Tovolo King Cube Ice Tray (Stratus Blue) - Large, & Reusable Silicone Molds for whiskey, Cocktails, Coffee, Bartender Accessories, & Smoothies / BPA-Free & Dishwasher-Safe

There's nothing I love more than complex brain teasers and thought puzzles.So this product was right up my alley.First of all, when it's shipped to your home (or place of business if you're gangsta like that) it comes in this receptacle which can only be described as a brown rectangle. What it cannot be described as is an ice maker. This reviewer can confirm that if you take this product directly off of your front porch and put it immediately into the refrigerator it will NOT spontaneously produce ice cubes, icicles, or other ice-related things like pickup lines ("How much does a polar bear weigh?... Just enough to break the ice!... Hi, I'm -----) or flavors up to and including vanilla ice.But did I throw in the towel at that point? Of course I did! I threw the nearest towel into the refrigerator because I was upset, OK? After, literally, dozens of minutes I still had no ice. But, take heart, diligent reader of ice cube tray reviews, because I persevered. I took the brown rectangle out of the refrigerator and thought about how to come at this from a different angle. Enter: Little Brother.Baby bro sees me sitting on the kitchen table - or my "Thinking Box" as it's labeled on Foursquare - with the brown rectangle and a furrowed brow. He then drops a revolution bomb on me. "Why don't you open the box first?" he says. This was the breakthrough I had been looking for. How he came up with this idea I'll never know but sure enough, this brown rectangle opened up to reveal the blue ice cube tray hidden inside. This actually made me feel a lot better because I thought the brown rectangle did look different from the pictures I had so closely scoured on this fine website (NOTE: reviewer is not affiliated with Amazon... but word on the street is he could be if Amazon wanted to toss a few shekels his way... just sayin').So now the blue tray and I have squared off with each other and we mean business. After all, there's just not enough room in this god-forsaken mining outpost for the two of us (SECOND NOTE: the previously mentioned "god-forsaken mining outpost" has been more recently and more accurately described as an "up and coming neighborhood in suburban Los Angeles").If there is a bad thing to be said about this product [other than that fact that it has NEVER remembered my birthday] it's that it makes you do all the hard work. I had to take it all the way to the sink and fill it up with water myself. But, if you have a boatload of free time to fill this thing up BY HAND and then move it ALL THE WAY from the sink to the refrigerator then this gem, my friend, is the product for you. I'll make this quick aside to mention the fact that you may also be interested learning more about a technique I'm developing which replaces the offensive speed and efficiency of electronic mail (or "e-mail" as the kids are calling it these days) with the crippling slowness of actual mail composed in your own sub-par and borderline legible handwriting [patent pending].But there was one final missing puzzle piece here - ice. Because by now I really am starting to get frustrated. I've replaced the water a half dozen times and oriented it in different positions which yielded but one useful piece of knowledge: the product is MUCH better at not spilling the water if you orient it in an upright position as opposed to the saucy "come hither" pose when resting on it's side or the much bolder upside down stance which I'm being told is a position known as The Dirty Frenchman and outlawed in both Utah and Mississippi.Enter: Second Coming of Little Brother - as it's known in advanced scientific disciplines I had what is called a "Eureka" moment [or just a "moment" as it's known by the eponymous Alaskan town which may or may not be an actual god-forsaken mining outpost].Baby bro drops the second revolution bomb of the day and says, "You know ice comes out of the freezer and not the refrigerator, right?" Um, how could I? This "freezer" is hidden expertly next to the refrigerator which explains why, at the tender age of 29, I had never noticed this before. Disregarding the apparent widespread use of such things in homes all across the world I have to say that in fairness, these things are FANTASTIC at making ice!Although, I really don't know how that whole process of water turning into ice actually goes down. Listen, I'm no chemist, but I'm pretty sure George Washington didn't fight the Communists in Mordor so that we proud Americans could spend an evening drinking hot pickle juice like a godless savage, am I right!? "GIVE THEM LIBERTY & GIVE THEM ICE" he said as he flew his bald eagle named "Mr. T" with a Harley Davidson tattoo into the wet bar in his enemies cabana so he could mess them up and steal their ice because the father of laser shows and epic wigs will enjoy a refreshing beverage of freedom and 60'' flat screens whenever he so pleases! But I digress.However the ice just manifests itself I can say with some confidence that if you have a freezer in your home and purchase this product you are well on your way to enjoying ice cubes as I have been doing since the revelation you just snacked on with your eye-holes.Good luck, and keep on rockin' in the free world.Oh, one last note - I do NOT recommend storing the ice cubes anywhere other than the freezer... unless you're a magician and looking for a new "disappearing act" because that's what the ice cubes will do if you put them in the pantry or attic.

I ordered these last week in three colors as well as the Orb ice cube tray and the smaller cube version of this. I used to own similar ice cube trays from Ikea (smaller sized cube tray) but found over time a bad taste/smell formed and I noticed a film on the surface of drinks when I used the cubes. Both of these issues have been mentioned towards this brand as well. This brand may actually be the same brand found in Ikea, I am not sure. Because these issues and solutions were mentioned in other reviews (cleaning with vinegar etc, etc..) I felt I was making a pretty informed decision and was prepared for whatever issues may develop.After using the cubes for the first time about 10 minutes ago I have to say I LOVE these trays. They are not perfect, but the resulting cubes are exactly what I have always wanted.Lets get the bad out of the way first. They are silicone so I expect them to be soft and not hold their shape holding it with one hand. I expect to have to use two hands after they are filled. The individual walls are a bit thinner than I expected and they are less firm than their smaller cubed counterparts but they are pretty much what I expected. Fill with care to the top, hold it steady with two hands, and place on a flat surface in the freezer. The only bad thing I really have to say about these trays are I expected to be able to sit them on top of each other in the freezer. With the smaller cubed tray you can fill them, stack them, and they sit level on top of each other. These trays have a beveled bottom so if you place them on top of another tray of the same size, it sits into the tray below. If you want square cubes then you pretty much have to fill the tray to the top. If you want to rest them on top of each other you have to guess how far to fill to and then stack a tray into it. This will result in possible spills if you guessed the water level wrong and a ice cube that is no longer square. Certainly not an issue if you were not going to stack them and of course after they are frozen you can stack them. My solution was to mix the jumbo size cube trays and the normal size cube trays alternating between the two. I was able to stack them nicely and all the cubes came out square.The biggest pro to these cubes are they are huge! You know when you fill a cup with ice and a warm drink and you take a sip and it's not cold yet... Not with these!! I use really big glass mugs so I can fit 3-4 of these cubes into a mug. I filled it with liquid and by the time I sat down with the mug my first sip was cold! no waiting, no mixing, just pour and drink a cold beverage!The cubes also last a long time like other reviewers have said. Because your ice lasts longer you drink does not get as watered down and you can refill and still have an immediate cold drink. If you use a smaller glass you may have an issue of more ice than drink in your cup but my solution to that is, just get a bigger cup :)Since I have just gotten this product I am interested in how they will perform after freezing something other than water. Will they eventually hold a bad taste? and will I be able to get rid of it with vinegar? Will they somehow start to form a weird film that will float in my drink? I certainly hope not. Time will tell.If you want large ice cubes that will quickly cool your drink and last a long time, these trays are the way to go. I love em, and look forward to creating a bunch of cubes and storing them in a sealed container it the freezer. This way I can just reach in my freezer and quickly pull out the number I want.