First Nugget Ice Maker for Home Use Launches
July 23 2015 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Dawn of a New Ice Age—GE’s FirstBuild™ Debuts
Countertop Nugget Ice Maker: Opal™
Nugget ice, the popular soft, chewable ice especially favored in
the South and associated with restaurant chains and convenience
stores, can now be enjoyed at home with the affordable Opal™ nugget
ice maker from GE’s FirstBuild™.
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Available to purchase starting July 28
through Indiegogo (www.nuggetice.com), Opal is a countertop nugget
ice maker designed by the FirstBuild community. (Photo: GE)
Available to purchase starting July 28 through Indiegogo
(www.nuggetice.com), Opal is a countertop nugget ice maker designed
by the FirstBuild community and priced well below other currently
available nugget ice makers. Early bird pricing begins around $399
or less, with future retail pricing expected at $499. The ice maker
will be shipped to Indiegogo contributors in mid-2016.
FirstBuild is a new model of manufacturing that challenges
makers around the world to ideate and help design innovations in
home appliances. In March of this year, FirstBuild challenged its
community to design a residential ice maker that would appeal to
nugget ice enthusiasts. The design of Opal is a result of ideas
generated by the maker community.
The Opal nugget ice maker works by packing together small ice
crystals, creating nuggets of soft yet crunchy ice. Nugget ice
chills beverages faster than conventional ice cubes. The air
pockets in each nugget also absorb the flavor of the drink while
cooling, leaving a chewable and tasty refreshment for those who
enjoy snacking on ice after they have finished their drink.
Opal is a compact countertop design that plugs into any
electrical outlet and holds 3 pounds of ice, about as much as a
typical refrigerator. Opal produces its first nuggets in just 15
minutes, and can produce 1 pound of ice per hour. The elegant
stainless steel unit includes a crystal-clear, removable ice bin
that slides out and tilts forward for easy access to the ice.
“We know from our consumer surveys that people prefer nugget ice
over crescent ice by about three to one,” said Natarajan
Venkatakrishnan, director of FirstBuild. “We developed Opal to
offer an affordable nugget ice maker for home use and we are using
Indiegogo as a selling platform to gauge market acceptance of the
product.”
About FirstBuild
GE’s FirstBuild is a global co-creation community that harnesses
the brainpower of the maker movement to change the way major home
appliances are conceived, designed and manufactured. A physical
state-of-the-art microfactory on the University of Louisville
campus and online forum, FirstBuild speeds products from mind to
market and enables customization through small batch production,
without the costs and risks of traditional mass manufacturing. For
more information about how to get involved,
visit FirstBuild.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150723005097/en/
FirstBuildKim Freeman, 502-452-7819kim@firstbuild.com
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