Under-counter ice maker

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Just installed a Hoshizaki brand that dispenses cubelet ice. So far I love it!

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Make sure you have a scale filter installed in the water line and follow the cleaning procedure twice a year. We had one in the house we just sold and it was a maintenance monster. When we bought the house there was no filter and we didnt follow procedure. Mineral scale built up so bad we had to replace the whole unit as parts are stupid expensive, If you need a gear motor it's most of the cost of a new one. We put a filter and took good care of the new one for 5 years but it started making horrible noise as we had the house under contract. Once again, repairs were approaching the price of a new one so we replaced it AGAIN.

Thanks for the heads up on the filter. I will need to check if my contractor included a filter.

They are great but they generally have a short lifespans of 5-10 years and are very expensive, absurdly expensive for no reason outside of them knowing only the wealthy buy them. They are pretty basic machines. Expect a couple of repairs in that 5-7 year life span also, but there’s only about 5 parts to them so it’s fairly easy.

Yes hoshishaki’s are great but they are also at least $1000 more then the other brands.

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I'm basically down to the Scotsman Brilliance or the Ice-O-Matic. Both have similar reviews. Is the scotsman going to be $1,000 superior?

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In my family we have 6-8 of them between different family, offices, etc.

We don't have a Hoshizaki, but most of the other ones are very similar. I need to check the brand, but my FIL just replaced a "commercial" grade one that is local person recommended after 7 years I think. The compressors die on them and you may as well buy a new one as its something like $600 for the parts plus labor. I've fixed pretty much all the other issues myself.

I do think you get what you pay for but I don't think any of them are so amazing the extra money was worth it. I personally think its worth just buying the basic ones for $1600 and replacing/ repairing as needed.