FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver Compact Ice Maker Review

FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver is a compact countertop ice maker that’s capable of producing 26 pounds of bullet-shaped ice cubes in 24 hours.

Ice production

FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver makes a batch of 9 ice cubes every 6 to 9 minutes (can sometimes take longer depending on water and air temperatures but it typically doesn’t). It will fill the ice basket completely in about an hour.

The ice quality is decent. It tastes like it’s supposed to – pure without any weird flavors to it. Ice cubes will last longer if you put them in zip lock bags and let them sit in your freezer for a bit but then they also might freeze together into a clump. It’s not to say these ice cuebs melt too fast – not at all, I’m just giving you a small tip in case you want them to last even longer.

Cool thing about this model is that it can makes bullet-shaped ice cubes in two sizes: small and large. The larger ice cubes are approximately 50% larger than small ones (volume wise – they actually don’t look that much larger but they certainly last a lot longer).

Noise

Ice makers do make some noise, especially when they finish making a batch and drop the ice cubes in the ice basket – FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver is not an exception in this regard. If you want a quiet ice maker you will have to spend a lot more money as all of these relatively inexpensive units seem to be a bit loud.

Control Panel

Control panel of FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver compact ice maker features 2 buttons and 5 indicator lights:

• Buttons
  • “On/Off” – Press to turn the ice maker on or off.
  • “Select” – Press to select ice size (small or large).
• Indicator lights
  • “Add Water” – Illuminates when water tray is empty. Pour water into the tray to resume ice production.
  • “Ice Full” – Illuminates when ice basket is full of ice. Empty the ice basket to resume ice production.
  • “Power” – Illuminates when ice maker is turned on.
  • “S” – Illuminates when you have selected to make small sized ice cubes.
  • “L” – Illuminates when you have selected to make large sized ice cubes.

As you can see the control panel is very simple which makes it intuitive and easy to use.

Water Tray & Ice Basket

The capacity of water tray is 2.3 quarts whereas ice basket can hold 1.5 pounds of ice cubes. In case either water tray is empty or ice basket full the machine will stop producing ice and will warn you about the issue with indicator lights.

Verdict

Overall FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 is a fairly decent ice maker for the money but it’s not much different than large part of similarly priced competition.

FRIGIDAIRE EFIC189 Silver Compact Ice Maker Specifications:

• Ice Production: 26lb/24hours
• Water Tray Capacity: 2.3 quarts
• Ice Basket Capacity: 1.5 lb
• Dimensions: 15’’ x 11’’ x 14.5’’ inches