Smart Features and a Large Ice Basket Made the GoveeLife Smart Ice Maker Great for My Busy Home

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Having a countertop ice maker is a surprisingly easy way to elevate everyday drinks, especially throughout the summer. Smaller ice makers are great for casual days at home with just the family, but for those who entertain or love to fill their water bottles to the top with ice, a larger model is in order. That’s where the GoveeLife Smart Countertop Ice Maker 2 Pro comes in.

The GoveeLife offers three ice sizes plus lots of smart features that make it easy to control from your phone or with your voice. Its high production capacity and large ice bucket also mean there’s always plenty of bullet ice on hand.

When I unboxed the GoveeLife, I was surprised at how much it weighed and how much counter space it took up, but it quickly became one of my favorite models. Not only was I able to schedule start and stop times and make ice quickly, it also kept up in a way that smaller machines can’t.

Requires Considerable Setup, but It’s Smooth Sailing After That

I’ve tested other small ice makers, like the Frigidaire EFIC189 and the Euhomy Dart H1 Bullet Ice Maker, that don’t require any setup beyond plugging them in and filling the water reservoir. As a result, I was a little surprised by the amount of unboxing and setup that this ice maker required. The box even included instructions for how to remove the ice maker from the box.

Once I got it out of the box and onto the counter (it was also quite heavy at almost 47 pounds) and removed all of the packaging, I put pieces into place, connected the water hoses, filled the side water tank, and started it up.

Even though the setup was a little more complicated than for other ice machines, once everything was done, the ice maker operation was smooth and intuitive. The controls on the front panel are clearly labeled, and the color LCD display gives real time status alerts that include “Making Ice,” “Ice Bucket Is Full,” and “Out of Water” along with the size selection.

It made the first batch of ice in about eight minutes and continued until the ice bucket was full. The company says that it makes ice in three minutes, but I found that it was closer to seven or eight minutes. However, I was impressed with how much ice the bucket could hold—about 3 pounds.

Over the last few weeks, this ice maker has been a staple in our day. The kids run by and grab ice to chomp on, my husband and I have filled our drink cups, and the smart features are nice to have.

Nice-to-Have Features Include Smart Home Connection and Flexible Setup

One of the nice-to-have features that I actually like more than I thought I would is the light display on the front. You can choose from different patterns and colors, and it adds a nice ambience in the house.

This ice machine also comes with GoveeHome app compatibility that you can connect to Alexa or Google Home. The app lets you control the ice maker and all of its features, including setting a schedule for when it starts and stops and choosing small, medium, or large ice cubes. I also appreciate getting alerts for when the ice basket is full or the water tank is empty.

When you connect it to Alexa or Google Home, you can control all of the features through voice commands. I was curious about how much it could actually do, so I tested a few different commands.

Using voice commands and my Alexa Show, I was able to start and stop the ice maker, which I expected. What surprised me, however, was that I could also choose the ice size when using the Alexa app by saying, “Alexa, make medium ice on the ice maker.”

Between the internal and external water tank, the GoveeLife ice maker holds 1.56 gallons of water, so you don’t have to refill very often. For flexibility, the side water tank can go on either side of the ice maker. The side tank also has a magnet that holds the ice scoop, so it’s easy to grab whenever you need to scoop out some ice.

Large Ice Bucket Capacity Means Everyone Gets Ice

With smaller ice makers, the ice bucket typically holds 2 pounds. The GoveeLife Smart Countertop Ice Maker 2.0 Pro holds 3 pounds. When using it one weekend, my husband noted how it was able to keep up with consistent demand throughout the day.

The GoveeLife ice has a low melt rate within one hour, so the ice lasts a long time in the ice bucket. This is great because we didn’t have to rush to get it. Even when it did start to melt, there was still more than enough in the bucket to fill our cups.

I was so excited to set this machine up when my kids had a bunch of their friends come to play at our house—it was a huge hit. Over the course of five hours, this ice machine put in the work, and even with 17 kids grabbing ice to chew and fill their cups, the basket was never empty.

Takes Up Quite a Bit of Counter Space

We have a relatively small kitchen without a ton of counter space, so this takes up more room in our kitchen than I would like. This ice maker would fit really well in a home with a larger kitchen, more counter space, or a coffee bar. Even with the larger size, though, I was able to tuck it under our cabinets to keep as much counter space free as possible.

Because it’s large, it’s also pretty heavy—weighing about 47 pounds—and not meant for movement. Some of the smaller ice makers include a handle for easy transportation, but this one is meant to sit on your counter at attention, ready to fulfill your daily ice needs.

Final Thoughts

For us, this ice maker takes up a bit too much room on the counter. But with that said, it’s also one of my favorite ice makers for its easy-to-read updates on the display screen and its larger capacity.

While I like that I can control it with the app and through our Alexa, it’s not a necessary feature. To use the app, you have to be at home and connected to WiFi, something I realized as I tried to start the ice maker on my drive home one day—if this is something you want to do, you can schedule a start time.

The setup was definitely more involved than for some of the more simple models, but since it’s been up and running, it’s been a great addition to the kitchen and our drinks.

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