Once upon a time in the eighties having ice machines and a mini bar was a luxury for the rich and famous. These as time has passed there have been more scope for people to go out and buy themselves new equipment, because they are much cheaper and are widely available to all households. It would also appear that modern households tend not to wait hours upon hours for ice cubes to freeze up to serve in drinks at a party, but simply switch the ice machine to dispense ready-made ice cubes in seconds.
Ice machines are now as common in kitchens as a coffee machine or even a kettle, with more people opting to prepare themselves for the summer months. Where one may want to eat ice-creams and iced lollipops in the heat of summer, others may opt for a much healthier and fruity iced drink. Having access to ice at just the push of a button is just one of the luxuries that one may enjoy, but it is also useful to have if one is holding a party with family or friends and serving cool drinks.
More people are familiar with industrial ice machines, which are displayed and available for use in public places. Ice machines at home tend to be smaller in size, or built-in to the refrigerator, or made portable for transferring from one area to the other. This is all dependant on how much ice you will be consuming, whether you will need to buy a portable machine or built-in machine which can hold up to 2kg of ice. Table-top machines can hold roughly the same amount and can produce ice at a faster rate.
Table-top machines do not need to be plumbed in, as they have no drain hoses and are filled up manually. These types of machines are usually worth around 200 pounds or under and generally require little maintenance. Large industrial machines are capable of producing around 2kg to 10kg of ice an hour, costing between 900 pounds to 3000 pounds. These are built to keep with busy/high demands in public places such as grocery shops, pubs, health centres, fast food venues, cafes, restaurants etc. These are expected to churn out as much ice as possible and are able to do this because they are connected up to the main water supply.
With the industrial machines there are more options for gimmicky settings such as the shapes of the ice cubes, strength of the ice cube and consistency of the ice (clear or cloudy ice cubes). This is possible only in larger machines because the machine can control how fast the water flows. The faster the water flow, the more chances of a crystal clear ice cube because more impurities have been eliminated. For some bars and restaurants the quality of the ice cube is an important factor, because of the specific criteria of hygiene standards they will need to follow.
Ice machines vary in size and shape; however all of these machines share the same maintenance levels as each other. Industrial machines generally need to be serviced regularly because they are more in use than table-top or portable machines.