Ice Trays Peform Exactly as One Might Hope
We really enjoy the large ice cubes that we get with these trays. The cubes aren't quite a full 2" by 2", but they're large enough to fit comfortably in a tumbler. They are made from sturdy but extremely flexible silicone with a beveled edge on the bottom that makes the trays stack nicely and also facilities removing the cubes.To make it easy to remove the cubes, don't fill the trays all the way to the top. Stop a little less than 1/4" from the top, leaving space for stacking the trays in the freezer. Then to remove the cubes, place the trees face down on a clean, flat surface (I use a towel on the kitchen counter) and push them from the bottom to loosen the ice. The material is very flexible, so that you can use your fingers on the rim of the tray and your thumb on the bottom to push out the cubes. Be careful; the large cubes and the silicone will remain cold enough to cause frostbite if you handle them for too long with your bare fingers.You can get the individual cells for the cubes to come out the same by over-filling the whole tray a little at the start, and then tilting the tray just enough to spill water uniformly from all six cells. There seems to be a bit of engineering here; the material is thick enough to keep the filled trays pretty flat as you transport them back to the freeze, but flexible enough that it's easy to push out the cubes.There are several similar products on Amazon. These have the brand name "Kitch." cast into the side. As best I can tell from the photos and product descriptions, all these silicone trays are functionally identical; but I've only ever experienced these Kitch brand trays. The silicone is the same material used for simulating skin and other body parts, and that also appears as a liquid or in gel form in prosthetic inserts. (Don't confuse it with silicon, which is a silver-gray metal. Silicone is a polymer that has the silicon atom in a chain with oxygen and hydrogen atoms.) It can take a very wide temperature range, so these ought to be able to shrug off dishwasher temperatures where other synthetic rubbers might deform or even come apart.Silicone material is rather pricey, which probably accounts for the prices you see on this type of ice cube trays. It's darn well worth the cost for the performance we've experienced. I've seen no degradation even after a few dozen cycles through the freezer and being stretched in odd ways as I push out the cubes.I've seen some notes about a "white residue" in reviews of similar products on Amazon. I suspect that this comes from 3 possible causes; in order of likelihood: (1) fiction, (2) impurities in the tap water that would be solved by adding a charcoal filter to the tap, or (3) ice forming as atmospheric moisture condenses on the cold silicone surface. We use filters on our kitchen and bar faucets so there's no chemical residue, but I do usually see frost forming.