Customer Ratings & Reviews

Awesome! Just be aware that it has to be cleaned often.

The GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra is the latest iteration of the Opal line of nugget ice makers featuring a new scale inhibiting water filter, air filter for the coils, magnetic scoop storage, and improved display with detailed operation. I opted for the carbon black finish, which is a nice satin charcoal black color that blends in with modern aesthetics. Setup was a breeze, with the unit being fully assembled and well packaged. After unboxing you will run your first sanitize cycle, which includes multiple rinse cycles which took maybe 30 minutes total. During this cleaning you will need to have the unit near a sink or have large container to holder 5+ cups of water. For a nugget ice maker, the Opal is relatively compact at roughly 16” tall, 17’ deep, and 14” wide. The included water tank adds a couple inches of width and is optional to reduce refilling frequency. For my dated kitchen, the Opal was too tall to fit under our cabinets so it was relegated to a console in the dining room. This turned to be ideal placement as I have found the ice maker to be noisier than anticipated. While the compressor hum and fan are fairly quiet, the water pump can be heard in an adjacent room. Though it is a minor annoyance and not a major concern, you may want to consider placement in proximity to areas of your home you congregate. It is nice that the unit is standalone and does not need to be connected to a water supply line. Within 10 minutes the Opal had produced the first nuggets of ice, though the first useable amount of ice wasn’t ready until 30+ minutes and it took approximately an hour to fill the bin. Though you can control the operation of the Opal in the app and even schedule it to run during certain times, I found little benefit due to the rate of ice production. Though I feel it makes ice with adequate speed, I am not sure how often I will know I will need ice in advance and it is more convenient to have it make ice continuously as the bin level lowers. However, one downside to continuous operation is that the unit should be sanitized every 25 hours of ice production so we received that notification after using the Opal just a week. I only used RO filtered water so probably a premature alert but depending on your water quality you may have frequent maintenance. The bin holds approximately 2-3 pounds of ice and can quickly replenish ice supply thanks to the recirculation of the ice melt from the bin. One other downside I have encountered is the bin tends to have condensation on the bottom and water then collects along the front lip of the ice maker. When pulling out the ice bin, about a tablespoon of this water drips onto the counter (or floor depending on placement) nearly every time. Maybe the 3.0 could have an angled lip and bin bottom to encourage water to drip back into basin. Despite my minor issues, the Opal ice maker is great! Our family loves the chewable nugget ice it produces and has quickly become a routinely used device. If you have the space and are looking for nugget ice machine, the Opal 2.0 Ultra is the one to get!

The icemaker was great - very easy to set up. It’s very quiet and the ice it produces is amazing. I definitely recommend this product.

I got this ice machine and it is an excellent addition to my coffee bar area I love it so much it is amazing

Awesome ice maker makes the best ice and really fast

Purchased 3 weeks ago, and initially, I was thrilled with my GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice Maker. The machine produced ice quickly and delivered that perfect nugget texture I was looking for. However, my excitement didn’t last. Now, after just three weeks, the machine has completely stopped making ice. It continuously displays a "add water" alert, even though both the side tank and reservoir are full. I've tried everything to troubleshoot, but nothing works.* *For the price and brand reputation, I expected far better performance. Instead, I'm left with a bulky appliance that takes up counter space and does nothing. This has been a frustrating and disappointing experience, and I’ll be returning it to Best Buy as soon as possible. I can’t recommend this product at all and suggest potential buyers think twice before investing in this unreliable machine.

I initially bought the previous version of this GE ice maker and had to return it three times due to faulty component issues, only to find out it had a known, unfixable problem. Frustrated, I upgraded to this newer model, hoping GE had addressed the issues—but unfortunately, it suffers from the exact same problems. Despite following all care instructions, including cleaning it twice a month and using filtered water, the compressor began making loud, unsettling noises within the first month. For a $600 appliance, this is unacceptable. I expected reliability and quality from GE, but instead, I'm dealing with the same recurring issues. I’ll be returning this and opting for a different brand.

Save money on buying ice and it never run out love it Best Buy I made in a long time

Love the ice machine when it was working. Had to return 2 to defect with not making ice when filter in place

I absolutely love it. Is a great product. Had a Frigidare nugget ice maker before this one and it made so much noise. This one is much better.

Yep, that’s what I always called it growing up. Not “crunchy ice” or “nugget ice” or “chewable ice.” We called it what it looked like – rabbit pellets! And I absolutely love it and now I can have it 24/7 in my own home thanks to the GE Opal 2.0 Ultra Ice Maker! PROS: - Nice Soft Ice always at the Ready - Fairly Easy to Setup - Makes ice Fairly Quickly - Plenty of Ice with Side Tank - Connects to WiFi for easy control in App or via Alexa - Perfect Size (Plenty of Ice without being too big) - Premium Looks - Great Magnetic Side Scooper CONS: - Side Tank should just be built in, not separate - Side Tank refilling could be easier - Must use Distilled/Calcium Free Water OR do complex de-calcification process FREQUENTLY I absolutely LOVE this machine! And I didn’t really get it for myself – it was my spouse who’s wanted one for years. We’ve had several other ice makers that made the round ice with the hole in the center as well as one that come pretty close to making pellet ice like this one – but those machines were just not designed in such a way that you’d want to leave them on your counter permanently and/or didn’t make ice that was so great it was worth always using them, so we’d use them occasionally, but leave them in the garage stored most of the time. That won’t happen with this GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Ice Maker! This thing is like magic for anyone who loves the soft crunchy pellet ice like you get at some of your favorite restaurants. The ice is perfect – soft enough to eat without breaking your teeth, but hard enough that it doesn’t melt the second you pour your beverage over it. I’m super impressed by how they have it at just the right temperature to achieve that. And this thing looks good on the counter and doesn’t take up too much space considering how large the ice bin is. It fits nicely under cabinets, doesn’t come too close to the edge of the counter and is fairly sleek width-wise. And it looks great – like it belongs on your counter rather than like you just left it there. Getting this machine running does take a little time initially, but not too bad. You need to clean it thoroughly before use and the included guide steps you through the process. Once done, you attach the side tank, turn it on, and let it get to work. I do wish the side tank was just built-in to the machine or that the machine wider to hold more water without needing the separate side-tank. The thing is you can’t just pour water into the side tank. You have to remove it from it’s stand because it’s basically like a jug with a valved lid you turn upside down to put into it’s base. Anyway, it’s not horrible and you can put the side tank on either side which is good I guess though I can’t honestly see how that would make much difference unless you were putting the machine really close to a corner wall. I still think it would be better to have that extra water reservoir space just built into the machine and have an easy way to pour water in from the top, but I’m not an engineer and maybe there’s a really good reason they didn’t do that. And the good thing is the side tank works great once set up. The machine makes ice fairly quickly. We used it when we had some guests over and even with lots of people using it, we never ran out of ice. It helps that the bin is quite large and we started with the bin full of ice. And it’s simple to pull the drawer out, scoop out some ice, and push it back into place. And you can have this running 24/7 as we do. As the ice melts (and yes, it does melt because in order to be crunchy ice, it can’t be hard frozen) it just drains back into the bin and the water gets recycled into new ice. It’s really a quite ingenious machine that does a great job at keeping you stocked up with the best kind of ice. There is also a scooper included that really is the perfect size scoop for this ice and they included a magnetic holder for it that can stick to the side of the machine for easy access – that’s a small touch that says a lot about how much thought they put into the design. This particular model also has WiFi and connects to the GE Smart app so you can turn it on/off as well as turn the light inside on/off in the app. You can also connect that app to Alexa so that you can turn it on/off using your voice if you so desire. The machine has been given the GE Profile designation which so far as I know is reserved for the higher quality premium designed appliances and it certainly deserves it. It looks great sitting on our counter. While most of our major appliances are stainless steel, our smaller appliances that sit on the counter are all black, so we got the black Opal and it looks super stylish on the counter. Makes us feel bougie! One important thing to note is that calcium found in tap water is the enemy of this machine! If you use tap water, you’re going to have to descale the machine and that is a lot of work. Depending on how high the calcium level is where you’re at, GE would recommend you do this anywhere from bi-weekly to every 4 weeks. And it’s a cumbersome process. This Ultra model does include a scale inhibiting filter which is supposed to help remove a lot of the calcium and other stuff, but it’s not fool-proof and even with it, GE still recommends the frequent descaling process. We’ve chosen to just buy distilled water and use that for this machine. After all, if you invest in a machine like this you want to keep it working well. And we definitely didn’t want to have to descale it every two weeks to keep it running. Anyway, just something you should know before pulling the trigger on buying this. But well worth it for us. GE really did a great job with the Opal 2.0 machine. It produces true rabbit pellet soft crunch ice. It makes a lot of it and makes it pretty quickly. It looks great and isn’t too difficult to set up. Once you get it running, so long as you use distilled water, the maintenance is minimal and the result is that you get that wonderful drive-in style chewable ice you’ve always dreamed of in your own kitchen!

I've used countertop ice makers for about 10 years and in that time, I've gone through perhaps five. They never worked great from the get-go, the ice production decreased over time, eventually leaked, or the compressor went. I like having ice on-demand. I don't have to worry about squeezing trays into the freezer and about the trays picking up smells. I'm excited to have the GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker; in the week that I've had it, I've come to feel very confident about its longevity. And it just works...very beautifully. PROS, Opal: ***Loads of crystal clear ice, 38 pounds to be exact. I've never run into a situation where I ran out of ice. ***A great feature about the Opal is that ice production starts up immediately when the ice bin is closed, not when some sensor 'eye' detects a low ice level, as was the case for all other ice makers I've owned. It means your ice bin is at maximum capacity, or ice maker is working to get it there. It makes a huge difference. ***The Opal comes with a metal ice scoop and holder that is held to the side of the ice maker magnetically; the magnet is strong and does not move. ***There is the normal water reservoir below the ice bin, but also the extra tank on the side; it's extremely convenient to have this feature so you don't have to keep filling the reservoir during times of increased ice usage, like if you have company over ***The Opal has a light as many other ice makers have, but the one on the Opal has a setting to make the light dim. ***The Opal comes with a drip tray, to catch water when the ice bin is open. The one on the Opal is smaller in footprint, but the edges are a bit higher to contain the water. ***Amazon Alexa connectivity works very well. I've only tried the 'make ice' and 'dim light' commends, but they work as expected ***The manual was well-writen and depictions / pictures were accurate, with nothing really to infer. ***There is a built-in function that reminds you to perform a Sanitization every 25 hours of active ice making. Every 50 hours, you need to Descale the ice maker PROS, SmartHQ app Whenever I placed the Opal on Wifi and associated it with the SmartHQ app, I rolled my eyes; it has many benefits however. ***Placing the Opal on WiFi was very easy ***Once you create a SmartHQ account (quick process), the app found the Opal very quickly, did a quick firmware update, registered it, and checked the status. ***It gives the status of the unit itself, but also the status of things like the filter, and even lets you order a new one from inside the app. ***The other reason I appreciate the app is to check on the staus, especially after a power outage CONS: ***When the unit is making ice and the side tank is installed, there is a whine sound that can be annoying at times ***The frequency of Sanitization can be annoying, especially when you use a lot of ice. This outperforms any ice maker I've owned. Aesthetically, it looks great as well.

Just upgraded our home bar area with the GE Opal 2.0 Icemaker and are very pleased. The icemaker is very efficient and quiet. The cleaning process takes some time but overall, well worth it.

I loved it at first and it worked perfectly. Now after having it for six weeks it stop producing ice and all I get is the error add water when the both side take and water reservoir are full.

GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice Maker with Side Tank in Stone White is a great addition to my countertop and family usage!! This came boxed really well and protected. The Ice Maker is quite heavy and took 2 of us to get it out of the box and onto the countertop. It is a very well-made GE product, sturdy and solid and took up a big part of the countertop where I placed it. After unboxing and going thru the pieces and reading all the instructions, I was ready to get busy making ice! The instructions were easy enough to read thru and there is a quick set up guide to help. You can also download and refer to the app on your phone for videos and setting up as well if you choose to use it. The 1st part to tackle was sanitizing and cleaning the components and main ice maker. The most time-consuming part was the water and bleach cleansing of the unit and then rinsing it 4 times to make sure all the bleach was cleaned out, note: I did this near the sink and then moved it back to complete the setup. After the machine was cleaned and rinsed, I set it in its new home, inserted the filter, added cold filtered water in the tank and waited for the ice to appear! To fill the water tank you need to do it upside down and then re-sit the container on the stand. It would have been better if you could fill it from the top instead of having to turn upside down and sit in the holder... but it works. The water reservoir and stand have a bottom clip and magnetic area to attach to either side of the ice maker. The metal scoop also has a magnetic holder to attach to the other side. There is a small drip tray that you place in the front of the machine to catch the drips from scooping out the ice - I feel this could be bigger and possibly made of a rubber material instead of plastic in my opinion. After about 15 minutes of running, the ice started producing and then a few hours passed to get a full bin of ice. The nuggets it produces are a great size and they are similar to a chicken restaurant we like to go to. They are soft enough to chew and keep the beverages cold too! Love the size and consistency! The melted ice is recycled back into the machine to continue making ice so you will always have a full bin. I like the bin opening towards you and the scoop fits nicely to enable getting ice into any size glass/cup/mug. If you load the app, you can manage when you want the ice and turn it on and off as well as lights and a few other options. If there were "negatives" I would say it is a little loud, but not a deal breaker - we are used to it as our refrigerators ice maker made noise too. Also, the cost of filters may be concerning to some as they average $20 but depending on your usage you may be able to go 8-12 months without replacing. Would definitely recommend this ice maker!!

Purchased as open box excellent condition. Was not excellent was used has water classification in reservoir and smelled also scratched up at the bottom very disappointed in Best Buy reconditioning process box means never used.

This is my second ice maker. The GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra is replacing a more basic one that I got to dip my toe into homemade perfect crunchable ice game. Before that it was a trip to that fast food place that sells it by the bag. What a pain to drive to the fast food place…. But for summer parties or just that perfect cocktail or soda….you got to have the right ice. The first ice machine…just really wasn’t the one-and-done I was hoping for BUT it did show me just how cool perfect homemade ice can be and I knew there had to be a solution…THEN CAME THE OPAL 2.0 Ultra! The first thing I noticed about the Opal 2.0 was the quality of the parts. Solid, well-built with premium material. It looks amazing…and since I plan to keep it out and running all year round, that’s important. The real clincher for me is it is a one and done perfect ice making machine! I load it with water and there is ice literally when ever I want it. It melts and recycles into fresh new ice! Got it out and read the instruction…I hate reading instructions, but you do need to run it through the cleaning cycle. It was easier than I thought but keep in mind, this is an appliance that will take some maintenance…it needs to be cleaned and maintained. It has a water filter and it has an air filter and a tank that will need to be cleaned from time to time and be sure to clean it. If your ok with that…you will have fresh perfect ice all the time! The perfect Ice is so worth it. I plan to only use filtered water going into the unit as well as the descaling filter that comes with it (but you will need to order replacements). Got it out of the box (it’s heavy… fyi) and prepped it. It was time! The basket pulls out and that’s where the main water reservoir is kept. The basket is solid and thick and opens up nicely to allow for easy scooping. I poured the water in and filled the side tank. The side tank adds some space to it but if you make a lot of ice it’s really nice as you do not have to add water continually. Without the extra tank, I got about 5 days of moderate use. It’s just me and my spouse so if you have more than that…the side tank is a must! The set up of the tank is easy and they put a sticker on the hose that goes to it…fool proof. I wish they had wheels on the bottom of the Opal so I could roll it out from the floor or cabinet to drain for cleaning. Time to make the ice. It does make noise. The noise is two factors: 1. The ice dropping into the basket 2. The sound of the pump moving the water into the cooling unit. BUT wayyyy less noise than my cheaper unit. Part of that is the solid heavy plastic of the basket that keeps the “tick” sound down when the ice is being made….but understand that it is not “silent”. It is noticeable but once the ice has been made… it is absolutely silent. A couple of scoops and it starts making ice and you’ll have the sound again until it makes the ice. In my book…the slight noise is worth the trade-off for the ice. I also like the light inside that gives the ice a tempting glow that says, “come scoop me.” You can turn the light off or dim it as well. The scoop is magnetic as well and can go on either side…same with the tank. The basket holds a good amount of ice. When I throw a party I will have to stockpile ice in a freezer for a group of 10 or more. For a group of 4-8… the tank will be sufficient to keep the ice going but I will have the noise around when that is happening. I was so excited about the set up and Ice…I forgot about the app. I forgot about it because it really is not needed. It does have some features that are ok. It can tell you about the water filter and has an “order” button for a new filter. It has a “make fresh ice” button…but the Opal is so self-sufficient that it just goes….I don’t need to babysit it or tell it to make ice. Ect…It does it. Which is way better than having to force it to make ice ect…the ice is there and ready without my input…I like that way better! Other than that, the app has cleaning and care videos and the owners manual (which you get paper as well). It also has the light dim and off buttons in the app. Overall not a bad app…just redundant. In summary… the closest thing I have seen to the perfect Ice-making unit out there! Soooo much better than my entry unit was. The ice is absolutely phenomenal and once I turned the Opal on, I haven’t done anything to it except open the ice drawer and scoop out the best ice out there ( 5 days before adding water)…the ice is even better than the fast food place… and for an “ice-o-phile” that’s saying something! Also cleaned it twice so far. Really not to bad. I will probably clean 1 a month and de-scale every 6 months.

I absolutely love this thing! I didn't think I'd ever hear myself say that I'm excited to use an ice maker everyday but here we are! I've been using this GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice maker for the past week for all of my iced coffee, soda, cocktail, and tea needs. This machine has been constantly producing perfect nugget ice without a hitch. The kind of ice that you'll typically find at your favorite fast food or gourmet restaurants. Best of all, as any unused nugget ice starts to melt away in the bin, the water gets re-circulated back into the water reservoir. This is a great water saving feature. I can't say enough good things about the build quality too. I went for the stainless steel variant and the stainless steel components are not only beautifully brushed, but also feel extremely solid. I'm a huge fan of the integrated touch-sensitive buttons that seem to seamlessly disappear into the sleek metal panel. The design of this ice maker was well thought out. Due it's sleek and modern appearance, it looks like a top-end appliance on my kitchen counter. The unit measures 15" Wide (with side tank) x 16.5" Tall x 19.5" Depth (including drip tray). I also love that GE includes a premium stainless steel ice scoop that attaches to a magnetized holster on the side of the unit. This is a very welcomed upgrade from the plastic ice scoop that they've used in the past. At first, I thought the setup and initial cleaning process was going to be a bit cumbersome. Thankfully, it was a fairly straightforward ordeal and didn't take too long. Total setup time for me was around 45 minutes. Once I had finished hand-washing the ice bin, side tank components, and ice scoop, I went through my first few cleaning cycles on the machine. This entailed filling the inner water reservoir to the fill line with fresh water (instructions say about 5 cups of water but in my experience it was closer to 9 cups) and a teaspoon of bleach. I then held down the "Clean" button for about 3 seconds and the cycle started. Once the initial cycle was finished, I simply unplugged the the hoses in the back of the unit to allow the water & bleach solution to drain in my sink. Once all of the solution was drained, I simply had to reconnect the hoses and refill the reservoir with water to the fill line. I repeated this clean cycle (with water only) 3 additional times to ensure all traces of bleach were rinsed out. Once these cleaning cycles were complete, I installed the supplied water filter, installed the side tank reservoir, and connected one of the labeled hoses to the side tank. At this stage, the machine was ready to make ice. The entire setup went smooth with no issues. I discovered that you technically don't even need to install the side tank if you don't want to. You can simply use the water reservoir underneath the ice bin. However, since I use the machine often, using the larger side tank reservoir prevents me from having to refill the water as frequently. I would like to note that while you're able to use any type of water to make nugget ice, I highly suggest going with GE's recommendation of using distilled water due it's purity. By using distilled water only, it should decrease the level of mineral buildup over time and keep the ice maker running optimally with minimal maintenance. This should help avoid having to descale the machine as often due to the typical water hardness of tap water. The water hardness will vary where you live and will determine how often you'll need to sanitize and descale your machine. When it comes to making the nugget ice, from the moment I hit the "Power" button, it takes about 10 minutes to get the first few nugget drops. After about 20 minutes of ice making, there's usually enough nugget ice to fill an entire 16 oz. cup. I have included pictures of how full the ice bin gets with 10 minutes of ice production as well as 30 minutes after initial startup. Bear in mind that this machine is designed to be left on at all times; and as long as you do, you'll always have a bin full of nugget ice ready to go. Since I don't have a big family household, I usually power mine down when not in use. The perfect middleground that I have found for my use case is scheduling the machine to turn on or off based on my daily routine. I LOVE the Android/iOS Smart HQ app that's been designed for use with this machine. I highly recommend downloading it to get certain features that are not available directly from the button panel on the ice maker. Since I usually have an iced latte every morning before work, I've scheduled the machine to turn on at 7:30am every morning, and turn off at 8:00am. When I go to my kitchen, I have plenty of fresh ice ready to go. This has also come in handy when I'm in the second floor of my townhome. I simply launch the app, turn on the machine, and continue working on whatever it is that I was doing. Once I'm done, I have ice ready for me downstairs in the kitchen. I also like that the Smart HQ app monitors the health of the water filter inside the unit and notifies you when it's time to replace it. I was also very pleasantly surprised as to how little noise this ice machine makes. It produces some low hums and churns that you would typically hear from a refrigerator compressor or a small power generator. It's not bothersome at all for me. As simple as the purpose of the product sounds, I've been having a blast making my favorite refreshments. The ice nuggets taste great too! I look forward, just that much more, to my everyday routine. I also like that I no longer have to make bi-weekly trips to the grocery store to pick up bags of ice. I really can't find any faults to complain about so far. If I HAD to complain about something, it would be that I wish the side tank reservoir was made of glass. Other than that, this machine has performed flawlessly thus far. If you love cold refreshments and you want the convenience of having perfect nugget ice readily available to you at all times, I highly recommend this GE Opal 2.0 Ultra ice maker!

As we our homes want to continue to up our culinary game, one of the fun areas is ice making. And the new GE Profile Opal 2.0 Ultra Nugget Ice Maker is as fun as it comes and super easy to use! SETUP: - Unboxing and setup really is quite easy! There are a few parts you have to clean like the ice tray and the water tank, and you need to need to run it through a cleaning cycle to start off but that's about it! Once I was doing my cleaning cycle I was ready to start making ice. - The machine is really quite quick in making ice which is nice. It will run a lot at the beginning since you have an empty bin but once its caught up you are good to go! PROS: - I really like the look of this ice machine. It's sleek, modern, and just blends into where ever you place it, either on your kitchen counter or at a mini bar! - The ice itself is simply fantastic! It's the "good" ice that are small pellets that you would get from your favorite soda shop. It's nice and cold and holds up well in your glass, just perfect ice all in all. - I really do like how it does not need to be connected to a water line and you can have it wherever you want. The side water tank is super convenient and helps make the ice machine last for a long time in-between having to fill it up. - I also think the light is a nice feature, adds a certain elegance to it. You can either have it on full brightness, about half, or off completely. - The Opal 2.0 can also connect to an app via wifi. This might seem a little weird but it's actually pretty useful and you can tell it when you want it to make ice vs when it should not. If you do not set that up, it will just automatically make more when it can sense you have used some ice which is a nice feature but if you want it to be quiet and automated the WiFi is nice. CONS: - The only downside in my mind is the "cleaning" process. Obviously, you want to clean these things frequently as you want to make sure your water lines are nice and clean. However, cleaning involves using a 5 cups water to 1 teaspoon bleach solution and then draining the entire machine and then running it again with clean water. The appeal of this ice machine is that you can use it anywhere aka not next to a sink or water connection, but when you clean it it is much easier to do so when you are right next to a sink & faucet. BOTTOM LINE: - As these dedicated Ice Machines comes more popular, the clear favorite as the best you can get is the GE Profile Opal 2.0. It looks like a nice high end machine, works fast, makes perfect nuggets sized ice, and the side tank makes it so you can use it wherever you want and it lasts a long time. Just like any appliance that uses water, there is some maintenance you need to do to keep it in great shape, but that's really not that big of a deal. This is the best ice maker you can get and is a lot of fun having around the house for drinks like soda, coffee, cocktails, or whatever you like best!

If you were to ask me twenty years ago if I'd ever be excited for an ice maker, I would have laughed hysterically. Yet, here I am, a 40-year-old man excited about this ice maker - The GE Opal 2.0. Summer is the season for cold drinks, and yes, most don't care if our ice is from our fridge or our local mini-market, but once you get a feel for "that good ice," you'll chase it every time you want a cold drink. Something reminiscent of shaved ice makes a drink taste so much better. That's how I can describe "the good ice." I needed help with the idea of owning a $600 ice maker. That's much more money than I'd expect one of these to cost. You can get a decent fridge for around $600+! With a price tag like that, I hope this will last for years to come. And thankfully, getting it set up piece by piece makes it easy to see the quality GE has put into it. Setting it up was easy. Instead of reviewing the instructions, I looked up a beneficial step-by-step YouTube video. The first thing you'll do after taking off all the tape and plastic is run it through a cleaning cycle. Instructions say it's best to do this 3 to 5 times, but I did it three times and felt it was sufficient. Setting up the external tank, filter, and everything else was simple. Everything has its place and fits nicely into the main unit. The unit itself isn't as big as I assumed it would be, so it's nice that it doesn't take as much space as a mini-fridge, for example. OUrs went into the garage for now, as we have a mini-fridge filled with drinks. It's nice to know it could fit on our kitchen counter if we needed it inside for parties. Once I went through the cleaning steps and filled the side tank with water, it took around 10-15 minutes for the ice to start coming down. And within 30 minutes, the tank was almost half filled. I love how quickly this thing makes ice. An auto ice machine is not for everyone. But if you're reading the reviews this far, you're at least interested. It's a great thing to have, especially during the summer. BBQs and cold drinks are always welcome, and this makes half of that possible! If the $600 price tag is too much, look for sales or open-box deals - as Best Buy can have some fantastic deals if you spend the time looking for them!