GEVI KNOVA Portable Countertop Compact Gemi Nugget Ice Maker

I never developed a taste for ice, but I had a friend who had to stop and get a cooler of ice whenever we went by a certain fast food place because his SO loved their ice. I now know what she meant. This little countertop unit makes the smallest little barrels of ice that make your drinks so cold. The fact that it arrived before the hottest spell of weather was perfect. I does expel additional heat into our overheated space, but despite what physics says the ice is worth it. It's been running full time since arriving almost 2 months ago. I don't know if it will stay out for winter, but it's so good I think it helped me lose some weight as ice was my primary snack for the second half of Summer

After some effort on my part to get it that way, this machine is generally rather beautiful and matches the décor in my kitchen nicely. I mistakenly thought it might be bluish in color when I first unpackaged it, but that hue was just a protective film that I had to peel off. When peeling it off, along certain edges where pieces of this unit recess into one another, the film was tucked underneath, so it tore at those edges, leaving jagged ridges of film behind to look undeniably sloppy. Because that bothered me so much, I decided to partially disassemble the machine so that I could fully access and completely remove the film. I figured out that the best way for me to do this was to remove the 9 screws from the bottom casing, which allowed the outer shell to pop off, providing access to all the blue film trapped beneath the edges. Since this is a rather heavy appliance that is not meant to be tipped, accomplishing that was fairly tricky for me. What bothers me about having to do this for the machine to look even remotely nice is that it’s the kind of thing that usually voids a warranty, so I find it extremely messed up that it arrived in such a state that would encourage that. It’s a MAJOR issue! Anyway, the ice maker actually does look gorgeous now. Still, I’m so upset that the film was installed in this way without providing any instructions on how to completely remove it. To me, the idea of such a film being present in the first place is to keep the unit looking really nice by protecting its finish, but in this case, as soon as you “remove” that, it’s left looking extremely shabby, which is so counter-productive. And it’s also just not acceptable to someone like me who is easily and greatly bothered by such details.

Anyway, the reason I ordered this is that my freezer doesn’t have an ice maker, and I’ve become tired of filling and maintaining those little ice racks, so I wanted to eliminate that practice. When I first opened the ice maker after unpacking it, I notice lots of water droplets inside, which was unexpected. I assumed that has something to do with testing the unit before sending it out and tried not to worry myself further over it. Anyway, I unfortunately have very little counter space available in my small kitchen, so the idea was to be able to tuck this out of the way when not in use, especially since I don’t require ice often; but upon reading the instructions, I learned that you’re not supposed to move this around much. After moving it, you’re supposed to let it sit undisturbed for a certain amount of time before powering it back on, which gives the compressor fluids inside time to settle. That revelation came as quite an inconvenient shock to me, since this won’t really permanently fit on any of my countertops. I did eventually manage to create a space for it elsewhere, and I can thankfully plug it in there and even lift open the lid to access the ice inside. Crisis averted.

Now, I actually CAN carefully move this ice maker if necessary, but it’s pretty darn heavy. Since the drain plug is underneath, I do have to move it to be able drain it, which I make sure to do, since I don’t want unused water just sitting stagnant there for more than a little while. It can be somewhat of a hassle to drain because of the weight of the machine, but I only have to manage to slide the machine forward enough so that it slightly hangs over the edge of the counter top. From there, I just pop open the drain plug and hold a dish underneath to collect the water. I’m disappointed that it really doesn’t drain as thoroughly as I’d like, just because of how the drain area is shaped and positioned. So, after draining it, I have to finish drying it out by hand. At least I have seen no signs that it drips or leaks at all, and I haven’t noticed any problematic exhaust either.

I absolutely love the stainless steel outer shell materials, but I’m disappointed that there is so much plastic that contacts the ice and water directly, including the plastic ice basket. I consider plastic to be an irredeemable contaminant, so I personally try to prevent it from contacting anything I ingest. I’d have much rather the plastic components also been stainless steel. Now, I do like that the ice basket only fits into the unit in one direction, so I don’t have to worry about getting it wrong. It simply won’t fit at all if I have it oriented the wrong way, so it’s easy to just spin it until I get it right.

The ice scoop that was included is also plastic, so I won’t use it because of that, which is fine, because I already have a stainless steel one. The ice scoop features a little hole along the short handle, so it can be hung on a small pin or hook. Also included were a very soft cleaning cloth and 10 large, plastic, drawstring ice bags that can hold 8 pounds of ice. The bags have a cute illustration on the front of them (see my photo).

Once set up, this ice maker works really well, producing a good amount of lovely, small cylinde...

This is definitely a high end consumer ice maker! Stylish, excellent performance, easy to use and very quiet. Just pour water in the ice-maker and hit the power button- it’s that easy! Makes a lot of ice that will work for any house party! The ice are small pellets that my guest have loved in their drinks! I am so impressed with this ice- maker!!

Love this nugget ice maker. I work in a hospital and am spoil with nugget ice. Now I can enjoy it all the time at home. Great for ice teas and coffees. It’s actually pretty quiet and doesn’t take up too much counter space. Hasn’t leaked and I keep it running 24/7. Performs very well and a lot cheaper than the other brand name ice makers.

I am on my 4th soft ice maker. 3 were true nugget machines. This one is my favorite because it addressed a lot of problems I had with the others. The first thing that I love is that the ice comes out of the top and not a slide out leaking drawer. It’s nice there is no mess when retrieving ice unless you take the full drawer out, then you may get a couple drops. However it is nowhere near the amount of our expensive first machine. You conveniently pour the water into the same place that you retrieve ice too. Another REALLY nice feature is that if the sensor knows the ice bin is full it automatically turns it off to stop making ice like many machines. Then in 4 hours it turns back on so you never have an empty ice bin. It doesn’t hold a ton but it makes it pretty quick. The indicator lights are very easy to understand and self explanatory. I also like that it’s taller and more narrower than many machines making it better for taking up less counter space. It’s pretty quiet and I rarely even notice it running. I did replace the ice scoop with a little bigger one, but overall I really like this machine and would buy the same one if it broke. It’s much more affordable and a better quality machine in my opinion.