Dwell

The Dumb Reality of the Smart Home

I recently got one of those fancy ice makers that make that great crunchy pellet ice, like you get in drinks at Sonic. This was a splurge; I already own not one but several ice trays that are perfectly capable of making ice. But I wanted the great crunchy pellet ice, because I live in Los Angeles, which is very hot for most of the year, and, look, I wanted the ice maker, so I got the ice maker.

When it arrived, I unpacked it, put it on the counter, and filled up the water tank. At first it didn’t work, so I figured I might as well look at the manual to see if there was any preuse cleaning or anything I

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