The 10 Best Ice Cube Trays in 2023

Things to Consider Before Buying an Ice Cube Tray

When considering which ice cube tray to buy, probably the main two questions are around how easy it will be to remove the cubes and how low is the risk of the cubes and tray absorbing odors from your freezer.

Larger ice cubes are often preferred for drinks as they melt slower; which means drinks dilute at a slower rate. If you want to use trays for other purposes, such as making mini desserts, stock cubes or popsicles, then the size/capacity and shape of the trays will also be a deciding factor

Depending on the hardness of your water, you may find white residue left in the tray when your cubes are decanted. This is not harmful; it is just mineral deposits from the water. You can stop this by using filtered water rather than water from the tap.

Evolution of the Ice Cube Tray

Ice was used to keep icehouses cold, and some of the ice would be chipped off the blocks to use in drinks and cold desserts. Although it is uncertain as to when the first ice cube tray was invented, in 1844, John Gorrie, the American physicist built a refrigerator to make ice to cool the air for his patients who were suffering with Yellow Fever. As his patients also received ice drinks, the suggestion is that it was Gorrie who developed the first ice cube tray.

In 1914, a refrigerator called DOMELRE was produced. Although this was commercially unsuccessful, it did include an ice cube tray, and later refrigerator manufacturers followed suit. From the 1920s onwards, electric refrigerators started to be made with a freezer section which included ice cube trays.

A metal ice cube tray called the McCord ice tray was invented in 1933. This flexed to allow ice cubes to be released.

The composition of trays shifted to plastics during the 1960s, and in the 1980s, lids began to appear on ice trays, making them easy to stack. In recent times, the biggest shift in ice cube tray production has been to silicone trays that are available in wide range of colors and ice cube shapes.

Safety of Plastic Ice Cube Trays

If you do have some older plastic trays, then they may contain bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is used to make polycarbonate – hard clear plastic – as well as some resins used as linings in metal food cans. Most of us have traces of BPA in our bodies.

In rodent studies, BPA can be passed from pregnant mothers to their offspring, although other research showed that primates and humans metabolize and excrete BPA much better than rodents can. In 2012, the FDA stopped the use of BPA-based chemicals in baby bottles and sippy cups, and in 2013 it stopped the use of BPA epoxy resins in infant formula packaging.

The FDA continues to research BPA and still supports BPA as being safe in the applications that it is currently approved for. This includes food packaging.

If your plastic ice cube tray has numbers on the bottom to tell you what type of plastic it is and whether it is recyclable, if you want to stay away from BPA then do avoid trays with a number 3 or 7 in them as these might contain BPA. If your tray is older and does not contain any information on it, there is a good chance that it may have been made with BPA.

Pros and Cons of Stainless Steel Ice Cube Trays

The traditional stainless steel trays allow you to extract cubes easily as the built-in grid pushes the cubes out when the lever is triggered. The stainless steel in these trays is usually food grade and it does contain any BPA, or indeed any PTFEs, PFOAs or phthalates.

As well as costing more than other types of ice cube trays, another disadvantage of using a steel tray is that your fingers will temporarily stick to it as it is so cold straight out of the freezer.

If you use a stainless steel tray, then avoid overfilling – keep the water level below the rivets on the lever and when you take it out of the freezer leave it on the countertop for a few minutes before releasing the cubes.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Silicone Ice Cube Trays

Because silicone is quite flexible, it can cause minor difficulties when moving the tray of water into the freezer. This is where silicone trays with lids have an advantage as they can help to reduce the risk of spills. The flexibility of silicone also allows you to make a range of different shaped ice cubes from the many novelty shaped types of tray available.

It can sometimes be more difficult to extract cubes from a silicone tray than a plastic tray. With silicone, you may need to push and twist, or even turn it upside down to release the cube. You can also try leaving the tray on the countertop for a few minutes before releasing the cubes.

Silicone is better if you want to use your tray for freezing other items such as baby puree as its flexibility does make it easier to release food from the tray and it is free from BPA. If you place warm puree into an older plastic tray, or a new plastic tray that contains BPA, there is more risk of BPA leaching into the baby food.

All about Silicone

Silicone is a flexible resin or synthetic rubber made from bonded silicon, a natural element found in sand and rock, and oxygen. It is a chemically inert and stable material.

This colorful cookware can move from freezer to oven (up to 428°F), is resistant to staining, non-stick and does not contain BPA, BPS, phthalates, lead and other potentially damaging toxins or chemicals.

Silicone dioxides were generally recognized as being safe in 1979, and as of yet, no substantial follow-up studies have been carried out by the FDA to confirm whether or not silicone does react with food. Health Canada states that food-grade silicone is safe up to recommended temperatures, and that it does not react with food or drinks or produce any hazardous fumes.

Bad Smelling and Tasting Ice Cubes

The majority of bad odor and taste in your ice cubes does come from food stored in your freezer, especially from spilled food or open packaging. If you take some time to clean up spills and decant open foods into airtight containers this will help reduce odor across the freezer - there’s nothing worse than unintentional garlic-flavored ice cream!

Small open boxes of baking soda in the freezer can also help eliminate some odors.

You may also want to taste-test your water source. If you are using tap water which does not taste great, then neither will your ice cubes. Using filtered water can help resolve this.

As well as the ice itself smelling and tasting less than ideal, if you use a silicone ice cube tray, then the silicone is also capable of absorbing odors from your freezer.

Reducing Poor Odor and Taste from Silicone Tray Ice Cubes

You may find that the risk of odor reduces if you only fill silicone trays when needed and avoid using ice cubes that have been in the freezer longer than a week. When you have finished with the tray, wash and dry it, then store it in a cupboard until needed again.

You can also pop all your cubes out of the tray and store them in an airtight container in the freezer to reduce odor risks.

Defrosting and cleaning the freezer regularly can also help minimize odor.

Otherwise, try soaking your silicone tray in a mix of vinegar or lemon juice with water, or a baking soda solution. If these are unsuccessful, next time your oven is on, put the trays in for an hour at 350°F. If you are unable to remove the odor, then the final solution is to replace the silicone tray with a new one.

Conclusion

In this article we have looked in detail at three main types of ice cube trays; silicone, plastic and stainless steel. There are pros and cons for all of these, and particularly for plastic, there are also some safety concerns around the use of BPA.