Ice Cube Tray Rant.

Why can't I find decent "manual" ice cube trays anymore? I don't WANT to buy a new refrigerator. The one I have works fine. I just want a few ice cube trays that last longer than two or three batches of ice!!!!!! WTF????? I don't want wierd shapes, I don't want plastic encased colored balls, I just want nice cubish substantial pieces of ice. I don't need a machine or plastic bags from the store. I just want to have functional trays to empty with morning and evening kitchen chores. I want to have a reserve, made by ME. It's just one of those things that saves a few cents and should be a simple chore, not a nightmare of trying to find the damn things anymore and then having them crack TWO DAYS later. I have two that are more than ten years old, I know we once had the technology to make usefull, long lasting plastic ice cube trays. wwwhhhhaaaaaa


Is there an upscale gourmet outlet that sells GOOD quality ice cube trays? Or does EVERYONE have an icemaker and gallon storage doors in thier refrigerators now? (don't even get me started on those - trying to hold out till that stupid design fad passes and why can't I get a plain old refrigerator with a small - or without - freezer. I have two big freezers, I need refredgerator space, not more freezer space I hate side-by-sides, double door, freezer on top isn't much better, freezer on bottom - expensive and still have the damn gallon door problem.) Rubbermaid sucks, none of the dept. store brands are any good, if you can find them. AAARRRGGGGG!!!!!

There seems to be a crack in your ice cube tray.




:)

I love my side-by-side frig with lots of ice made automatically... but then I live where temps are above 100 all summer.

Hope someone here has some ideas for you. :hi:

I too live in a hot climate although at 4500 feet and away from concrete, we at least cool off most nights. No airconditioning either - just fans, a sears pool and lots of iced tea!

And I still use them. I have four that I stack, in all, and by the time I get to using the one on the bottom, the ice is just one solid block from the two on the top leaking all the way down. Good times.

for manufacturing ice AND crack in your home? :P

Someone with a new refrigerator may have got rid of some good metal ones with the pull lever.

Good luck!

actually the plastic ones that came with my 10 year old, old style, low end GE fridge with the freezer INSIDE and on top are wonderfull. They are plastic, so they empty with a slight twist and don't break the ice into chips, like those old metal ones did. I always have my eyes peeled when I hit the thrift stores, no luck so far.

It's the kind of thing they would carry in their stores. OXO has a fancy covered one on the market. I bought it for freezing citrus juice. The base tray seems fairly sturdy. I purchased it at Sur la Table, an expensive cooking store worth it only because they carry odd items.

guess I should check them out on the internets, huh.

Buy your ice ready frozen.

but this was just my little thing? I can't save the whole world but I can make ice in my already running freezer and save a couple bucks a week, not to mention the damn plastic bags and always remembering to bring an ice chest - because we are 15 miles from town and if I don't then I will end up with a bag of water insead and then it freezes into a chunk, which I can do fine on my own as well by using a big plastic bowl (actually I already do this for when we need big long lasting chunks)

sigh

... before you twist them. The ice will still remain frozen, but you'll be able to raise the temperature of the plastic just enough that it will not be so brittle. (At least not as brittle as it is when you first take them out of the freezer.)

You'd think that modern science would be able to solve this problem! I wonder if there are any silicone ice trays (but I'm sure they would be hard to fill and transport to the freezer).

What we really need are ALUMINUM ice trays with heavy duty HANDLES that you pull to crack apart the ice. I'm surprised nobody has come up with something like that yet.

I am old enough to remember them - and just now remembered that along with the stick to your hands like a tongue on a frozen flagpole issue, those handles eventually all broke off. I think we still have some of the trays out in the garage full of small garage-type "parts" - bent nails, rusty springs, stripped screws, etc

... and you NEVER wanted to touch them with wet, or even mildly damp/sweaty hands. Very painful!!

Ah... a sorting bin for small parts... that's an excellent use for them.

water on the ice (that sounds wierd, doesn't it?) or they refreeze into a big clump.

But the first one will always be a classic.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=11894224



It even has a cover so you only get as many cubes as you need!

sure don't care about the cover, so that is a waste. It looks kind of shallow but hard to tell in that pic. Might be worth trying one.

If anybody has - please let me know. I wonder if consumer reports has ever done an article about plastic ice cube trays? (or maybe I should stick with manual, in case some other material is good)

I mentioned it upthread. The tray is very sturdy, the cubes are demi-moons like those that come from an icemaker. They hold 2 TBLS of water, just like my old square cube Rubbermaid model.

here's one on ebay that I've been considering:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4464801949&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Who knew so many people ebayed ice cube trays?

and expensive! They pop out one at a time - if I was doing a half dozen trays trice a day I would get carple tunnel or something.

Had some plastic ones like those - I bet the silicone at least releases easier; do NOT buy hard plastic ones with that shape of cube - they are real pieces of crap.

I've got the built-in ice maker thing, but 1) I don't like ice made with sink water and 2) it takes up too much valuable freezer real estate and I took it out.

They have a good guarantee, so if they did break, they would send you new ones. Tupperware stuff lasts forever.

Didn't Rubbermaid buy them out? or am I thinking of Sterlite?

There are still Tupperware websites out there. They may have been purchased by another company, but I believe you can still by Tupperware products.

I just checked the website and it doesn't look like they make the ice cube trays anymore, but there are several different Tupperware ones on ebay. Their stuff is almost indestructable. My mom still uses Tupperware cups from the 70's...harvest gold and all.

Also on ebay that you might consider are Maytag trays:

http://cgi.ebay.com/4-NEW-Maytag-Mini-Ice-Cube-Trays-Icecube-Tray-FASTSHIP_W0QQitemZ7625186888QQcategoryZ20713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

We have 2 of these and I like them. They are plastic, but because the cubes they make are swallower, you don't have to bend the tray as much. They pop out very easily. I actually like this size cube better than the traditional big size.

Ebay certainly is an intriguing place to shop for ice cube trays. They have every kind you can imagine...and probably some you never would have imagined. :-)