EUHOMY IM-FP Ice Maker Review: fast clear cubes without babysitting the machine

I picked up this EUHOMY countertop ice maker (model IM-FP) because my fridge ice maker is small and my family goes through ice like crazy in summer. I’d already tried the typical bullet-style machines before, and they were honestly a pain: slow, weird soft “bullet” ice that melts fast, and they always got gross inside. So this time I wanted something that makes proper cubes and has a self-cleaning mode, even if it costs a bit more.

On paper, this one looked solid: up to 45 lbs of ice a day, 24 cubes every 12–18 minutes, a 3.2 L water tank, and the option to stick a water jug on top. The Amazon rating is around 3.9/5, which is decent but not perfect, so I went in expecting a good machine with a few quirks, not some miracle solution. I’ve been using it like a normal person would: evenings during the week, pretty much all day on weekends, and once for a small party.

In practice, it really does pump out a lot of ice fast. If you’re used to freezer trays or a slow fridge dispenser, the difference is big. Where it gets interesting is the day-to-day stuff: noise, cleaning, how annoying it is to refill, and whether it actually survives more than a few months. That’s usually where these machines fall apart, literally and figuratively.

So this review is from that angle: does it actually make enough ice, is it a hassle, and is it worth paying more than a basic bullet machine. I’ll go through the design, how it performs, how easy it is to live with, and if I’d buy it again or try another brand. Spoiler: it’s pretty solid overall, but it’s not perfect and it’s not for everyone.

Price-wise, this EUHOMY sits above the basic bullet-style ice makers you see at big box stores, but below the heavy-duty under-counter or nugget machines. So you’re in that middle ground where you expect better performance and features, but you’re still not paying commercial-level money. The question is whether the extra cash actually buys you a better experience. In my opinion, yes, mostly because of three things: faster cube production, better cube quality, and easier cleaning.

Compared to my old bullet machine, the difference is clear. The bullet unit made soft, cloudy ice that melted quickly and the interior was a nightmare to clean, with mold building up on the vertical prongs. This EUHOMY gives you clearer, harder cubes and has a self-cleaning function. You still have to do some work (drain it, occasionally run vinegar, wipe it down), but it’s manageable. If you actually care about not drinking moldy ice, that alone is worth paying more.

Another angle is how much money you save versus buying bagged ice or constantly driving to the store. If you’re someone who only needs ice for a party once every two months, this is overkill. But if you drink iced drinks daily, have a family that blows through ice, or host often, the machine pays off over time in convenience. Plus, you don’t have to give up freezer space for big ice bags; you just produce what you need ahead of time.

That said, it’s not the best deal for everyone. If your fridge ice maker is already strong and you rarely run out, this is just another appliance taking up space. And if you’re super price-sensitive, one of the cheaper bullet machines will still technically make ice, even if it’s not as nice. I’d say the value is good for people who actually use a lot of ice and are sick of the typical cheap units breaking or getting gross. For light, occasional use, you can definitely spend less.

Design-wise, this thing looks like a small, boxy appliance you’d see in a break room. No fancy stainless steel showpiece, but it’s neutral enough to blend into most kitchens. The footprint is fairly narrow, which is good if your counter is already crowded. The main catch is the height: at around 14.6" tall, it fits under standard cabinets, but if you use the water bottle option on top, it becomes a tower. Under low cabinets, that combo is just not practical. I ended up parking it on a counter with no cabinets above so I didn’t have to fight for vertical space.

The control panel is straightforward. You’ve got buttons for power, timer, cleaning, and adjusting ice thickness. The LCD is basic but you can read it from a distance. The low-water and full-ice indicators are actually useful; you don’t have to keep opening the lid to see what’s going on. The ice bin pulls out easily from the front, and there’s a clear window on top so you can peek at the ice level without opening the lid and dumping warm air inside.

Inside, you see the metal plate where the cubes form. The cubes often drop as a sheet of 24 connected cubes. That’s by design. You can either leave them as a slab for coolers or tap them against the bin to break them up. It’s a bit noisy when the sheet drops, but that’s a few seconds of clatter, not a constant racket. The rest of the time, the machine hums at a reasonable level. EUHOMY claims around 45 dB, and it feels in that zone: you hear it, but it doesn’t drown out conversation or TV.

One thing I liked is the access for cleaning. You can easily remove the ice basket, see the water tank, and reach the drain plug at the bottom to empty it. It’s not some sealed, impossible-to-clean box like cheaper units. On the downside, the drain is still manual – you have to move the machine near a sink or use a shallow tray. Not a dealbreaker, but if you’re tight on space, sliding a 22 lb appliance around isn’t fun. Overall, the design is practical and thought through, not pretty, but it gets the job done without being annoying.

The build quality is what I’d call decent but not fancy. The outer shell is mostly plastic with some metal-looking finishes. It doesn’t feel cheap like a toy, but it’s clearly a home appliance, not a commercial stainless steel unit. The plastic ice basket and scoop are light but do the job. The lid hinge feels okay; I wouldn’t slam it, but normal daily opening and closing hasn’t caused any issues so far.

Inside, the parts that matter – the freezing plate and the water contact surfaces – are made from materials that are supposed to be food-safe and corrosion-resistant. That matches what EUHOMY advertises. After repeated cycles and a couple of cleanings, I didn’t see any rust or peeling. There are some Amazon reviews where people complain about damage to the freezing element, but when you read closely, a lot of that seems tied to people picking at stuck ice with metal tools, which the manual clearly says not to do. If you leave it alone and let the machine drop the ice on its own, it should stay intact.

The drain plug at the bottom is a simple rubber plug. It seals fine, but you need to make sure it’s seated properly after each cleaning. If you half-plug it and then fill the tank, you’ll get a slow leak. Not a huge design flaw, just something to be aware of. The power cord is standard length; it’s not extra long, so you may need an outlet reasonably close by or a safe extension cord.

Overall, the materials feel in line with the price point. It’s not luxury, but it doesn’t feel flimsy either. You do need to treat it like an appliance, not a football. Don’t drop it, don’t poke sharp tools inside, and don’t leave dirty water sitting in it for weeks. If you do that, it seems like it can handle regular daily or weekly use without falling apart. For the cost, I think the materials and build are fair, especially compared to the really cheap bullet units that feel like they’ll crack if you look at them wrong.

Durability is where a lot of ice makers fail, so I paid attention to that and also read through a bunch of other user reviews. On Amazon, the rating is around 3.9/5, which usually means most units are fine, but there are some lemons. You can see that in the reviews: some people have been running theirs daily for over a year in an office environment without issues, while a few users say theirs never worked right out of the box or died quickly. That’s pretty standard for this category, unfortunately.

Personally, after regular use, I haven’t had any breakdowns. The compressor still kicks on normally, the ice cycles are consistent, and the buttons and screen work like day one. No weird noises, no leaks, and the casing hasn’t cracked or warped. I’ve moved it a couple of times (carefully) for deep cleaning and it handled that fine. It’s not super fragile, but I also didn’t toss it around. The person who said they use it five days a week for office staff over nearly two years is a good sign that, when you get a good unit and treat it right, it can last.

The bad side is that there’s at least one review saying, “It doesn’t work, worst purchase, no idea how to return it.” That’s annoying, but to be blunt, that sounds like a customer service issue more than a design flaw. EUHOMY claims a 12‑month after-sales service and ongoing support, so if you get a dead unit, the move is to contact them immediately and push for a replacement. This isn’t a $30 gadget; at this price, I’d absolutely make them honor the warranty if anything goes wrong early.

Overall, I’d rate durability as “good enough for home and office use if you don’t abuse it.” Don’t leave water sitting in it for weeks, don’t scrape the metal plate with tools, and don’t run it in a filthy, dusty corner without ever cleaning the vents. If you want something that can run non-stop in a bar 365 days a year, you should be looking at a real commercial machine, not this. But for regular home use, it seems to hold up well based on both my use and the long-term positive reviews.

On performance, this is where the EUHOMY IM-FP actually earns its keep. Once it’s up and running, it cranks out ice fast. From a cold start, I was getting the first batch of cubes in about 13–15 minutes, which matches the 12–18 minute claim. After that, it just keeps cycling. If you let it run for a couple of hours, the basket fills up, and the machine pauses when it detects the bin is full. That means you don’t have to babysit it constantly; just remember to empty the bin into your freezer if you want to keep producing more.

The cubes themselves are clear and fairly hard, especially if you set the thickness to medium or thick. They’re way better than the soft, cloudy bullets from the cheap machines. In real use, a full bin was easily enough for a family of four for an evening of drinks plus topping up a small cooler. For a small office (5–10 people), this thing can definitely keep up if you let it run through the day and people don’t hoard the ice.

Noise-wise, the steady operating sound is mild – sort of like a small fridge or desktop fan. The only loud part is when the sheet of ice drops into the basket. It’s a brief clunk and rattle, which might startle you the first few times, but you get used to it. If you’re super sensitive to noise, you might not want this right next to your TV, but in a kitchen or office break room it’s totally fine. Heat output is also something to mention: like any ice maker, it dumps warm air out the sides and back. In a small, closed room, you’ll feel it warm up a bit.

One thing I noticed: the machine doesn’t like being moved while it’s running. If you shift it or tilt it, you can confuse the water level or cause it to act up temporarily. So find a spot, level it, and leave it there. Also, if your room is very hot, the cycles get a bit longer and the ice might be slightly softer. That’s normal for these units, but worth knowing. Overall, in terms of raw performance – speed and volume of ice – it’s pretty solid for home and light office use.

Out of the box, the IM-FP is a fairly compact rectangular unit: about 14.2" deep, 9.9" wide, and 14.6" high, weighing a bit under 22 pounds. So it’s not tiny, but it fits on a normal kitchen counter without taking over the whole space. In the box you get the machine, a removable ice basket, a small plastic scoop, and the manual. No water bottle is included, even though they show one in some photos, so you’re just using the built-in tank unless you already have jugs at home.

The front has an LCD screen with touch-style buttons. It’s not fancy, but it’s clear: you get indicators for low water, full ice basket, and a timer function. You can also adjust the ice thickness, which basically changes how long the cubes freeze before dropping. For water, you’ve got two options: pour straight into the internal 3.2 L tank, or plug a narrow water bottle into the top (they say under 2" neck). In practice, I ended up just pouring water in with a pitcher because flipping a big jug upside down is awkward if you don’t have a proper compatible bottle.

Function-wise, it claims 44–45 lbs of ice per day and 24 cubes per cycle, with each cycle around 12–18 minutes depending on settings and room temperature. That lines up pretty well with what I saw. If you start it from empty and just let it run, you can fill the included basket in a couple of hours, and if you keep emptying that basket into freezer bags or containers, you can stockpile a lot of ice in an afternoon.

Overall, the product pitch is simple: make clear cubes quickly, with minimal babysitting. Compared to the bullet-style units, the big differences are the cube shape, the larger water tank, and the self-cleaning mode. The downside is that it’s a bit bulkier and costs more. So the question is whether those extras actually matter in daily use, and for me, they mostly do.

In terms of actual usefulness, this machine basically fixed the “we’re always out of ice” situation at my place. Before, we had a fridge ice maker that couldn’t keep up if more than two people wanted drinks at the same time, plus we used trays as backup. With the EUHOMY running for a couple of hours in the afternoon or early evening, we end up with more ice than we need for the night. For parties, I just start it earlier, empty the bin into freezer containers regularly, and by the time guests arrive, there’s a big stash ready to go.

Where it really shines is when you follow a simple routine. For example: fill the tank, let it run, dump finished cubes into freezer bags or bins every 30–45 minutes, and once the water is done, drain the leftover, run a quick clean cycle, and turn it off. Used that way, it becomes a small ice factory you only run when you actually need it. You’re not leaving it humming 24/7, and you avoid stale water sitting inside, which is usually what makes these machines smell and grow gunk.

The timer function is a small bonus. You can set it to start or stop after a delay, up to 8 hours. Honestly, I didn’t use that much, but I can see it being handy if you want it to start making ice a bit before you get home. The adjustable cube thickness is more useful: if you want ice that lasts longer in a cooler, set it thicker; if you’re just doing quick drinks and don’t care, keep it on default. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s noticeable.

Is it perfect? No. If you ignore cleaning, it will get slimy and probably gross over time, just like any water appliance. It also doesn’t keep the ice frozen like a freezer – the bin is just insulated, so the ice will slowly melt if you leave it there for hours without emptying. But if you treat it as a production tool, not long-term storage, it’s very effective. Compared to the bullet-style ice makers I’ve had, this one is clearly more useful and less frustrating day-to-day.