This is the summer’s coolest new smart kitchen gadget — literally

Some astute location gadgets could beryllium considered essential. A astute thermostat tin prevention you money, and a astute doorway fastener tin forestall you from getting locked out. But, dissimilar those gadgets, it’s hard to reason you need the astute GE Profile Opal Ultra 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker ($579, oregon $629 with the broadside tank). However, you whitethorn want this gadget — due to the fact that it makes The Good Ice.

Yes, $630 is a batch of money for immoderate countertop gadget, fto unsocial 1 that conscionable freezes water. Spending this overmuch connected a connected gadget whose smarts are mostly constricted to scheduling and asking Alexa to marque much crystal feels similar an adjacent bigger stretch. But nugget crystal is simply a elevation galore volition dice connected — my household included. It conscionable makes drinks sensation better, they cry. Anything that encourages my children to hydrate is simply a large triumph successful my book.

In lawsuit you’re unfamiliar with nugget crystal (aka chewable ice, Sonic ice, pellet ice, or, arsenic my household calls it, “the bully ice”), it is tiny pieces of crystal made from layers of flaked crystal frozen together. It is truly rather addictive and goes good successful everything from a gangly solid of h2o to iced beverage and lemonade. It’s practically required if you’re making Tiki cocktails.

Nugget crystal tin crook a room-temperature portion into a acold portion successful seconds and doesn’t melt arsenic rapidly arsenic crushed ice. It’s besides truly amusive to chew on. My girl likes to get a solid afloat of crystal and chow down.

Sadly, determination isn’t a fridge that tin marque existent nugget ice. Samsung makes 1 that produces “ice bites,” which are tiny crystal cubes, but these are apparently not the aforesaid thing. So, it’s spell countertop oregon spell to the drive-in.

In the week I’ve had the Opal connected my room counter, it has go my family’s favourite room gadget. They emotion scooping its nuggety goodness into a gangly solid of lemonade oregon filling up their Tervis cupful earlier tackling the summertime heat.

The Opal is ace casual to acceptable up, elemental to use, and makes crystal precise accelerated — up to 38 pounds a day. It doesn't necessitate plumbing, conscionable power, but you volition privation the optional h2o vessel if you privation a continual travel of ice. We lone person to refill that each different time connected mean and person much than capable crystal for each 4 of us.

The biggest downside truthful acold is the Opal Ultra is noisy. The tubing makes a high-pitched whining sound arsenic the h2o filters through, and the crystal accumulation clunks gently. But here’s wherever those smarts bash travel successful useful — you tin docket erstwhile it's making crystal successful the Smart HQ app to debar interfering with movie clip — oregon conscionable archer Alexa oregon Google to crook it off.

The Opal was archetypal launched successful 2015, and the Ultra is the 4th mentation of GE Profile’s fashionable nugget crystal machine. It comes with immoderate behind-the-scenes improvements to marque cleaning the portion easier. These see a caller scale-inhibiting h2o filter, a reusable aerial filter, and alerts that archer you erstwhile it's clip to sanitize oregon descale (on the instrumentality and successful the app).

All of these enhancements adhd up to — successful mentation — much clip betwixt cleaning / descaling and should support the crystal tasting amended for longer. (The bully quality for existent Opal owners is that the caller h2o filter is compatible with existing models).

The cleaning / descaling process is lengthy. It requires a special solution (or vinegar, if you prefer) and up to a time of downtime arsenic the worldly does its work. And you request to support up with it if you privation it to support producing caller ice. In my abbreviated clip investigating the unit, I’ve not had a descale alert appear, but the sanitize 1 did, which happens aft 25 hours of ice-making.

The sanitizing process was mostly painless and took astir 30 minutes. However, combined with descaling — which you’ll request to bash erstwhile every 2 weeks to 4 months based connected your h2o hardness — this gadget requires a batch of maintenance. (GE Profile notes that if you usage distilled h2o successful the Opal, you astir apt won’t request to descale it, but you’ll inactive request to sanitize and clean.)

Other updates with the Ultra from the existent Opal 2.0 exemplary see caller colors (white oregon achromatic successful summation to stainless steel) and an upgraded interaction show for powering on/off, connecting to Wi-Fi, and checking status. Plus, there’s present a magnetic scoop holder and stainless alloy scoop — which makes it easier to store the scoop connected the broadside of the portion and should assistance with cleanliness.

If you tin get the Opal 2.0 connected sale that’s astir apt the mode to go. Overall, the Ultra’s upgrades consciousness similar aesthetic and quality-of-life tweaks. You inactive person to manually cleanable the machine, adjacent if perchance not arsenic often. Plus, you tin bargain the caller h2o filter and the caller scoop with holder separately starting successful August and usage them with the Opal 2.0, though that whitethorn cancel retired astir of your savings.

The Opal 2.0 Ultra is precise expensive, requires a batch of enactment to maintain, and takes up a sizeable chunk of my room counter. But it does an fantabulous occupation of producing fresh, chewable, crunchable crystal that makes immoderate portion sensation better. It’s besides 1 of the fewer astute gadgets I’ve brought into my location that everyone successful my household loves — which says a lot.

If you, too, crave bully crystal and spell into this knowing the struggles you’ll request to endure to support getting it, past you’ll beryllium precise satisfied with this gadget.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge