Ice Storage Bins: Can You Get the Wrong Sized Ice Storage Bin?

Ice-O-Matic is the leading provider of ice machines, and we’re proud to partner with them for over 40 years. Not only do they provide the best approach to handling, but they also offer some of the highest quality and most durable ice storage bins. Considerate designs, extra-large doors, and industrial foam insulation mean your team can easily access the ice they need without issue so your customers get the crystal clear ice they want.

A sloped bin is just what most of our customers need. In fact, it’s our most popular bin! Stainless steel construction, adjustable legs, and compatible with several of our smaller and medium-sized ice machines.

You can go small or go big with your bin capacity—as little as 250 pounds or as much as 900!

Designed for durability and sanitation, our sloped ice bins have foam insulation in the walls for structural strength and to help prevent melting. The adjustable legs we mentioned before are perfect for cleaning. When’s the last time cleaning under the oven was an easy job? Instead of the usual appliance that’s close to the ground, our storage bin legs can be adjusted up to 6 inches. That’s how you meet and exceed sanitation standards!

It’s rugged, built to last, and ready to store any ice you can make into it.

Upright bins are built for the ultimate high-volume business.

We’re talking over 1,000 pounds of ice storage here! More storage means you’ll need more space, which is why the customers that choose upright storage bins tend to be bigger.

The best part of the upright storage bin is the sliding viewing window. Situated just at eye level, you can get an instant look into how much ice you have without ever opening the door.

Another really handy design feature is the first in, first out design. The ice that’s older is used first! Every scoop is the freshest ice you can get. Couple this with a controllable ice shield that lets you manage the flow of ice, and you have an ice machine workhorse in your commercial kitchen anytime you need it.

Ice makers and storage bins might look like the same machine when they’re together, but they are anything but. Ice makers create the ice first, then gravity takes care of the reset. Each ice machine shuts off whenever there is plenty of ice in the bin, reducing waste and saving you from a terribly wet or frozen mess to clean up. 

Once the ice is made, a storage bin has two jobs; keep the ice cold and keep it clean. Unlike a normal bin, an ice storage bin is lined with special, insulated foam and a polyethylene layer. As much as the ice wants to melt, the climate control features within the storage bin ensure a frozen cube, chip, or whichever ice you enjoy, stays frozen. That same layer that keeps your bin cool also sanitizes and eliminates bacteria or pathogens that’d otherwise contaminate your ice. It solves two problems with just one cube, or so to speak.

Sure can. You know that auto shut-off feature we mentioned? If you get a bin that’s too small, you’ll miss out on the boosted production rates of the big ice machine you bought or rented. Instead of producing what you need, the ice machine only produces as much as the storage bin can fit.  

Big bins can cause problems too. As great as a storage bin is for keeping ice cool, it’s not magic. Keep ice in there for too long—especially if you’re opening and closing the lid often—and sure enough, it’ll start to melt and re-freeze. In slope storage bins, the ice up front is closest to the door. Over time, that once crystal clear ice morphs into an unusable, potentially bin-damaging hunk of ice. And you just can’t put that in a glass and serve it to customers. 

Make sure you get the right-sized bin for the right-sized machine. One way to cut any guesswork out of that process is to contact one of our dedicated service technicians today. They’ll work with you to determine exactly the best ice machine and a storage bin that fits your needs, as well as discuss whether buying or renting an ice machine is the right call for you!