I’m losing my mind over this. XD
When I was growing up, my parents had ice cube trays made of solid plastic, with trapezoid shape so the cubes pop out when you twist it. Those trays lasted through my entire childhood and worked great. I want to buy ones like that (either made of thick plastic like that or metal that’s flexible enough to twist like that). But I’ve never seen them in stores, and after scouring the internet I can’t find any like that online either. Everything looks like the same sorts of flimsy materials that I know will break quickly, or is square metal so the cubes won’t pop out like that. Does anyone know where I can find trays like that?
Okay, so I just transitioned from an ice cube maker back to ice cube trays, and I was looking for a BIFL option that wasn’t plastic (or silicone)
I ended up buying both those metal cubes designed for whiskey, as well as a metal ice cube tray that has this lever that breaks apart the ice cubes after they have become solid.
My conclusion is that the metal tray with the lever is by far one of the best ice cube trays that you can get.
It will last forever, zero weird taste, easy to use, not terribly expensive, and definitely something that I would recommend.
All other options are either gonna make the cubes taste bad, introduce plastic into your cubes, may not last as long as you’d like, or just suck at being functional.
The one I got is from the brand Onyx, and looks like this:
I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to avoid plastic. But I’m not sold on that style of design, especially because it looks like the cubes are not uniform in shape (with the ends being significantly different) which I know would bother me. I think it probably would be possible to make an ice cube tray in the twist style out of metal, if it was a relatively flexible metal. I haven’t seen any yet, though.
The image is deceptive. The cubes are uniform, and the “fins” are angled to beging with, and the lever straightens them, which ejects the cubes.
This image might give you a better idea:
But the cubes aren’t PERFECT in their shape, so if that bothers you, then there’s no way around it with this style of tray.
Yes, I think that would be possible, but you’ll likely end up with fractured cubes. Silicone trays are the best for perfect cubes, but they make the ice taste bad.
Good luck in your search!
I’ve never had an issue with ice cubes fracturing in the twist trays if they’re trapezoid shaped, since it just makes them pop up when they’re squeezed by the angled walls. The newer ones I’ve seen that are rounded instead have a lot more issues, though.
For me, the trick with the metal trays is to just very gently heat them to release any of the ice from sticking to the sides. Once that’s done, they come out very cleanly. Zero fracturing or fragmenting. It’s beautiful.