There are a huge number of icemakers available ranging from the dire to the superb. Many of them can be temperamental and our advice is to buy the best that you can afford - service calls are not cheap.

Most manufacturers will offer 2 capacities - storage and daily production.

Storage capacity is, as you would imagine, the weight of ice that the machine will store in its bin. The average bartop ice bucket holds around 2kg of ice so you should have some idea of how this relates to your business.

The daily capacity is a weight of ice that the machine will make running constantly under ideal conditions. It probably looks impressive but divide it by 24 to get the hourly production and remember that the machine stops when the bin is full. Many people use any spare capacity to keep some bags of ice in a freezer to cover them in very busy times.

When costing icemakers, do not forget to allow for a water filter - hard water can cause problems. Also remember that most machines have a waste water outlet at the back of the machine which is usually at the very bottom. For this reason you may require a stand and (more importantly) a drain facility just a few inches from ground level.