April 30th, 2006

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Mixed Bag
17 Comments »

My Quest For New Ice Cube Trays

I consume a lot of ice. Every time I’m drinking juice or Coke, I more or less fill my glass with ice. When I go to the movies, I often buy a Coke (or Pepsi, its poor cousin) and ask for extra ice.

As such (and no doubt because of my mammoth forearms), our ice cube trays have pretty much given up the ghost. Cracks run through them in all directions, and it’s getting very messy to carry them from the sink to the freezer.

So, I’m in the market for new ice cube trays. This has turned out to be harder than you’d think. I’ve looked in three different stores–two kitchen stores and one grocery store–and none of them have ice cube trays. I imagine that there’s nearly no market for them, because most fridges come standard with them (or, increasingly, come standard with an ice-maker).

I’m sure I’ll eventually find some trays in a retail store, but I’d like to get good ones. What makes a good ice cube tray? I’m not sure, to be honest, but I’d imagine they’re made out of metal, not plastic. Do you have a good ice cube tray? Any recommendations, online or off, for where I should buy them?

Thanks to Trinity for the photo.

Comments: 17 Responses so far

Heron
April 30th, 2006
11:10 pm

Maybe too twee for you, but I have some of these, and I love them. You can just pop out the cubes, no cracking needed.

Rubber Ice Cube Trays

Here’s a flickr photo of the star ones

Of course you can always get the ordinary blue kind if you so desire.

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RichGold
May 1st, 2006
4:02 am

Get one of the old aluminum ones with the handle on them to crack the ice. I’ve still got two (on top of the freezer, as unlike you, I have a cold sensitivity and ask for tepid water when out).

If you want to reimburse for shipping, I’ll send them West.

Though, a search for “ice trays” on google (http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=ice+trays&meta=) shows there are plenty of alternatives out there.

And Mark Thomas (http://www.sorabji.com/whois/readthestories/2002/09/23/index.html) seems to have had some experience in finding a good ice tray too.

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Carlos
May 1st, 2006
7:12 am

How about any decent dollar store? That’s where I’ve gotten mine.

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Darren James Harkness
May 1st, 2006
7:27 am

Ikea sells rubber ice cube trays, and you should be able to get rubber ice cube trays at any higher-end kitchen supply store like Stokes or Le Gnome.

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Darren
May 1st, 2006
7:40 am

Hmm…rubber ones. Yes, I like the sound of those. Though the retro aluminum ones also sound appealing. Thanks for the info.

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Anonymous
May 1st, 2006
11:02 am

Why not spring for a new fridge that has a built in ice maker?

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Andrea
May 1st, 2006
1:09 pm

I have awesome ice cubes trays (with lids) from Amy’s Loonie Toonie Town. It is not a cool place to shop, but it was worth the $1.50 per set. They came with lids, which is kind of important. Did you see the Oprah promos recently where they discovered ice cubes have worse bacteria than your toilet? Hence my lids.

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Celia
May 1st, 2006
5:36 pm

I’m a dissenter on the rubber ice cube trays, I’ve had nothing but trouble with trying to pop those things out.

Those specialty bed & bath stores usually have a wide range of basic to innovative ice cube trays.

I also like the idea of trays with lids…think I’ll be heading over to Amy’s soon.

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Cheryl
May 1st, 2006
8:59 pm

I highly recommend the Tupperware ones — they also have lids, and they are really really durable. Unfortunatley I can’t find them on Tupperware.ca … If the Amy’s ones don’t work out for you though, I would track down a Tupperware Representative and see if they can find you a couple.

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Brian (Shadowfoot)
May 1st, 2006
11:10 pm

You’d hate New Zealand. Here we served chilled drinks so don’t appreciate being short changed on our drinks with excessive ice that will dilute the drink.

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richgold
May 2nd, 2006
3:29 am

In my experience, the rubber ones start off tasting, well, like rubber. Perhaps they’ve improved since I got rid of my set.

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James
May 2nd, 2006
7:48 am

Do you know about Vancouver’s commercial kitchen stores? There are a few open to the public, and one in particular where I know they have skookum ice trays. The one I’m thinking of is on McGill, east of Commercial, across the street from a Mohawk gas station. It’s only open commercial-outlet hours, 9 to 5 on weekdays, but is the best place to get all your kitchen supplies. If they don’t have what you’re looking for, ask them to suggest somewhere else. Another place would be Russell Food Supply at Clark and Venebles.

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Dane
May 2nd, 2006
2:57 pm

Stay away from Ikea’s rubber ones. Like you, I am an ice freak so my girlfriend bought a few of the aforementioned trays to help keep up with my consumption. The only problem is that it’s nearly impossible to get the cubes out of the tray. They stick terribly and it’s too flexible to use the usual method of twisting to pop them out.

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donna
May 3rd, 2006
9:03 am

I love my ikea trays, but they’re shaped in a way that doesn’t really fit with the freezer. Since they’re a bit bendy, they don’t sit as level as I would like on uneven surfaces.

Our place came with the old-school aluminum tray, too… just don’t touch it with bare fingers, or you’re never getting that bad boy off.

The cool thing about the ikea trays is that one of them are basically long stir-sticks. They melt a lot faster, but dude, I’ve got ice stir sticks!

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nat
May 14th, 2006
12:33 pm

I’ve been searching for the perfect ice tray and I think I’ve found the ideal one: the make and shake. Available at Linen & Things for less than 3.00.

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James
May 23rd, 2006
3:06 pm

I’m a fan now of the retro aluminum ones with the handle. They work perfectly, and you don’t have to worry about the rubber ruining the taste. I just bought six of them on ebay for 9.00 plus shipping.

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Therese
May 25th, 2006
10:45 am

I am going through about the fourth set of plastic. Am so done. Ebay has a good selection of aluminum ice cube trays. The only way to go, in my opinion. Also The Vermont Country Store carries them new and they also sell the tray stacker for 5 bucks. Am ordering them NOW! Good Luck!!!!

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