Ice runs out before anything else at a home bar. Every shaken drink uses a tin full of ice that gets thrown away, plus fresh ice in the glass, and a stirred drink served over a large cube uses ice twice as well. Gray Kangaroo's perfect bar article treats ice as an ingredient, and this guide covers making it, storing it, and the refrigeration that sits beside it.
How much ice to plan for
A common rule for parties is about a pound of ice per guest, more in hot weather or when most of the drinks are shaken. A refrigerator's built-in ice maker produces a few pounds a day, so for a gathering of a dozen people, bag ice over several days beforehand or buy it. That math is also what pushes many home bars toward a dedicated ice machine.
Freezer trays and large-format molds
Covered trays and silicone molds are the cheapest start. Molds for 2-inch cubes or spheres make the slow-melting ice that suits spirit-forward drinks, and covered trays keep freezer smells out of the ice. Freezer ice usually comes out cloudy because dissolved air and minerals get trapped in the center as it freezes from every side at once. Filtered water helps the flavor but won't clear the cloudiness.
Clear ice at home
Clear ice comes from freezing water in one direction. Fill a small hard-sided cooler with water and put it in the freezer with the lid off. The insulated sides and bottom force the water to freeze from the top down, which pushes air and impurities toward the bottom, and if you pull the block before it freezes all the way through, the top portion is clear. Timing depends on the freezer and the cooler and often runs around a day.
Let the block sit at room temperature for several minutes before cutting so it doesn't crack unpredictably. Score a line with a serrated knife, set the blade in the groove, and tap the spine to split the block. Cut cubes keep best in a sealed bag or container in the freezer.
Countertop ice makers
Countertop machines need no plumbing. You fill a reservoir, and the machine makes small batches of bullet-shaped ice every several minutes. They aren't freezers, so the ice in the basket slowly melts back into the reservoir and gets refrozen, and anything you want to keep has to go into the freezer.
Nugget ice machines make the soft, chewable ice some people love in long drinks, and they cost more. Both need regular cleaning and descaling as the manual describes, and filtered water slows the scale.
Undercounter ice machines
An undercounter ice machine is the serious option. Most residential models are 15 inches wide and fit under a 36-inch counter, and the ones that make hard, clear cubes do it by running water over a chilled plate or grid so minerals stay behind in the water. Compare daily production with bin storage, since a machine rated for around 50 pounds a day may only hold half that at once.
These machines need a cold water line and a way to drain meltwater, either by gravity to a floor drain or standpipe or through a model with a built-in drain pump. They also need an outlet on a circuit that meets the manual's requirements, and front ventilation if they're built into cabinetry. Clean and descale on the schedule the manual sets, commonly every six months. The rough-in for water, drains, and power is in the plumbing and electrical basics.
Beverage centers, wine coolers, and kegerators
Beverage centers chill into the mid-30s Fahrenheit for beer, soda, mixers, and white wine. Wine coolers hold warmer temperatures, often from the mid-40s to the mid-60s, and many can't get cold enough for beer, so a dual-zone unit makes sense if you want both. Glass doors look good on a bar, and UV-filtering glass helps if wine will sit in the cooler for long periods.
Ventilation matters most when the unit goes under a counter. Built-in models vent through the front grille, while freestanding models vent out the back or sides and can overheat and fail early when they're boxed into cabinetry. Undercounter units are commonly 15 or 24 inches wide and about 34 inches tall with leveling legs, sized for a 36-inch counter as covered in the dimensions guide. A kegerator needs more depth than most beverage centers, room for a CO2 tank, and a tap tower that clears whatever is above it.
Choosing for how you host
For a few drinks a week, freezer molds, a clear-ice cooler, and a beverage center cover everything. If you host often or make a lot of shaken drinks, an undercounter ice machine is the upgrade that changes how the bar works, provided you can get water and a drain to it. A countertop ice maker fills the gap for a dry bar, a rental, or a cabinet or cart bar where plumbing isn't possible.