Manitowoc Ice UCP0050A 14 3/4"W Top Hat Undercounter Ice Machine - 52 lbs/day, Air Cooled

By BF on November 13, 2023

"water spays into ice bin past the curtain, melts the ice fast. The ice is soft and cloudy, have two water filters installed."

By John N on November 28, 2022

"This is the 3rd Manitowoc under counter ice machine with pump drain I purchased for my company and it work really well. The last 2 machines Never have any problems for the last 3 years Ice looks great when done Ice making Very quick Water filter included Not as loud Lower price Don't buy HOSHIZAKI it will break down in less than 1 year and no parts available to fix"

By Tim on February 27, 2022

"I bought one of these in May of 2021 on recommendation from the Katom sales agent. I was looking for a quiet and reliable undercounter ice maker to replace a KitchenAid ice maker that had stopped working. The Manitowoc SM50 was neither quiet nor reliable. I received the SM50 in July of 2021 and had a professional plumber install it. It started working immediately, but never dropped many cubes. I read the manual and tried all of the listed troubleshooting to no avail. I called Katom to complain, but they only referred me to the OEM. I called the OEM, who recommended that I bypass the filter and check the water pressure. I did both to no avail. They also recommended that I call one of two local service technicians. One stated they would not call on residences. The other said they could not get to it soon, and never called back. After emailing the OEM, they referred me to yet another technician, who also never called back. It seemed as though no one wanted to service this device, or at least at a residence. Finally, after yet another email to the OEM, once service technician finally agreed to visit. The technician was highly competent and professional. He ordered a replacement harvest valve and installed it a few weeks later when the part arrived. However, the new part did not fix the ice maker. The OEM finally agreed to replace the ice maker, and they paid for the service technician to install it. The new ice maker worked fine and is still running. The ice that it makes is very high quality -- clear, solid, and large "hat" shaped cubes. This is the kind of ice that I prefer. However, the high-quality ice comes at the expense of a very noisy machine. We have it set to delay operation for 8 hours starting at about 4 p.m. -- so we don't have to listen to it in our kitchen and adjacent living area. However, we do have to listen to the noise at all other times of the day."

By Daniel on December 18, 2020

"I did a lot of research on undercounter ice makers. This was going to be for my home, during a kitchen remodel I decided it would be a great idea to have extra ice available since the trend is for the french style counter depth refrigerators that don't make/hold much ice. I had purchased a Manitowoc ice maker for use in my restaurant years ago and it was fantastic. So I was very interested in this machine. However, I did want to look at all the options before deciding on what to put in my home. My parents had a Scotsman in their kitchen and it gave them tons of trouble. I still would consider that brand as well so I read a lot of reviews for them also. It appears that not one machine or brand has been perfect for everyone. I will say after almost 3 weeks of daily research on ice makers I finally decided I would go with my experience and get this unit. I did get the pump as well just to be sure I wouldn't have an issue even though it is next to my drain I figured it would be worth the extra money to make sure we didn't have a drain problem. We have had this unit in service now for 4 months. It has performed flawlessly. It makes crystal clear ice and makes it fast. It's not very loud in my opinion, some say it is but I think it's a matter of where it might be located or they may just be bothered by some noise, it does turn off when it's full, so if you keep the ice bin full it won't make any noise until it detects it's low. I have it mounted under counter in an island that is open to the living room. I read one review that said it sticks out past the countertop as well. I called and did much research on that too and found that it does call for extra space but you don't have to have the full amount that it calls for just make sure that the lines in the back of the machine won't/aren't kinked. It fit my application perfectly. Overall I would recommend this to anyone considering a undercounter ice maker. Also Katom was absolutely outstanding!"

By NanaMary on October 24, 2020

"Use at home. Crystal clear ice. Like a lot so far"

By Fred on September 15, 2020

"Too noisy for a residential environment"

By Sad and no ice on August 23, 2020

"When it works, it makes great ice. However, even with regular maintenance, we could only get about 18 months of service before it would break. Service calls run between $500-$800 depending on the parts and how long it takes to actually diagnose the problems. I literally could have bought a lower priced ice-maker each time for the cost of repairs. I've loved the convenience of having this in the kitchen but between the noise and extra heat that it produces, along with the 4 repairs in seven years, I am done with this piece of junk."

By Bud on July 2, 2020

"it produced ice for about 10 weeks and just stopped . reset everything and still doesn't work properly"

By Vhg555 on December 16, 2014

"I bought this machine a year ago. It replaced a Sub Zero that was twice the cost. Although the Sub Zero made similar size cubes it was difficult to clean and a regular maintenance problem. After three years I removed it and used it to prop up an end of my welding bench; after all, it was PRETTY. I had a plate style before that that made smaller square cubes and was NOISY (actually melted them out a sheet with a wire grate). Not very reliable. Buy this one, use the recommended filters and cleaning solutions and your ice machine headache just got better."

By Dave on February 21, 2014

"Made great ice for 3 years and suffered a refrigerant problem which is a death sentence. Now I need a new machine, back to Scotsman that lasted 15 years."

By Yacht engineer on November 14, 2012

"We installed one of these units outside 9 months ago and it has ran perfectly. We have just replaced 2 scotsman units with the under counter model. Unfortunately the units are very deep for an under counter modelwhich leaves very little back clearance. One machine had to be modified and the drain pipe was run through the side of the machine so we could get back far enough into the cupboard. The machines are very easy to maintain and produce lots of ice. I will be buying more of these in the future."

By Bird on July 15, 2012

"Ice maker installed undercounter near wet bar, ideal for entertaining as there is plenty of storage for ice. There was no problem to install by a novice installer, no plumber was needed. The machine is working perfectly so far and am very pleased with this product."

By Decodenise on May 17, 2012

"I love lots of ice and this makes great solid cubes that last long in Florida heat. Super clear cubes look good in the drinks and make a nice sound in crystal old fashioned glass. I just took machine apart for cleaning, no lime scale, water softener is on turbo setting. Replaced water filter. Waiting to see how it works when making ice again. Water shutters keep falling out of the little hanger. Going to call company for solution."

By JoeTrap on April 27, 2012

"Drainage hose broke and we are unable to get a replacement. We were told to go to [@] for parts."

By Insurance Guy on February 23, 2012

"We have this machine for an office of 33 people - makes plenty of ice - we promote drinking lots of water for health reasons. Employees appreciate and use it a lot. This machine replaced a much noisier Scotsman that died after 11 years. The clean & sanitize cycles are easy to run, will make us more likely to maintain properly. Only problem is with 5" required rear clearance, machine sticks out 2" too much from a standard depth kitchen counter."