts or offer a repair service in Australia. Since running cost is a rounding error, lifespan is the whole financial question, which makes warranty and parts the most important page here.
3. Genuine nugget ice is rare. Only 4 distinct machines sold in Australia can be verified as making the soft chewable ice people are looking for. Several more are sold as nugget and are, as far as we can establish, one shared chassis whose claim nobody can verify. The nugget page shows which is which and why.
4. "Portable" does not mean battery powered. Not one machine in our data accepts 12V DC input, so a caravan or boat needs mains power or an inverter regardless of what the product name says. The portable page works through what that actually requires.

Where to start

How this site works

Every specification comes from a manufacturer sheet or a retailer listing, with a link and the date it was read. Where a figure is not published, it says not published, and that is recorded as a value rather than left blank: in this category the absences are often the most useful thing on the page. Prices are Australian dollars as listed and are never converted from another currency, and one machine can appear several times because the same unit sells at different prices at different shops.

We do not claim to have tested these machines. Where we eventually measure something ourselves it will be labelled as measured, with the method and the date, and kept in a separate column from the manufacturer figures. More on that in about this site.

Common questions

How much does an ice maker cost to run in Australia?

Very little, and the answer surprises most people. Making two kilograms of ice a day for a ninety day summer costs single-digit to low double-digit dollars in electricity, on every machine we could cost, in every state. The purchase price and how long the machine survives are the entire financial decision. Running cost is a rounding error.

What is the difference between bullet ice and nugget ice?

Bullet ice freezes around chilled metal prongs and comes off as hollow cylinders with a hole through them, which is what nearly every machine under a few hundred dollars makes. Nugget ice is frozen as a flake against a drum, scraped off by an auger and compressed into soft chewable pellets. Different mechanisms, different machines, and the word nugget is attached to plenty of products that make the first kind.

How much ice will a countertop machine actually make?

Less than the rating, and not because the rating lies. A rated output assumes the machine runs continuously for a full day with the basket emptied as it fills. In a kitchen the basket fills in a couple of hours and the machine stops. Treat the rating as a measure of speed, and the basket size as the number that decides how often you have to do something.

Do you earn money from this site?

Not currently. We have applied to two retailer affiliate programs and neither is approved, so nothing here earns anything today. Most of the retailers covered on this site, including Kmart, Big W, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, Kogan and Aldi, have no affiliate program at all and never will pay us. The disclosure on each page is generated from the live program configuration, so it cannot quietly go stale.