8 Best Clear Ice Maker of 2026

America’s Test Kitchen’s pick is the one to buy when you want a genuinely hands-off system that makes exactly four big cubes. That is half the capacity of our top pick and deliberately so — the simpler the mold, the less can go wrong, and the four-cube True Cubes has earned its reputation as a foolproof first clear ice purchase.

We got our best results using boiled, cooled water, and the closed freezing cell means there is no foam box to store or misplace in a crowded kitchen. The catch is durability: the silicone membrane can tear after months of regular use, which is the one weakness that kept this below the ClearlyFrozen. For one or two drinkers who make a few cubes a week and want something that disappears into a cabinet between uses, we still think it is the cleaner choice.

Three clear spheres in 40 minutes is the number that makes this the only electric pick we feel good recommending, and it transforms how you plan around clear ice. There is no day-ahead batch, no freezer juggling, no demolding ritual — just add water, press a button, and pull spheres as fast as most cocktail hours run through them.

The specs tell the rest of the story: around a hundred spheres a day, a 22-pound water capacity, self-cleaning, and two filling options including a hose hookup for continuous use. What we cannot yet speak to is how it holds up over a year of kitchen duty — long-term reliability is harder to assess on a machine this new, so our recommendation rests on the design rather than wear reports. It is also the widest footprint in this set at nearly 18 inches, so measure your counter before committing.

Eight 2.4-inch spheres per cycle makes this the ball-lover’s answer to batch stocking, and it is the highest sphere capacity of any mold here. If round is your preferred form — and for whiskey it often should be — one fill stocks a long weekend, and the included 12-ball storage bag means you can build a modest library in the freezer rather than playing catch-up.

The spheres themselves are the draw. The directional-freezing box produces the kind of crystal-clear ball that appears to vanish in a glass of bourbon, and we found the 24-to-26-hour mark is the reliable window — pull earlier and the core stays wet, leave it much longer and you start losing the edge. It is a slower cycle than the cube molds, which is the honest price of the larger, rounder form.

We also like the little extras that show someone thought about use: the storage bag, as mentioned, plus a stamp ring if you want to brand the balls. But the plastic shell is the weak point. It can crack after just a few uses if handled roughly, and the inner box does not tolerate knocking during demolding — the instructions warn against it, and the warning exists for a reason.

So where does that leave us? For the dedicated sphere drinker, this is still our pick over the smaller TINANA set below — the per-ball cost is lower at this batch size, and the storage bag is genuinely useful. We just treat it as the more delicate instrument in the drawer, not the daily workhorse. Eight balls at a time is a commitment; the results justify it as long as you handle the shell gently.

Eight clear two-inch cubes for less than a round of cocktails at a good bar is the deal this tray offers, and it is the best per-cube value in the entire set. That is the same batch size as our top pick at a notably lower price, which makes it the obvious first buy for anyone testing whether clear ice is worth the freezer space at all.

What you give up is a small amount of polish. The silicone is food-grade and carries an unusually long list of BPA-free and phthalate-free certifications, and the directional freezing does produce genuinely clear cubes with filtered water. But the case is black plastic that feels more like an appliance housing than the ClearlyFrozen’s substantial foam box, and it is prone to cracking after a few weeks of hard use.

For the price, those are acceptable trades. The cubes fit a standard rocks glass, the batch stocks eight drinks, and the only real discipline is leaving it alone for the full 30-hour freeze even when curiosity says otherwise. We put this on the short list for anyone building a starter home bar, and frankly as a second tray for a busy household that runs through cubes faster than the top pick can freeze them.

Stainless steel vacuum cups instead of a foam box is the design idea here, and it is what makes this two-pack feel less like a kitchen gadget and more like barware. Each upright mold is small enough to tuck around a full freezer, and the steel shell gives the whole system a durability story that foam and plastic simply do not tell.

The trade is capacity: you are making two spheres at a time, one per cup, and each cycle still runs the standard day-long freeze. That suits a household that wants one or two premium balls ready rather than a stocked library, and the included serving box and tongs lean into the gifting-and-guest angle.

Clarity is genuinely good for the price, especially with cold tap water — the stainless pulls heat evenly and the top-down directional freeze does the rest. The sphere runs about 2.5 inches, which fits a double old-fashioned glass without crowding, and the compact upright shape means no dead-air foam box hogging a shelf.

Removal is where opinions split more than usual, and we found the learning curve real: the first few demolds can be stubborn until the mold seasons and you learn to pop the top nipple first. Once you have the rhythm, it is easy. We recommend this as the space-saving pick or the better gift-box option — two at a time is the honest limitation, but what you get looks and feels well above its price.

If the Berlinzo’s eight-ball batch is more spheres than you will ever need, this four-ball set is the tighter, cheaper version of the same idea — and that is not faint praise, because the spheres themselves are gorgeous. We see little clarity difference between this and the pricier Berlinzo; what you give up is half the batch and the storage bag, and what you pay is well under half the price.

The 2.5-inch balls are actually slightly larger than the Berlinzo’s 2.4-inch spheres, which is the kind of detail that matters in a wide rocks glass. The silicone molds need a few uses to loosen up — the first demold can be a frustrating twist-and-pray — but after that the balls release with a rinse. For a household that mixes a couple of whiskey drinks a night, four balls per day-and-a-half cycle is usually plenty.

Fewer than seven inches wide makes this the narrowest electric ice maker in this set, and that is a bigger deal than it sounds when counter space is the real budget. The Vaultico One Plus makes a single 2.4-inch sphere every 40 minutes into a nine-ball holding area, which lands neatly between good enough for a couple and running out mid-party.

We think the one-sphere-per-cycle pace is the honest trade for the footprint, and the double-layer insulation is a smart answer to the classic countertop problem of ice melting in the basket before you use it. Like the Silonn above, long-term mechanical reliability is something we are not yet in a position to vouch for on a machine this new, but the design thinking is sound. Buy it for a small kitchen or bar nook where width is the constraint — not for throughput.