GE Profile Opal Mini (P4NM20 series)

What GE publishes

The number GE did not print

Every box, every listing and GE's own press release says the Opal Mini produces 36 lbs. of nugget ice per day. The specification table in the owner's manual says nothing at all about the rate. There is no daily figure and no hourly figure, in a table that otherwise runs to voltage, current, bin, dimensions, clearance, operating environment and empty weight.

That matters because of what the full-size machine does. The Opal 2.0's manual prints 38 lbs per day and 1.6 lbs per hour in exactly that table, and it is the only rate in this entire category that comes from a specification rather than a marketing department. On the Mini, GE dropped it.

2.0 A, and why that is the headline

The manual rates the Mini at 120V AC/60Hz and 2.0 A. At 120 V that is a 240 VA nameplate, against 360 VA for both full-size Opal 2.0 models — a third less.

On this site's standard scenario of four running hours a day at 18 cents per kWh, that is about $5.18 a month as a ceiling, where the Opal 2.0 is $7.78. As always with GE, this is a nameplate rather than a published consumption, so it is an upper bound the machine does not continuously draw. The arithmetic is on the running-cost page.

It also makes the Mini the most plausible Opal to put behind an inverter, which is the one place a third less nameplate genuinely changes a decision rather than a bill.

The 2.6 lb bin

Bin capacity is the number that actually limits a countertop ice maker at home, and the Mini gives up some. GE publishes 2.6 lbs of ice storage against the 3.0 lbs every full-size Opal publishes.

A tall glass of nugget ice is roughly half a pound, so 2.6 lbs is about five glasses and 3.0 lbs is about six. One glass, in other words. For one or two people that is invisible; for a household that empties the bin at once it is the difference between everyone being served and someone waiting. The sizing arithmetic is on how much ice you actually need.

Worth noting against the retail listing: the Amazon page describes a "2 lb Bin" where the manual says 2.6 lbs. The manual is the higher-tier source and is what this page carries.

Small machine, big air gap

At 8.59 inches wide, 15.59 deep and 14.56 tall and 27 lbs empty, this is the smallest and lightest Opal GE has built. Two numbers there are genuinely useful.

• 14.56 inches tall. A standard counter-to-cabinet gap is about 18 inches, and almost every nugget machine is 16.5 to 17 inches tall — they fit, but you cannot open the lid where they stand. The Mini can.
• 27 lbs empty. Against 37.6 lbs for both full-size Opal 2.0 models. That is the difference between a machine you shuffle and one you carry.
• But 4 inches of clearance. The Mini wants the same air gap as the Opal 2.0 Ultra and one inch more than the standard 2.0. A smaller machine that demands more room around it is a genuinely counterintuitive result, and on a tight counter it eats much of what the smaller body gives back.

Fitting numbers across the nugget field are on nugget ice makers for small kitchens.

55F to 90F, in writing

The Mini's table publishes an operating environment of 55F to 90F. That is worth calling out because hardly anyone in this category publishes one — the Mini is one of only four machines on this site to do it, alongside the first-generation Opal, the Silonn SLIM21 and the Gevi V2.0, and GE publishes no range at all for the current full-size Opal 2.0.

If the machine is going anywhere other than a kitchen — a garage, a porch, a camper — this is the line that decides it, and the wider question is covered on what temperature an ice maker needs.

Two cycles, and one of them takes 55 minutes

The Mini's care section is the most specific in the Opal range. It documents two distinct cycles on the same Clean button, with two distinct light behaviors telling you which one is due.

• Descale, 55 minutes. Hold Clean for three seconds. GE's procedure asks for one sachet of its citric descaler in a full internal reservoir of hot water. The Clean light shows a steady glow when a descale is due.
• Rinse, 3 minutes. Tap Clean rather than holding it. GE recommends three rinses in total after a descale, draining and refilling between them. The Clean light pulses slowly when a rinse is what is needed.

A machine that distinguishes between "needs descaling" and "needs rinsing" with two different light behaviors is doing something no other machine on this site does, and the distinction is exactly the one most owners get wrong. How the cycles compare across the category is on the self-cleaning roundup, and the chemistry is on descaling.

The part nothing else here has

The Mini has a rear air filter, and GE says it should be checked and cleaned at least every 2 months, with a caution not to run the machine without it because dirt and lint can clog the condenser and reduce performance.

No other machine documented on this site has one. It is a small, genuine ownership cost — a recurring two-monthly job nobody buying on price will have factored in — and it is also a sensible piece of engineering on a machine that wants four inches of clearance to reject its heat.

Mini, Mini Pro, and which one

GE sells the Mini in two shapes that matter here. The plain Mini is a top-fill reservoir machine. The Mini Pro adds a side water tank, and that is the whole difference: it does not make the bin bigger, it makes the gap between refills longer.

GE publishes one specification table covering the P4NM20, P4NM25 and P4NM27 series together, so the electrical rating, the bin, the clearance and the operating range are shared. What GE never states is what the side tank adds to the footprint, which is why this site carries no dimensions or weight for the Pro at all rather than reusing the Mini's.

Buy the Pro if carrying water to the machine is the thing that will stop you using it. Buy the Mini if counter space is tighter than your patience.

Who should buy this

• Buy it if you want nugget ice from the brand with the best documentation and the smallest body it comes in, and one or two people are drinking it.
• Buy it if the machine has to fit under a cabinet and still open. At 14.56 inches tall it is one of the few that genuinely does.
• Buy it if running cost or an inverter is in the picture. 240 VA is the lowest nameplate of any Opal.
• Skip it if you want a published ice rate before you spend. GE prints one for the full-size 2.0 and not for this, and that is a real difference in what you can know.
• Skip it if your counter is tight at the back. Four inches of clearance on an 8.59 inch machine is a lot of the advantage handed back.
• Skip it if you serve a crowd. 2.6 lbs is about five glasses before the machine has to catch up, and the wider field is on the nugget roundup.