The Best Crushed Ice Machine - 2022
We looked at the top 7 and dug through the reviews from 110 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best .
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Our Picks For The Top
Multi-Use Crushed Ice MachineThe Ninja Professional Countertop Blender, 72oz is a great blender and a crushed ice maker as well, showing a useful versatility.
Stable and Powerful Ice CrusherThe VIVOHOME Electric Ice Shaver/Crusher is a powerful and well-built ice crushing machine.
Workhorse Ice Crushing MachineThe ZENY Electric Ice Shaver Machine is a fast and well-designed ice crushing machine that can put out commercial quantities of crushed ice.
Snow Cone MachineThe Cuisinart Snow Cone Maker is designed for making snow cones but can also serve as a general purpose crushed ice machine.
Why we recommend these ?
Products Considered
Products Analyzed
Expert Reviews Included
User Opinions Analyzed
Our experts reviewed the top 7 and also dug through the reviews from 110 of the most popular review sites including and more. The result is a ranking of the best of the best .
DWYM is your trusted roduct review source. Our team reviews thousands of product reviews from the trusted top experts and combines them into one easy-to-understand score. Learn more.
The Best Overall
Ninja Professional Countertop Blender, 72oz
Our Take
We like how the Ninja Professional Countertop Blender, 72oz is a kitchen tool with more than one job. The blender settings work great for making smoothies and the blades are designed to make crushed ice to whatever thickness you want, whether it be fine enough for a snow cone or more coarse for things like iced tea.
What other experts liked
What other experts didn't like
The Best Bang For Your Buck
VIVOHOME Electric Ice Shaver/Crusher
Our Take
The anti-vibration design of the VIVOHOME Electric Ice Shaver/Crusher makes it stay in place and remain fairly quiet while in use. The metal construction and powerful motor will have you crushing the toughest ice quickly and with little effort.
What other experts liked
What other experts didn't like
Our Findings
Ninja Professional Countertop Blender, 72oz
What We Liked: We like how the Ninja Professional Countertop Blender, 72oz is a kitchen tool with more than one job. The blender settings work great for making smoothies and the blades are designed to make crushed ice to whatever thickness you want, whether it be fine enough for a snow cone or more coarse for things like iced tea.
VIVOHOME Electric Ice Shaver/Crusher
What We Liked: The anti-vibration design of the VIVOHOME Electric Ice Shaver/Crusher makes it stay in place and remain fairly quiet while in use. The metal construction and powerful motor will have you crushing the toughest ice quickly and with little effort.
ZENY Electric Ice Shaver Machine
What We Liked: The ZENY Electric Ice Shaver Machine will crush up to 145 lbs of ice in an hour. The stainless steel design makes it highly durable and the unit is completely waterproof. This machine looks good on your counter and makes large quantities of crushed ice with ease.
Cuisinart Snow Cone Maker
What We Liked: Make your own snow cones with the Cuisinart Snow Cone Maker. This machine can make 4-5 snow cones in a minute and has a fun look to it that will make it a hit at parties in the summer.
Hawaiian Shaved Ice Snow Cone Machine
What We Liked: The Hawaiian Shaved Ice Snow Cone Machine was designed specifically to make professional-looking snow cones at the touch of a button. This machine will have you serving up refreshing treats to kids and adults alike.
Gourmia Manual Ice Shaver and Crusher
What We Liked: We like how portable the Gourmia Manual Ice Shaver and Crusher is, as it lets you take your crushed ice anywhere you want. This will be handy for making drinks on the beach or at a campsite when there is no electricity but you’ll still have to bring a bag of ice to feed into it!
Our Expert Consultant
Home Improvement Expert
Vicki Liston writes, produces, and narrates “On The Fly…DIY,” an award-winning home improvement and DIY show of unique project tutorials for the casual DIY’er.
Home improvement and all things DIY have been Liston’s passion since she bought her first house in 2007 and she started making video blogs in 2014. She’s performed hundreds of DIY projects, from small ones to major, wall-smashing renovations and can teach you how to make a trendy DIY barn door for cheap. The proceeds earned from “On The Fly…DIY” are donated to no-kill animal shelters and rescue organizations. You can find her show on Prime Video.
Our Buying Guide
Ice cubes are great for keeping drinks cold in the summertime, but they have limitations that are hard to look past when you want smaller chunks of ice, whether it be for a slushie or simply because you don’t like having an avalanche of ice cubes hit you in the face every time you get near the bottom of your drink. Crushed ice machines are a great feature for those of us who like to mix up various cold beverages in the summer and want the perfect ice for the job. Ice crushing machines vary in their size, construction qualities and even portability, so let’s look into some of the features that stand out in the current ice crushing machines that are on the market.
There are portable ice crushing machines and there are electric ones. The obvious benefit of a portable unit is that you can take it on a boat or to your campsite in the summer and crush up ice cubes for your slushies and refreshing cocktails. The caveat of a portable crushed ice machine is that the energy needed to crush the ice comes from your very own arm and after crushing up ice for dozens of people at your family reunion or your annual pool party, you’ll be feeling quite a lot of fatigue in your arms. The portable, manual crushed ice machines are best if you have fewer people to serve, or maybe if you have some younger people in your group that you can task with the tiring task of crushing ice by hand, but the benefits are fantastic when you can have the luxury of crushed ice wherever you travel. These are simple and fairly cheap to purchase.
“Manual models are best for small amounts of ice,” says Vicki Liston, who writes, produces, and narrates “On The Fly…DIY,” an award-winning home improvement and DIY show of unique project tutorials for the casual DIY’er.
Electric crushed ice machines are much more common and tend to be located in places with electricity like your kitchen or RV. An electric crushed ice machine can be as simple as a blender that has a good speed-setting for crushing ice and can also double as a blender for smoothies when you want to get more functionality out of it.
Stand-alone crushed ice machines can be more effective at crushing ice since they are specifically designed to do so. You can alter the settings to get the chunks of ice exactly the size that suits your needs. Using the crushed ice machines is very straightforward as well: you generally will pour full-sized ice cubes into a spout and watch as it produces the perfect crushed ice to chill your summertime sun tea.
Some models have rubber under their feet and this is a great feature to look for. Without rubberized footpads, the ever-grinding machine will start dancing around on the counter and eventually work itself to an edge where it might take a tumble onto the floor or into your sink. This non-slip functionality can’t be understated as it really helps with the ease-of-use of the machine and will be a simple feature that you won’t regret having.
There is an additional benefit to the rubber feet when you have the manual crushed ice machine. “If your unit is manual, the non-slip bottom will help keep it in place so you don’t have to hold it still while you crank,” Liston says.
When it comes to durability and your crushed ice machine, the materials are a key factor.
“I’ve actually had a plastic machine’s housing explode and send ice flying everywhere after one too many uses, which was only a few months after I bought it,” Liston recalls. “I highly recommend purchasing a crushed ice machine with a metal body as these are much higher quality and should last for years.”
DWYM Fun Fact
Crushed ice cools your drink faster than large ice cubes. This phenomenon is due to the amount of surface area of ice that is directly touching the liquids in your cup. Adding crushed ice will surely help you cool down that tea or soda in the summer, but be aware that your ice will melt much faster when it’s in a crushed form so make sure you don’t take too long enjoying that beverage.
The Tips and Advice
- Avoid machines that recommend pre-crushing the ice before running it through the machine. This sounds like a bad joke, but there are models that won’t work well with full cubes of ice, which is likely due to them being designed poorly for their one-and-only task.
- Figure out how much crushed ice you will want from your machine. There are varying sizes that will help you narrow down your choices. If you think the equivalent of 12 ice cubes is a reasonable volume then you can focus on one of that size, but if you’re supplying ice for a bar or large party, you might look to something a bit bigger.
- If you like the idea of having a portable crushed ice machine for camping or other outdoor activities, you can opt for a combination of an electric crushed ice machine with a power-inverter that runs from the 12V plug in your vehicle. The pros are that you can crush ice using your car if you are willing to run the engine for a few minutes, but the cons are that you still need a vehicle nearby so this might not work at the beach or on a boat.
About The Author
Russell Hinkle is a writer and engineer based in Longmont, Colorado. One of Russell Hinkle's favorite hobbies is cooking. He has dabbled in a variety of fad diets, always using them as a fun challenge to cook well-rounded meals that fit into the constraints of the diet. Through years of experience, he knows when it's appropriate to make a very educated decision on products like pans and kitchen gadgets, and he is always looking for the perfect multi-use tools that can save on storage needs while providing the perfect solution to kitchen needs.
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