Form or function – it’s a debate that will likely rage on from now until eternity. Engineers love function; designers love form. From a professional standpoint, I work both in design and engineering, so it’s not surprising I find myself split between the two. In almost every facet of my spending, once I’ve found a design I like, I take a ridiculous amount of time researching the said product, just to make sure it’s going to perform the way I expect it to. I honestly can’t tell you the last time I’ve walked into a store and made anything even close to a major purchase without extensively researching it online first. A compulsion? Maybe. But it’s saved me from the immense annoyance of buying something that looks good, only to find out it’s a completely and utterly useless piece of trash.
Which brings us here. If you caught my review of the Electrolux Icon dishwasher last week, you already know I’ve embarked on the adventure of a undertaking a major kitchen makeover. If you’re shopping for a new dishwasher, I recommend checking it out; if not, here’s a recap. I bought a beautiful house built in the ’60’s, but unfortunately, the kitchen is small and outdated. Rather than taking the traditional approach of new kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc., I’m working in reverse, making it work the way I want it to, and then building the cabinets and design around my desired functionality. From a functional standpoint, the worst offender in my old kitchen was the dishwasher – it was both ridiculously loud and terrible at cleaning. As any chef knows, cooking gets very messy, very quickly, so a dishwasher that works is a must. To solve my dishwashing conundrum, I eventually settled on the Electrolux Icon, and I’ve been tremendously happy with my selection.
While I was making the dishwasher purchase, I started thinking about what other functionality I’d like in the kitchen – functionality that didn’t currently exist. Two of the areas that I’ve found myself consistently wishing for were good ice (I’ll explain more in a second), and a solution for the trash.
First, on the topic of ice. I like ice. If I’m not drinking something hot, I want it to be cold. Not just cold, freezing cold. I add ice to pretty much everything I drink at home; I add it all my sports bottles when I’m active outside or at the gym; and now that it’s summer, I’ve been making various smoothies and other frozen drinks with my Vitamix blender on a daily basis. Needless to say, I go through a lot of ice.
Obviously there are plenty of choices when it comes to ice – you can buy it, you can freeze your own, you can use the ice maker in the fridge if you have one – and I’ve done all. Buying it’s a pain, and typically it melts enough to form a solid block after it’s been placed back in your freezer. Using trays to freeze your own is both a hassle and doesn’t produce nearly enough to meet my ice quota. And as for the fridge, I’ve never been happy with the quality of ice they produce, as it tends to both develop an unpleasant taste and grow frosty over time. All of this led me to consider the Electrolux Icon ice maker, and after a fair amount of deliberation questioning whether I really needed a dedicated ice maker, I finally decided to take the plunge.
As for what would handle the trash in the kitchen, I can’t stand garbage cans. They stink; you have to empty them every few days; and now that I have a Herculean two year old that quite literally breaks every child proofing device in the house by using a brute force attack, even an in-cabinet child-proofed garbage can wasn’t safe from his destructive grip. I knew there had to be a better way to handle the trash, which led me to the Electrolux Icon trash compactor.
So that, in a nutshell, is why I purchased the Electrolux Icon ice maker and trash compactor. Now that I’ve lived with them for a few months, here’s what I think of each.
Electrolux Icon Ice Maker ($1,799)
First up is the Electrolux Icon ice maker. I’ve already told you of my affinity for cold drinks, so an ice maker for me was a logical addition to my kitchen. But even despite my love of cold drinks and the large amounts of store bought ice I already consumed on a daily basis, it was the ice maker purchase that I deliberated the most. It’s not easy giving up cabinet space, but I eventually decided that for me, the functionality outweighed the negatives, so I went for it. Having lived with the Electrolux Icon ice maker for the past three months, I can tell you it does one thing, and it does it very, very well: it makes ice, and lots of it.
Let’s talk volume. If you want ice, the Electrolux Icon is capable of producing up to 60 pounds of ice a day, and at any given time, it stores up to 30 pounds of ice. I can tell you that for home use, you will never again want for a cold drink. I’ve yet to come close to maximizing the production output of the Electrolux Icon – this after hosting numerous dinner parties, cookouts, trips to the beach filling a cooler, you name it. This thing is like having Alaska under your counter. Is it overkill? Maybe. But when you’re buying an ice maker, there should never be an instance when you don’t have enough ice, and from a volume standpoint, the Icon delivers, without question.
But as impressive as its production volume is, the area that has impressed me most with the Electrolux Icon ice maker is the quality of the ice it produces. Virtually all ice used at home has a certain cloudiness and/or frosty element to it. It’s never that perfectly clear ice you actually want it to be. The Electrolux Icon ice maker is the exception. It produces gorgeous, absolutely clear ice cubes unlike anything I’ve ever seen at home. Electrolux states it produces restaurant quality ice, but in truth, the quality is better than most (if not all) restaurants.
Making the magic happen, the Electrolux uses a cascading design that continuously runs water down a vertical, freezing surface. Over time, more and more frozen water accumulates, while impurities are continuously removed throughout the process. Eventually, once the thickness reaches the correct dimensions, gravity takes over, and the ice falls into the bin. It’s actually quite an interesting design, as it’s almost like watching a stalactite form in a cave (albeit in a cube shape), but most importantly, it produces crystal clear, incredibly good ice. It’s funny – prior to the Electrolux, I didn’t really think of ice as being good or bad, but after owning it, I can tell you the Electrolux ice is simply better. The ice doesn’t crack when your drink hits it; it instantly cools, quite literally before you’re even done filling your glass; it blends fantastically, due to its unique surface area; and most importantly, it’s completely clear and tasteless. And unlike both store bought and refrigerator ice, the Electrolux ice is completely frost free throughout the entire storage container. It’s without question the best ice I’ve had at home, and as I already noted, it’s better than virtually all restaurant ice as well.
On a final note, the design of the Electrolux Icon ice maker bears mentioning (as does the trash compactor). Like the Electrolux Icon dishwasher, the exterior of the Electrolux Icon ice maker and trash compactor are identical, and they look like a solid piece of steel, with the controls for both located inside the respective units. From the outside, they’re literally a wall of stainless steel with a handle that matches the rest of the Electrolux Icon Professional series. It’s a beautiful design that really works in any style of kitchen, and in the event you’re purchasing multiple Electrolux Icon appliances, you have the option of placing the units directly next to one another, creating a virtually seamless design in your kitchen. They’re simply gorgeous together.
Would I recommend the Electrolux Icon ice maker? If you like your summer drinks luke warm, the Electrolux ice maker isn’t for you. But if you like ice, then absolutely. The Electrolux Icon ice maker has a singular job to do, and it does it perfectly. Now that I own it, I can tell you that I use it every day, and it’s become an integral part of my daily routine. Whether it’s in your kitchen, an outdoor cooking area or your in-home bar, if you’re looking for the best way to make ice at home, this is it.
You can learn more about the Electrolux Icon ice maker at the official Electrolux Icon website.
Electrolux Icon Trash Compactor ($1,099)
If I had to pick my least favorite element in the kitchen, it’s the element of the trash. My wife and I try to cook as many fresh meals as possible, meaning we have a relatively large amount of garbage that quickly develops an odor. Even worse, my two year old son during his daily pillaging of the house finds the trash to be one of his key conquests, so despite switching to an-cabinet design paired with child-proofing, he still managed to use his Herculean-like grip to force the cabinet open to get to it. As such, we made the switch to the Electrolux Icon trash compactor, and it has to a very great extent, eliminated the negatives of trash in a kitchen.
Let’s get to the main point of a trash compactor first: how well does it compact? Statistically speaking, the Electrolux Icon Trash Compactor is capable of producing 3,000 pounds of force. Having never owned a trash compactor, I had no idea how well 3,000 pounds of force would compact, but after using it, I can tell you it’s roughly quadrupled the length of time a single bag will last. This is going to vary depending on exactly what you compact, but in my house, with what I would consider normal garbage usage, this is an easy benchmark. Interestingly enough, prior to purchasing the Electrolux Icon trash compactor, I read a couple brief reviews criticizing its compaction abilities, with one reviewer noting they still had to empty the trash every 3 days. Unless you’re running a commercial kitchen, this simply isn’t the case. I’ve yet to have an instance where the Electrolux Icon trash compactor failed to compact whatever I’ve asked it to. Initially, with a new bag, trash compaction is limited, but this isn’t due to lack of power. It’s simply because the compaction press doesn’t extend to the bottom of the container. With a few pieces of garbage, there’s virtually no compaction, but as more trash is added, the unit compacts more and more. Once you have a reasonable amount of trash, you’ll notice the trash level stays at almost an identical level – it looks about half way full, you add garbage, run the compaction cycle, and it still looks half way full. In fact, my current load has been at about the same level for nearly a week. From a compaction standpoint, I’ve been ecstatic with the results.
In terms of operating the Electrolux Icon trash compactor, running it is about as easy as you can get. At the most basic level, you open the door, slide out the lower trash container, add your trash, press start on the control panel, close the trash container and door, and the unit runs the trash compaction function. From there, you can also use additional control functions, such as a delayed start (if you want to run the unit at a specific time), a hold function that keeps the compaction press lowered (making it impossible to open the trash storage container), and the on/off key (which if removed, makes the unit inoperable). As a parent, I can tell you that I love the hold function, as I typically run the hold function at night, which not only keeps the trash compacted for an extended period of time, it means that my son can’t sneak into the kitchen in the morning and open it. The delay function, on the other hand, I’ve found I seldom use, as I typically run the trash compaction cycle as necessary. The complete cycle runs for a maximum of 45 seconds (usually less), and in terms of sound, it’s quieter than having a faucet running. As such, I’ve found the compactor virtually never presents enough of a distraction not to run it immediately. And the on/off key provides an added level of security, especially when we have a babysitter watching the kids and we don’t want the unit to be run in our absence.
From an engineering standpoint, there’s two things that work absolutely beautifully on the Electrolux Icon trash compactor, the first of which is the bag removal. Whereas normal trash bags tend to stick in conventional garbage cans once full, removing the bag from the Electrolux trash compactor is accomplished by unhooking two clips located at the front of the trash bin, and simply sliding the bag out. It’s by far the easiest and cleanest way I’ve experienced to handle the trash. The second element is how odor is handled. Built into the Electrolux Icon trash compactor is a deodorizing system, and I have to say, it does an incredible job neutralizing the smell that traditionally accompanies garbage. The majority of the time, there’s virtually no smell at all, save for at the very end of a load, when it’s time to empty the bag. And this is with all garbage, including food scraps, included in the trash – we don’t separate anything, aside from recyclables that don’t have an odor anyways. It’s funny – the compactor’s smell is typically how I determine it’s time to empty the trash, as the compactor feels like it would keep compacting forever. Any odor, however, is only experienced when the trash compactor door is open, as the door keeps one-hundred percent of any odor that does exist sealed inside.
In the end, the Electrolux Icon trash compactor really has done an impressive job eliminating the negatives typically associated with garbage in a kitchen. It’s compaction abilities mean you have to empty your garbage significantly less than with traditional trash cans. If you have kids, it offers a truly effective solution to keep your kids out of the garbage, and has a variety of built-in safeguards to ensure their safety. When it’s time to empty the trash, it’s incredibly easy to do so. And last but not least, it does a remarkable job eliminating odors commonly associated with the garbage. As much as I hate dealing with garbage, I can say this is by far the best way I’ve found to deal with it. While it’s certainly not the first appliance that comes to mind when planning a new kitchen, I will say the Electrolux Icon trash compactor offers functionality that I really have grown to love.
You can learn more about the Electrolux Icon trash compactor at the official Electrolux Icon website.
