Frigidaire EFIC189 Review: Ice in Six Minutes

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The Frigidaire EFIC189 is the Best Overall pick in my countertop ice maker guide, and the reason is not that it does anything the others cannot. It makes bullet ice in about six minutes, like the rest of them. What separates it is the evidence behind it: 4.4 stars across 16,894 Amazon ratings, the strongest record of any machine in that guide, and the lowest share of one-star reviews in the group.

That matters more than usual in this category, because countertop ice makers are a class of appliance where the specification tells you very little about whether the thing will still be working in eighteen months.

Quick Verdict

Score	Price	Rating	Buy
8.5/10	$93.99	4.4★ (16,894)	Check Price on Amazon

Specifications

Model	Frigidaire EFIC189-Silver
Ice type	Bullet ice, two selectable sizes
First batch	Nine cubes in under 6 minutes
Stated daily output	Up to 26 lb in 24 hours
Basket capacity	2.2 lb
Dimensions	15″ D × 11″ W × 14.5″ H
Wattage	200 W
Panel	Digital, with ice-full and water-empty indicators
Water supply	Fill by jug — no plumbing

The thing to understand before you buy one

A countertop ice maker does not keep ice. The basket is insulated but it is not a freezer, so the ice you make slowly melts, the meltwater drains back into the reservoir, and the machine makes it again. Leave the EFIC189 running all afternoon and you do not accumulate 26 pounds of ice — you get a basket that stays roughly full while the machine cycles.

This is true of every machine in this price class, including the Silonn and the EUHOMY. It is the single most common source of one-star reviews across the whole category, and almost always a mismatch between what the buyer expected and what this type of appliance does. If you want a standing supply, bag the ice into a freezer as it is produced. If you want ice on demand for drinks, that is exactly what this is for.

Who It’s For

• Households whose freezer tray cannot keep up with drinks, parties or iced coffee
• Renters, offices, dorms, boats and anywhere plumbing an ice line is not an option
• Buyers who want the pick with the most buyer feedback behind it rather than the cheapest one
• Anyone who wants two cube sizes — smaller for chilling fast, larger for drinks that sit

Who Should Look Elsewhere

• Anyone who needs ice to be stored rather than made on demand — buy a freezer, not this
• Chewable nugget-ice people; bullet ice is hard and hollow, and a nugget machine is a different purchase
• Anyone counting every dollar — the EUHOMY is $24 cheaper and rated 4.2 across 16,180 ratings
• Kitchens with under-cabinet clearance below about 15 inches, or under 15 inches of counter depth

Performance

Six minutes is real, 26 pounds is a ceiling

Frigidaire states the first nine cubes arrive in under six minutes, and that figure is consistent with every other compressor machine of this size — the Silonn quotes six, the EUHOMY the same. It is a genuine convenience: start it when guests arrive and there is usable ice before the first round is poured.

The 26 lb per 24 hours figure is a different kind of number. It is a laboratory ceiling, and it assumes cool ambient temperature, cold fill water, and someone emptying the basket the moment it fills. The 2.2 lb basket is the real constraint: once it is full the machine stops. Unattended, this is a 2.2 lb appliance that tops itself up, not a 26 lb one.

Two cube sizes, and what bullet ice is good at

Bullet ice is cylindrical with a hollow core, which gives it a lot of surface area. That makes it chill a drink quickly, and it also makes it melt quickly — fine for a highball you will finish, less good for a spirit you want to sip. The small setting chills fastest; the large setting lasts longer in the glass. Neither is clear ice, and no machine at this price makes clear ice.

Water, noise and running it

You fill it from a jug — there is no plumbing, no water line and no filter to buy. The reservoir sits under the ice basket, and the digital panel tells you when the water is empty and when the basket is full.

On noise, I have to be straight with you: it runs a compressor and a pump, so it is audible, but I have no measured figure for it. Frigidaire does not publish a decibel rating for this model, and no comparable machine in the guide publishes one either, so there is nothing to compare against. Anyone quoting you a precise decibel number for this machine is not getting it from the manufacturer.

Design and Build

The front is stainless steel with a large transparent window, which is the main reason this looks like an appliance rather than a plastic box — and at this price most of the competition is a plastic box. The window is practical as well as cosmetic, since you can see the basket filling without lifting the lid.

The footprint is worth measuring before you buy. At 15 inches deep, 11 wide and 14.5 tall, it is deeper than it is wide, which is the opposite of what people assume from the photographs. On a standard 24-inch counter it leaves room behind, but under a wall cabinet the 14.5-inch height is the number that will catch you out.

Value

At $93.99 the EFIC189 sits in the middle of its own guide. The EUHOMY is $69.78, the Silonn $96.06, and the Silonn Nugget $199.83. So it is not the cheap option, and it is not far off the Silonn it now outranks.

What the extra $24 over the EUHOMY buys is not output — both are rated 26 lb per day — but the rating record and the stainless front. Whether that is worth it depends on how much weight you put on 16,894 ratings at 4.4 versus 16,180 at 4.2. Both are large enough samples to be meaningful; the gap between them is real but not enormous.

Durability

Across 16,894 ratings the distribution runs 72% five-star, 13% four, 5% three, 3% two and 7% one-star. Read the shape rather than the 4.4 average: 85% of buyers landed at four or five stars, and the 7% one-star share is the lowest of any machine in the buying guide — the EUHOMY sits at 9% and the Igloo at 10%.

That one-star share is the number I would watch in this category, because countertop ice makers fail in a specific way: the pump or the water sensor goes, usually somewhere past the warranty. A lower one-star share does not prove the EFIC189 is better engineered, but across a sample this large it is the best available signal, and it is the reason this is the Best Overall pick rather than the cheaper EUHOMY.

One caveat on the listing itself: Amazon’s specification block gives the model name as “EFIC189/EFIC206”, so the ratings pooled here may span more than one revision of the machine. I could not establish from the listing what separates the two, and I am not going to guess.

Alternatives to Consider

• EUHOMY Countertop Ice Maker — $69.78. Same 26 lb rating, $24 cheaper, 4.2 stars across 16,180 ratings. The pick if price leads.
• Silonn Countertop Ice Maker — $96.06. Marginally faster to a first batch and offers two cube sizes, but Amazon currently displays no customer ratings at all on that listing, so there is no buyer evidence to weigh.
• Silonn Nugget Ice Maker — $199.83. A different product entirely: chewable pebble ice, 44 lb per day, and roughly double the money.

Verdict

The EFIC189 is the countertop ice maker to buy if you want the one with the least uncertainty attached to it. It is not the cheapest, it is not the fastest, and it does nothing its rivals cannot — but it has the largest body of positive feedback in the category and the smallest tail of angry reviews, and in an appliance class this prone to early failure that is the specification that actually matters.

Buy it understanding what it is: a machine that makes ice on demand and does not store it, with a 2.2 lb basket that is the real limit on output. On those terms it is very good. Judged as an ice supply that fills up while you are out, it will disappoint you, exactly as it has disappointed the 7%.

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How This Review Was Put Together

Plainly: this is research-based, not a hands-on test. I have not owned or used this machine, and nothing here should be read as a report from my own kitchen.

What it rests on: the published specification — ice type and sizes, first-batch time, stated daily output, basket capacity, wattage and dimensions — read against the other machines in the buying guide; plus the shape of the rating distribution across 16,894 Amazon ratings rather than the 4.4 average it produces.

What I could not establish: noise, real daily output in a normal kitchen, and what distinguishes the EFIC189 from the EFIC206 that shares its listing. None of the three is published in a form that can be compared between machines, and nothing above claims a measurement of any of them.

Price and stock were read from Amazon’s US marketplace on 7 September 2026, when the listing showed only five units remaining. Both will move.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Frigidaire EFIC189 keep ice frozen?

No. The basket is insulated but not refrigerated, so ice melts slowly, drains back into the reservoir and is remade. Every countertop machine at this price works this way. If you need a standing supply, move the ice to a freezer as it is produced.

How long does the first batch take?

Under six minutes for nine cubes, according to Frigidaire. That is in line with every comparable compressor machine in this size class.

Will it really make 26 lbs of ice a day?

Only in ideal conditions with someone emptying the 2.2 lb basket as it fills. The basket is the real constraint — once it is full the machine stops. Treat 26 lb as a ceiling, not an expectation.

Does the Frigidaire EFIC189 need a water line?

No. You fill the reservoir from a jug. There is no plumbing to install and no filter to replace, which is why these machines suit rentals, offices and boats.

What is the difference between the EFIC189 and the EFIC206?

Amazon lists the model name as EFIC189/EFIC206, so both share a listing and a pooled set of ratings. The listing itself does not state what separates them, and I could not establish it from the published specification.

Is the Frigidaire EFIC189 better than the Silonn?

On evidence, yes. The two are closely matched on specification and price, but the Frigidaire holds 4.4 stars across 16,894 ratings while Amazon currently displays no ratings at all on the Silonn listing, so there is nothing to weigh on that side.