These news are for anyone who's ever run out of ice mid-party and quietly panicked I guess. Xiaomi just launched a countertop ice maker under its Mijia home brand, and it's crowdfunding now for 359 yuan, about $53.
Size-wise, it's genuinely tiny. Roughly the footprint of an A4 sheet of paper, 6.1kg, small enough for a kitchen counter or an office breakroom. It even runs on 110W, low enough to power off a car inverter, so road trips are apparently on the table too.
The actual ice-making is where it gets interesting. Two modes: Quick Ice and Standard Ice. Quick Ice spits out eight cubes in six to eight minutes. Standard Ice is slower, but the cubes come out clearer and denser. Xiaomi says that denser ice takes about seven minutes to melt in 300ml of water. That matters if you're making cold brew or a proper cocktail and don't want your drink watered down in five minutes.
Summary
- Xiaomi's Mijia Ice Maker crowdfunds at 359 yuan ($53), regular sales starting August 17.
- Makes eight cubes per cycle, six to eight minutes in Quick mode.
- Removable 0.75L ice basket, 1L water tank, up to 13kg of ice per day.
- Built-in UV lamp and a five-minute self-cleaning cycle.
- Scheduling feature lets you delay ice production by three, five, or eight hours.
Here's the thing though, this is basically a small kitchen appliance getting the smart-home treatment. UV sterilization, a self-clean cycle, delayed scheduling, a transparent window so you can check ice levels without opening the lid. None of that is groundbreaking on its own, but bundled together on a $53 device, it's a lot of thoughtful detail for the price.
"This denser ice takes about seven minutes to fully melt in 300ml of water, which is useful for drinks like cold-brew coffee, cocktails, or whiskey." — the detail that separates this from a novelty gadget.
As you can understand, I don't usually get excited about ice makers. But Xiaomi's approach here, small footprint, actual attention to ice clarity and melt rate, feels less like a gimmick and more like someone at Xiaomi actually uses one of these regularly.
To be honest, at 359 yuan, this is an easy impulse buy if you're already in the Mijia ecosystem. Would you actually use a dedicated ice maker, or is this solving a problem your freezer already handles fine?
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