Commercial Ice Machine Buying Guide
Cube or flake, and how much a day — how to size a commercial ice machine so you never run out mid-service.
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An ice machine is sized on one number most people guess wrong: how much ice you actually get through on a busy day. Undersize it and you run out mid-service; oversize it and you’ve paid for capacity that sits idle. This guide gets the sizing right, and settles the cube-or-flake question first.
Ice machines aren’t only for venues, either — home bars, entertainers and party hosts buy them so they never run to the servo for a bag of ice again. The sizing logic is the same, just smaller.
Every figure here is from our own range.
Cube or flake? Decide the ice first
- Cube ice — the standard for drinks. Slow-melting, clear, doesn’t water down a beverage. This is what a bar, café or restaurant wants. Our IM range makes a 22mm cube.
- Flake ice — soft, crushed-style ice that packs around product. It’s for displaying seafood, chilling produce, blended drinks and medical/food-safety cooling — not for putting in a glass. If you run a fishmonger, a seafood display or a juice bar, this is your machine (the IF-85 flaker).
Simple: ice for drinks → cube. Ice to pack around and chill product → flake. Most venues want cube; you’ll know if you need flake.
Size it on your daily demand — cube machines
Machines are rated by ice output per 24 hours. Buy for your busiest day, and note the storage bin — that’s how much finished ice the machine holds at once, so a big daily output with a small bin still needs steady draw-down. Tap a model for live pricing.
| Model | Output / 24h | Storage bin | External W×D×H | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IM-30 | 30 kg | 5 kg | 380 × 420 × 600mm | Small café, home bar, low demand |
| IM-50 | 50 kg | 7 kg | 400 × 550 × 750mm | Café, small bar |
| IM-80 | 80 kg | 15 kg | 500 × 625 × 840mm | Restaurant, busy café |
| IM-120 | 120 kg | 30 kg | 680 × 620 × 920mm | Busy bar, high demand |
| IM-180P | 180 kg | 80 kg | 560 × 820 × 1485mm | High volume |
| IM-300P | 300 kg | 160 kg | 765 × 810 × 1600mm | Very high volume / production |
A rough starting point: a café might get through 25–50kg a day, a busy bar 80–120kg, a high-turnover venue more. If you’re not sure, tell us your covers and peak and we’ll size it — running out of ice at 8pm on a Saturday is the expensive mistake.
Flake ice
Soft, crushed-style ice for seafood display, produce chilling and blended drinks.
| Model | Ice type | Output / 24h | Storage bin |
|---|---|---|---|
| IF-85 | Flake (soft / crushed-style) | 85 kg | 20 kg |
The IF-85 is an under-counter flaker — 85kg of flake a day with a 20kg built-in bin.
What to look for
- Output vs bin, both — a 120kg/day machine with a 30kg bin makes plenty over a day but only holds 30kg at once; match both to how your demand is spread through the day.
- Air or water cooled — most self-contained machines are air-cooled and need ventilation clearance and a not-too-hot spot to work efficiently.
- Water supply and drainage — an ice machine needs a plumbed water feed and a drain; factor the plumbing into install, same as a sink.
- Ambient and ventilation — like any refrigeration, it works harder in a hot room; give it air and keep it off a heat source.
- Cube size — our cube machines make a 22mm cube, the versatile all-rounder for drinks.