Customer Ratings & Reviews

I had the previous model and the instructions to perform routine maintenance was very well written. These are not. Returning to store.

My review is based not on its use but on the materials that are toxic. According to the message (should be a big red warning) the product contains Barium, Antimony, Arsenic, inorganic Arsenic and the list goes on.

This is the second ice machine I've purchased. The first one stopped working after 2 months. The second machine arrived broken. I am very disappointed with craftsmanship of this product!!!

All sorts of issues on this according to users online. There are weird fixes like tilting it on its side to get it going again. Mine stopped making ice after 5 weeks. Best Buys awful return policy is 14 days buyer beware

This thing is garbage! It worked great for a couple of weeks and now continues to say "Add Water" no mater what you do. I've tried cleaning it, descaling, priming the pump, etc., etc. I've now had it just more than month and it won't work at all, and of course I'm beyond the return date. What a waste of nearly $600.

I paid $630 for a piece of equipment that broke before I had it 30 days and Best Buy says the item is no longer returnable. I have receipt and everything. 30 Days. What a great deal!

Let me first say that we have a number of GE Profile products including our entire kitchen (oven, microwave, stovetop, fridge, etc). We also have a GE Profile coffee maker which we love. We needed to add an ice maker to our bar area as we never seem to have enough ice around our home. When the ice maker arrived, I was exited to set it up. It is important that you clean the system a few times and clean the components before you start making ice. The device started making ice within 10-15 minutes of starting it up. It continued to make ice for several hours until the ice drawer was filled up. I knew the ice would be smaller than most types of ice ("pearl" ice) but it was smaller than I thought it was going to be. Despite that, I filled up my glass with a couple of scoops of ice and started enjoying a cool drink. I was surprised that two scoops took up a large percentage of the ice contained in the ice drawer. After I scooped the ice out, the ice maker started making ice again and the drawer was full again in a couple of hours. The next morning, I noticed the drawer had lost some of the volume of ice that was contained in it before I went to be the evening before. I didn't think much of it, but this kept happening every time I would scoop ice out, and the machine replaces the ice to "full." What I've noticed is the ice drawer can't be kept at a stable frozen temp so there is a fair amount of melting on the bottom of the ice drawer. This causes the ice maker to run to replace the lost ice....and the machine runs a lot. It isn't loud, but it can be heard constantly as our bar area is adjacent to our living room. As we're watching TV, the machine is continually making ice. GE has created a beautiful small appliance with this ice maker. It looks great on the top of the bar. The LED light shines a light on the ice and makes a nice glow in the evening hours. My only problem with this ice maker is that I want to make more ice that doesn't melt in the drawer and offers more substantial ice pellets for drinks. This ice is not the right kind of ice for cocktails, its is better-used for ice water, cold soft drinks an other alcoholic beverages. I hope in future generations of this countertop ice maker, more space will devoted to storing ice and making it colder so it doesn't continually melt in the drawer.

Horrible ! Don’t waste ur time getting this , I bought 2 and it worked for 2-3 months then just quit . Got another one it worked for a month and kept telling me to add water , it had water in it ! For $600.00 plus you think it would be AMAZING ! Nope !!

Worked only for 2 months and completely stopped working

The GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker is a great solution if you are looking for a machine that creates quite a bit of chewable ice cubes. You no longer must make a trip to your favorite gas station to be able to get the ice that everyone likes. It has a large water supply tank to constantly supply the ice maker. The ice storage tank holds quite a bit of ice, plenty to make 5 to 6 people happy to get a full cup of ice. It does have a few drawbacks after using it for a week. The setup process might be a bit of a hassle because you need to use a bleach solution to clean and sanitize the ice maker before you can start. It looks like after you set this thing up, you should be familiar with the process to sanitize this machine in the future. It appears the machine will want you to sanitize with the bleach solution at least once a week. If you have the ice maker far away from the sink, make sure you have a bucket that can be put lower than the machine to drain it out since you need to disconnect water tubes to drain the machine. The second annoyance is that condensation builds up on the bottom of the storage tank and this causes the machine to drip water on the front of the machine when you open the ice storage tank. There is a drip tray provided but that adds to the footprint of the machine. I would like to think that if they designed the ice storage tray slanted at an angle, the condensation would just drain back into the water supply instead of dripping towards the front of the machine. The third annoyance is the sound of the machine when making ice. My kids keep saying is there a dying cat around the house. I would describe it as a low whistle when the ice is being made. If you are hoping to have a quiet house, then this machine is not something you will want in your house. However, after having used other ice making machines, this one is a tad bit quieter. Just realize that this will add background noise to your house that you may or may not want. But given how much ice we eat a day since getting this machine, I find it well worth it.

Buyer beware! Read the reviews., this is a terrible product.

Had to return, it was a used product, I asked the sales person when brought out, they said of course not, but when I took it home it had water in it. I returned it to the the store and got the bullet one instead. So far so good .

Don't Buy. GE doesn't want to warranty the merchandise.

Unit stopped making ice after a few months - says add water. Occasionally will make ice then stops for a long time. Will not recommend this product. Expected more at this price point.

Broke within 2 months of purchasing. Horrible value - you are better off buying ice directly from a store than investing in a pebble ice machine not built to last!

Best buy jacked the price up over $100 more than competitors

I’ve had it about one month and it already stopped making ice. I’m going to have to return it.

Overall, this seems to be a great icemaker. Although the physical footprint is large, the machine looks great, holds a lot of ice, and works fast. The setup required some work since the machine needed to be sanitized prior to use. That requires the water reservoir to be filled, along with a teaspoon of regular, unscented bleach. It then gets rinsed multiple times until the bleach is washed out. Due to this process, I was happy to say my first batch of ice did not taste like plastic. From the time I turned on the machine after cleaning to the first ice appearing in the bin, it was right on schedule at 10 minutes. The bin quickly filled within a couple of hours. When ice is removed, or some melts, the machine automatically makes more. The melted ice is recycled through the system to prevent waste and to also keep the ice bin dry. It knows to stop if the bin is full or the water supply is low. The machine's status is easy to see based on simple, easy-to-read lights or by using the app. I can even be notified on my phone if I need to add more water or if it is time to sanitize the machine. If I don’t want ice production 24/7, the app allows me to schedule specific times I want fresh ice. Thankfully, the machine is relatively quiet, so I am just letting it run for now. Having the included extra water reservoir is a great feature, especially for parties or big families when a lot of ice will be used in a short amount of time. The machine easily keeps up with high demand, but it also goes through the water in the main reservoir fast. The cubes themselves are small, chewable nuggets. I also love the small size of the scoop because it is so easy to get the nuggets into refillable water bottles and other containers with small openings in addition to typical cups and glasses. The only negative is the nuggets melt fast in warm liquids. Of course, this does not matter when I am filling my water bottle. The scoop has a nice magnetic holder that sticks to the side of the machine. There is also a drip tray that easily slides in front of the machine to catch any drips from the bin or the scoop when in use. I highly recommend keeping the machine near a sink so it is easy to refill and drain the water. The machine needs to be sanitized approximately once per week. To do that, it needs to be drained, filled with clean water and some bleach, and then placed in cleaning mode to circulate the bleach water through all the components. Then it needs to be drained and refilled multiple times to rinse out the bleach. If sitting next to a sink, this is a fairly easy process. If far away from a sink, it would be annoying. I really like the icemaker and would definitely recommend it to a friend.

I've been wanting a craft ice maker for some time now, so was anxious to try out the GE Opal. First things first, being part of the GE Profile lineup, it's a beautiful machine that looks the part in any high end kitchen. I was even more impressed the first time I walked into my dark kitchen at night and saw the soft glow from the LED - very nicely done. Setup on the Opal does take some time. It involves doing a first "sanitizing" by mixing a mild bleach solution, running it through the machine, followed by a double rinsing. There is a supplied water filter which needs to be installed as well as connecting the side water tank. Then, fill the tank with water & it's ready to go. In short order, it will begin dropping the "crunchable" ice nuggets. There is no option to change the size, shape, or density of the nuggets; what you see is what you get. Personally, I'd like to have spheres for mixed drinks, but that'll have to wait for a refrigerator with craft ice! Since this is a sizable machine (truly a small refrigerator/freezer), I had some concerns about power usage. There is an audible hum, comparable to your refrigerator; also similar to your refrigerator there is a fan at the rear that does throw out a fair bit of heat. I have one of those Kill-a-Watt meters to measure utility usage, so plugged the Opal into it to see how it fared. I've now had the Opal running for 7 days now, it just me and the wife; we've given it moderate usage; probably half a dozen full cups of ice a day. Our dogs have also welcomed the machine, we'll throw some nuggets into their bowl & they think they're getting a treat! Over the past week, the Opal has averaged usage of a kilowatt per day. Around here, I believe I'm paying about 20-25 cents per kilowatt, so this is something you might consider. I'm a light user, if you're going to be filling multiple Stanley tumblers with ice, your power usage will be higher. The other thing to consider with the Opal is that it is a high maintenance device. As I said, I've run this for a week, and the sanitize light just came on. I also got a text notification via the GE app. This involves pretty much the same thing as initially setting it up - disconnecting the hoses; mixing bleach solution, flushing the machine, rinse, repeat. This is the factory recommendation - once a week. While it's not mentioned in the manual, I'm sure the reason for this is that the way the machine operates it creates an favorable environment for mold. The factory recommendation may lean towards overkill, I'm just telling you what the maintenance spec calls for. In addition, there is a decalcifying which is recommended every 2-4 weeks. If you have a coffee machine, you know what that is - once again, mix solution, run it through the machine, rinse, repeat. The harder your water is, the more often you should decalcify. The reason I mention these items is that if you add this all up, it amounts to about 8 hours a month - that's another job! Yes, the machine is convenient, and the craft ice is a nice feature to have, but it comes at a cost. This is not a plug & play, set & forget item. It comes with its costs. I did mention the GE app, it's really nothing complicated; with it you can turn the machine on/off, turn the night light on/off; and it gives you the reminders/advisories for cleaning. There are also copies of the maintenance manual included. So while I'm glad to have the Opal, I'm also mindful of the jobs it's assigning me every week. If you're good with that, it's a good looking product to add to your kitchen/bar setup.

My wife and I recently bought a new refrigerator, and we love just about everything about it, except the ice maker. It makes ice just fine, but it cannot keep up with just the two of us. It nearly can, but sometimes cannot. And with company, forget about it, it is woefully inadequate. And so we got a small $99 icemaker, which we have been using for a long time without issue, other than constant cleaning. This Opal makes the holy grail of ice lovers, the Sonic type round, pellet ice. It is a bit on the pricier side but not really comparable to a refrigerator and if ice is important to you, especially the best ice, the pellet ice, which this unit produces, then this is a bargain. It is large, but not excessively so, very easy to set it up and using it is good as well. Setting it up isn't all that involved, once you get it out of the box. A tip is to realize that the box sides come up and the floor can remain on the unit. Unfortunately I did not figure this out until after I wrestled it up out of the box, so do not make my mistake. After you get it out and all the tape pieces off, it's as simple as washing the unit accessories in warm water with a mild detergent. You will need to have bleach on hand to actually clean the unit for the first time though, so be aware of that requirement. Once you get it setup and going it churns out the wonderful pellet ice that we ice lovers crave. It is not very loud to me, but of course noise is entirely subjective and I should also note that I have some mild hearing loss as well. The maintenance of the unit is similiar to the initial setup and how often one has to do it will be largely dependent upon the hardness of the water that comes into the unit. We have a water conditioner that is very expensive and, for that reason, I hope that we do not see the light on the unit come on too often (it will tell you when you when it is time for a cleaning). My wife and I are very happy with this ice maker and the ice that it makes. We believe that it's a great investment as it will encourage hydration, something that, as we know, our doctors are always telling us is important. It's a bit pricier than cheap models you will find at Target or other value type stores, but for serious ice lovers, this is the real deal.