Silonn Countertop Ice Maker Review: cheap little ice factory for small households

I picked up this Silonn countertop ice maker after my fridge ice maker died and I got tired of buying bags of ice. I’m not running a bar at home, but I like my drinks packed with ice and my freezer is always full of food, so ice trays weren’t really working out. I’ve been using this unit pretty regularly for a few weeks, roughly once a day or every other day, enough to see what it does well and where it’s a bit annoying.

In terms of promise, it’s simple: plug it in, pour in water, and it spits out bullet-shaped ice every few minutes. On paper it says 9 cubes in about 6 minutes and up to 26 lbs in 24 hours. In real life, it’s not some miracle ice factory, but it does produce ice fast enough for one or two people without much hassle. If you’re used to the slow grind of ice trays, this already feels like an upgrade.

What surprised me at first is how small the whole thing is. The photos online made it look bigger, but on the counter it takes about the space of a small bread maker or a big toaster. That’s good if you’re in an apartment or have limited counter space. I’ve had it sitting next to a coffee machine and an air fryer and it doesn’t dominate the kitchen. You do need an outlet nearby and some clearance for the fan at the back, but that’s about it.

Overall, my first impression was: simple machine, not fancy, gets the job done. It’s not perfect – the ice melts in the basket if you forget it, and it’s not ideal for big parties – but for daily use for 1–2 people, it actually fits the bill pretty well. If you expect it to replace buying multiple bags of ice for a big barbecue, you’ll probably be disappointed. If you just want cold drinks without fighting with trays, it’s a pretty solid compromise.

On price versus what you get, I’d say this Silonn ice maker lands in the "good value" zone, especially if you’re currently buying bags of ice. The going rate for a 5 lb bag is usually around a few bucks, and if you’re going through one every couple of days for a two-person household, that adds up pretty fast. With a machine like this, the only ongoing costs are water and electricity, and it doesn’t draw that much power (around 160 watts when running). If you use it regularly, it basically pays for itself in a couple of months compared to constant ice runs.

Of course, you’re not getting premium build or commercial performance at this price. You’re paying for convenience and a steady stream of small ice batches. For that job, it does fine. There are more expensive countertop ice makers with fancier designs, nugget ice, or built-in water filters, but you pay a lot more. If all you want is bullet ice for drinks and to fill a freezer bag now and then, this cheaper unit makes more sense. It’s also portable enough that you can move it to an RV, office, or take it to a rental, which adds a bit of flexibility.

The downsides that affect value: it’s not great for big gatherings unless you pre-make ice, the cubes are smaller and melt faster than regular freezer cubes, and you have to put in some manual work (shuffling ice, emptying the basket, cleaning). If those things bother you, you might feel like the price should be lower. Personally, for what I paid, I’m okay with those trade-offs. It’s not luxury; it’s a practical tool that saves money and hassle over time.

So in terms of value: if you’re a heavy ice user in a small household and you’re tired of buying ice or messing with trays, it’s a pretty solid deal. If you barely use ice or expect restaurant-level performance, you’re better off skipping it or saving up for a more serious model.

Design-wise, the Silonn is pretty basic but not ugly. The stainless-steel body with black plastic top and sides looks fine on a counter. It doesn’t scream "cheap" from a distance, but when you touch it, you can tell it’s light and not some premium metal block. The footprint is around 12.3 x 8.7 inches, so it’s narrower than a microwave and about as deep as a small kitchen appliance. If you’re in a small kitchen or an office, that size makes sense – it fits on a cart, a kitchen island, or even a sturdy shelf as long as you leave air around it.

The top has a transparent window so you can see how full the basket is without opening the lid. In reality, I still ended up opening it a lot because the "ice full" sensor tends to stop the cycle when the ice piles up towards the back in a slope. Sometimes the basket isn’t actually full, it just looks that way to the sensor. A quick manual shuffle of the ice towards the front and it starts making ice again. Slightly annoying, but once you know the trick, you just do it automatically.

The water reservoir is under the basket. You pull the basket out, pour water directly into the bottom up to a line, then put the basket back. There’s no external tank or weird refill system. One full tank (about 2L) lasts several cycles. When the water gets low, the machine stops and the light comes on. It’s not rocket science, but you do have to remember to check it if you’re expecting ice for guests. Also, you can’t plumb it into a water line; this is strictly pour-in-by-hand.

In terms of noise and heat, the design is okay. There’s a fan and compressor, so it’s not silent, but the sound is more of a low hum and occasional water trickling. I’d compare it to a small fridge plus a bit of fan noise. In an open-plan apartment, you’ll hear it, but it’s not obnoxious. It also throws a bit of warm air out the side/back, so don’t cram it in a tight corner. Overall, the design is practical and compact, but with a couple of quirks like the ice piling up and shutting the sensor off before the basket is truly full.

In day-to-day use, the Silonn is pretty simple, but it’s not completely “set it and forget it”. To start, you pour water into the reservoir, drop the basket back in, hit the power button, pick small or large ice, and that’s it. No menus, no extra steps. That part is honestly nice. Even someone who hates gadgets could use it without any explanation. The machine beeps and the lights tell you when you’re out of water or when the ice basket is full.

Where the comfort drops a bit is in the little chores around it. Since the ice melts in the basket, you have to either use it fairly quickly or empty it into a freezer bag or container. If you ignore it, you’ll come back to a half-melted block of ice stuck together. It does break apart easily with the scoop, but still, it’s another thing to do. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the sensor that detects a full basket stops the machine when the ice is piled up in a slope. If you actually want a full basket, you need to occasionally push the ice towards the front to make room for more. Not a big deal, but it’s one more manual step.

Noise-wise, I’d call it quiet enough but noticeable. You wouldn’t want it running right next to you while watching a quiet movie, but in a kitchen or office corner it fades into the background. You hear the fan, a light compressor hum, and the little clink when the ice drops. I’ve had louder dishwashers. Heat output is there but not huge; the area around it gets warm, so I wouldn’t cram it between two appliances with zero airflow.

Cleaning is decent thanks to the self-cleaning mode. You hold the power button for a few seconds, it runs water through the system, and then you drain it. You still need to wipe the inside, the basket, and the lid occasionally, especially if you’re using tap water with minerals. If you skip that, you’ll eventually see some build-up. Overall, from a comfort angle: easy to use, but it does ask for small bits of attention. If you’re okay with that, it’s fine. If you want something you never have to touch or think about, this will annoy you a bit.

On durability, I obviously haven’t had this unit for years, but between my use and what I’ve seen from long-term owners, I have a decent idea of what to expect. The machine itself is pretty light at around 16.5 lbs, so don’t expect industrial-grade build. The outer shell is thin metal with a lot of plastic parts, especially the lid, basket, and inner frame. That said, nothing on mine feels like it’s about to snap off, and the lid hinges and handle area have held up fine to daily opening and closing.

The parts that move – mainly the little metal fingers that freeze the ice and the plastic arm that pushes finished ice into the basket – work smoothly so far. I haven’t had any jams beyond ice clumping because I let it sit too long. The internal pump and compressor are the main things that could fail over time. A few reviews mention units dying after a year or arriving used or defective, so quality control is not perfect. If you buy it, I’d definitely test it heavily in the return window. Run multiple cycles, try both ice sizes, and check for weird noises or leaks.

From what I’ve seen in user feedback, people who clean it regularly and use filtered or bottled water tend to get better lifespan. Hard tap water can build up scale inside, which can’t be good for a small machine like this. The self-cleaning mode helps, but it’s not magic; you still have to drain it and wipe it. The fact that some owners report using it every other day for over a year or more without issues is encouraging. It’s clearly not built like a commercial unit, but for light home use, it seems to hold up decently.

So I’d rate durability as acceptable for the price, but not bulletproof. If you treat it gently, keep it reasonably clean, and don’t expect it to run 24/7 like a restaurant ice maker, it should last long enough to justify the cost. If you want something to hammer all day, every day, you probably need to spend more on a heavier-duty brand.

On performance, this thing is pretty honest to its specs as long as your expectations are realistic. It says 9 cubes in 6 minutes and 26 lbs in 24 hours. In my kitchen, with normal room temperature, I usually see the first batch in about 8–9 minutes, then it settles into a rhythm of roughly a batch every 7–8 minutes. A full basket for me takes around 40–50 minutes depending on how warm the room is. That’s totally fine for daily use, but if you’re trying to fill a big cooler, you’re going to be babysitting it for a while.

The ice itself is bullet-shaped, hollow in the middle, and comes in two sizes: small and large. Let’s be clear: the “large” is not some giant restaurant cube. It’s more like a medium bullet, about the size of a small chocolate egg. Small size is good for chewing or quickly chilling drinks, but it melts faster. Large size lasts a bit longer in a drink, but both melt quicker than solid tray cubes, especially in room-temperature water. If I dump a full basket into a pitcher of room-temp water, most of it is gone in about 15–20 minutes.

Where it performs well is keeping up with normal use. For one or two people making iced coffee, sodas, or a couple of cocktails, it can easily keep up as long as you start it a bit before you need the ice. I got into a routine: turn it on when I start cooking dinner, by the time I’m plating food I’ve got a decent amount of ice. If I want to stock up, I empty each basket into a bag in the freezer and run another cycle. It’s not as convenient as a built-in fridge ice maker, but it beats constantly buying 5 lb bags of ice.

The weak spot is when you try to use it like a "party machine". For a group of four or more people all drinking iced stuff at the same time, it struggles to keep up unless you’ve pre-made and stored ice ahead of time. Also, if you leave the ice sitting in the basket for more than an hour, it starts to melt and clump. You can break the clumps easily, but again, this confirms it’s an ice maker, not an ice freezer. So performance: solid for daily small-scale use, limited for heavy demand.

Out of the box, the Silonn ice maker is very straightforward. You get the machine, a small plastic ice basket, and a tiny scoop. No hoses, no fancy accessories, no app nonsense. The manual is short and honestly worth reading, especially for the self-cleaning mode and the note about using filtered or bottled water if you don’t want cloudy, weird-tasting ice. I used tap water the first day just to see, and then switched to filtered – the taste and clarity were noticeably better.

The control panel is as basic as it gets: a power button, a button to choose ice size (small or large), and a couple of indicator lights for "add water" and "ice full". There’s no screen, no timer, no scheduling. You just turn it on and let it run. It starts by doing a short cycle where the first batch of ice is usually smaller and a bit hollow, then the next rounds get more consistent. The advertised "9 cubes in 6 minutes" is kind of true once it’s warmed up; in my case it’s more like 7–8 minutes per batch depending on room temperature.

In practice, you’ll want to run it for 30–40 minutes if you want a decent basket of ice for a couple of big drinks or to fill a small container. The catch is that the ice doesn’t stay frozen like in a freezer; the basket sits above the water tank and the ice slowly melts back into it if you don’t use it. The machine just keeps cycling that water into new ice, which is fine, but it means if you want to store ice long term you have to empty the basket into your freezer.

So, presentation-wise: simple machine, clear controls, nothing fancy. If you like gadgets with screens and multiple modes, this isn’t that. If you just want something that makes ice without you thinking too much, this fits. Just be aware that it’s more of an "ice producer" than an "ice storage" unit – you have to manage the ice yourself if you want to build up a stock.