GE Profile Opal Mini vs Frigidaire Gallery EFIC255

These are the two nugget machines most people are choosing between at the moment, and not because they are similar. They are similar in price. On paper they are almost mirror images: each manufacturer publishes, in detail, precisely the thing the other one leaves out.

That makes this an unusually clean comparison to write and an unusually annoying one to shop, because there is no single table that answers every question. Below is what each one actually commits to in writing.

Both specification tables

Read down the two columns and the pattern is immediate. The Frigidaire column has numbers where performance goes. The GE column has numbers where installation goes. Very few rows have a figure on both sides.

Only one of them tells you how much ice it makes

Frigidaire prints Daily Ice Output: 20 KGS/24H in its specification table, which converts to 44.1 lbs a day. That is a specification: a number the manufacturer put in the document it stands behind.

GE prints no ice-making rate for the Opal Mini anywhere in its specification table. The 36 lbs a day you will see on the box, on the retail listing and in GE's press release is a marketing figure, and this site records the Mini's rate as Not published rather than promoting it.

It would be easy to present that as "44 versus 36" and call the Frigidaire the faster machine. That comparison is not available. What is available is the observation that one manufacturer will commit to a number and the other will not, and if throughput is what you are buying on, that asymmetry is the finding.

The electricity, and why the gap is smaller than it looks

Frigidaire publishes Power Consumption: 185 W — an actual consumption figure, which almost nobody in this category provides. GE publishes a 2.0 A current rating at 120 V, which is a 240 VA nameplate.

The honest reading: the Frigidaire is probably cheaper to run, and the margin is certainly smaller than $1.18 a month, because a nameplate overstates. At this scale neither figure should decide a purchase. What should register is that only one of these manufacturers gives you a number you can do arithmetic with.

Size, where the Mini wins and then gives some back

GE publishes 8.59 inches wide by 15.59 deep by 14.56 tall, and 27 lbs empty. Frigidaire publishes 10 inches wide by 14.6 deep by 16.5 tall, and no weight at all.

• Width goes to the Mini, by nearly an inch and a half. On a crowded counter that is real.
• Height goes to the Mini, by about two inches, and this is the one that matters most. A standard counter-to-cabinet gap is about 18 inches: at 14.56 inches the Mini leaves room to open the lid where it stands, and at 16.5 the Frigidaire does not.
• Depth goes to the Frigidaire, by about an inch. Depth is usually the binding dimension on a standard counter, so this is not a throwaway.
• Clearance goes to nobody, and that favors the Frigidaire in practice. GE requires 4 inches at the sides and back. Frigidaire publishes no clearance figure for the EFIC255 at all. A published requirement you must honor can cost you more counter than an unpublished one you can only guess at.

Net: if the constraint is a cabinet overhead, the Mini wins clearly. If the constraint is counter depth, it is closer than the headline dimensions suggest. Fitting numbers across the nugget field are on nugget ice makers for small kitchens.

The bin, and a caveat on the Frigidaire's number

GE publishes an ice storage capacity of 2.6 lbs for the Mini. The 3 lb figure this site carries for the EFIC255 does not come from Frigidaire's specification table, which omits bin capacity entirely — it comes from a retail listing and is flagged on this site as the weakest source tier.

So the apparent four-tenths of a pound in the Frigidaire's favor is one manual-sourced figure against one listing-sourced figure. A tall glass is roughly half a pound, so even taken at face value it is most of one extra glass, not a category difference.

Cleaning: two cycles against one

This is the clearest functional gap between them, and it runs the GE's way.

• GE Opal Mini. Two distinct cycles on one button: hold Clean for three seconds to start a 55-minute descale with GE's citric sachet in a full reservoir of hot water, or tap Clean for a 3-minute rinse, three rinses recommended. The Clean light glows steady when a descale is due and pulses when a rinse is. It also has a rear air filter GE says to check every two months.
• Frigidaire EFIC255. One CLEAN button running a cycle of at least 20 minutes on plain water, recommended before first use and after a long idle period. The manual separately advises changing the reservoir water every 24 hours.

Twenty minutes of plain water is a rinse. A 55-minute cycle with an acid in it is a descale. Those are different jobs, and only one of these machines distinguishes them for you — which matters because confusing the two is the most common maintenance mistake in this category. The chemistry is on descaling, and the cross-category comparison is on the self-cleaning roundup.

What only one of them has

• An operating temperature range (GE). The Mini's table publishes 55F to 90F. Frigidaire publishes none for the EFIC255, so if the machine is going in a garage or a camper only one of these two can be checked against the room. More on what temperature an ice maker needs.
• An app (GE). Filter tracking, descale-versus-rinse alerts and ice scheduling. Worth most to owners who would otherwise forget maintenance, and argued through on smart nugget ice makers.
• A published refrigerant and a published rate (Frigidaire). R600a and 20 kg per 24 hours, both in the table. GE publishes neither for the Mini.

Which one to buy

• Buy the Frigidaire EFIC255 if you want to know what you are getting. It is the cheaper machine, it is the only one of the two that commits to an ice rate, and its 185 W is the most trustworthy running-cost figure on this site.
• Buy the GE Opal Mini if the machine has to fit under a cabinet and still open, if it is going somewhere you need a temperature range for, or if you want the maintenance alerts. It is the better-engineered small machine and the worse-documented performer.
• Do not decide on the running cost. The two figures are measured differently and the real gap is around a dollar a month either way.

If you would rather compare the two GE machines than cross brands, the other matchup is the Opal Mini against the Opal 2.0 Ultra. If you are choosing a badge rather than a machine, the brands are ranked on what they publish on which ice maker brand to buy.