You grab your favorite drink and head over to the refrigerator to fill your glass with ice. It’s not something you think about often, and maybe you’ve never considered it before, but different refrigerators offer different ice cube styles.
Each of the ice cube styles is best suited for different purposes. We’ll explore these below.
Cube
Cube ice is the one you will be most familiar with. It’s crystal-clear and used for all beverages, ice bagging, chilling and cooling and in fine dining.
Half Cube
Half cube ice is the most common commercial ice cube style. It’s used for any type of beverage and found in school and self-service ice dispensers.
Flake
Flake is one of the ice cube styles that goes by another name; it’s commonly known as “ice chips.” You can find flake ice used in hospitals and in merchandising and product preservation.
Nugget
Nugget ice is soft, cylindrical and easily chewed. It’s sometimes referred to as Cubelet, Pearl, Gem, Chewblet or Tubular Nugget ice. Nugget ice is good for use in blended drinks, found in convenience stores and used by healthcare workers for therapeutic needs.
Crescent
Shaped like a moon sliver, you’re sure to recognize this ice cube. Styles like this are used by bars, in non-blended drinks and by foodservice providers.
Gourmet
Gourmet ice cubes look like tiny top hats. They are slow-melting, hard and crystal clear. Gourmet ice is used in bars, fine dining, office suites and non-blended drinks.
Of the many excellent brands Monark offers, there are a few of note that provide a few of the different ice cube styles mentioned above. Scottsman offers cubes, nuggets and flakes. U-Line machines can provide clear and crescent ice. Monogram offers clear ice cubes.
Once you’ve determined the ice cube styles perfect for your beverage preferences, you can select the perfect ice maker.
