Countertop ice makers can hit 9 minutes. Your fridge takes an hour.

Yes, portable countertop ice makers can make ice in under 10 minutes. The good ones produce the first batch of bullet-shaped cubes in about 6 to 9 minutes. That’s the whole appeal — you buy one because you don’t want to wait on your fridge.

The catch: “first batch” is doing a lot of work. These machines are small, so that first batch is only 9 to 12 cubes. After that, they cycle continuously, but they’re not fast enough to fill a cooler. You’re getting a steady trickle of ice for drinks, not a party supply.

How they do it is the reason they’re not the same as built-in fridge icemakers. A pump sprays water over a freezing metal rod, freezing it in thin layers until a cube forms. That’s why the cubes are hollow-ish and cloudy, and why they freeze fast. A fridge icemaker uses a mold that has to freeze solid, which takes 60 to 90 minutes.

Two things to know before you buy: First, they’re noisy — they spray and rattle the whole time. Second, bullet ice melts faster than cube ice because it’s thinner and more hollow. That’s fine for a cocktail, but it’s not bar-quality ice. If you want clear, slow-m