Last week, Short Order extolled the virtues of the fabulous flake ice Scotsman Ice Machine C0322MA-1B. Today, we feature another extraordinary piece of restaurant equipment in the Scotsman ice machine category, a nugget icemaker, the Scotsman Ice Machine MDT6N90A-1H. This is an extremely reliable counter top ice machine even the emperor penguin would love to order for his Antarctic home.

This TouchFree® air and water cooled ice maker and dispenser comes with a shiny European design with rounded corners, produces up to 720 pounds of nugget ice in 24 hours and stores up to 90 pounds in the bin. That’s enough ice to nearly create a mini Antarctic iceberg, but you’ll probably be adding this ice to beverages, a salad bar or for restaurant cold display.

With 25 percent less fan noise, the MDT6N90A-1H machine is also very quiet, and documentation suggests it can be installed even in the “quietest hallways.” The TouchFree feature allows the user to dispense the ice with just one hand, keeping both machine and ice clean and sanitary. With dimensions of 35.19″W x 45.75″H x 29.25″D, this ice machine is big enough to power your cold, icy needs but small enough to remain unobtrusively out of the way.

Our editors give this machine a 5-Star rating because of its great efficiency, low-operating costs and long-term reliability. And of course, all Scotsman ice machines come with an impressive warranty.

If you’re looking for something a bit on the smaller side and one that dispenses flaked ice, rather than nugget ice, look no further than another of the remarkable TouchFree® ice makers, the Scotsman Ice Machine MDT3F12A-1H. With dimensions of 14″W x 34.25″H x 23.67″D, this compact and beautiful machine will fit almost any nook and cranny. This counter top ice machine also gets a 5-Star rating from Short Order and a friendly little wings-up from our penguin here too.

We here at Short Order are proud to offer Scotsman ice machines along with other top-notch restaurant equipment.

You know how much we love our ice machines at Short Order. Well, we have another reason for extolling the virtues of our Scotsman Ice Machines. Besides the fact that they are resilient, of super quality and efficient, we just discovered a new occasion to cheer.

On April 12th, Scotsman Ice Systems was recognized for energy efficiency by ENERGY STAR® in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The 2011 ENERGY STAR Award for Excellence in energy-efficient products, homes and buildings is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency.

How cool is that? Almost as cool as the ice!

“Energy efficiency is not only good for the environment, but it also improves the bottom line for our users,” said Mark McClanahan, president, Scotsman Ice Systems. “With a Prodigy ENERGY STAR-qualified ice machine, Scotsman customers can realize as much as a 20 percent energy saving on average, or approximately $710 annually.”

Scotsman offers more than 50 ENERGY STAR-rated ice machines.  We’re proud to offer a great selection of them from our top-notch inventory of restaurant equipment, such as our Scotsman Ice Machine C0322MA-1B.

Scotsman nugget and flake ice machines use up to 50 percent less water and 15 percent less energy than cube machines due to a more efficient ice-making process.  That can add up to a spectacular savings for both your restaurant and the environment at large.

An additional 25 Scotsman Ice Machines are also rated for the maximum “Consortium of Energy Efficiency” (CEE) Tier 3-rated performance criteria, which exceeds the current ENERGY STAR standard. Wow, more than half are better than best. In fact, Scotsman has more CEE Tier 3-certified machines than any other ice machine manufacturer.

So what’s so special about receiving the ENERGY STAR award? The EPA introduced ENERGY STAR in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants associated with energy use.

At Short Order, we’re proud to carry Scotsman Ice Machines.

Nothing turns on the salivary glands like food from the backyard grill. Now you can bring that backyard taste into your restaurant with the Vulcan Char Broiler VCCB47-1-NAT. No, that’s not Dr. Spock’s own space ship. It’s just the one of the best medium-sized char broilers on the planet.

Char broilers come with basic variations. All will produce succulent meats and vegetables bearing grill marks and the undeniable flavor of the grill.

Char broilers provide two main sources of heat: radiant heat and lava rocks. Each acts as a high-temperature storage bank. You need to keep enough heat to cook those cold products, or you and your customers will be unhappily waiting. The Vulcan Char Broiler uses radiant heat and has an under burner deflector to reflect lost heat back up to the cooking service.

Broilers use gas flames to heat the radiants. Heat is distributed more evenly over radiants than lava rock, and the radiants are slanted in such a way that they limit flare ups from fat dripping. Broilers are somewhat easier to clean too. Can you smell those steaks broiling?

The Vulcan Char Broiler is a nice heavy-duty, cast-iron radiant broiler. We rated it 5 stars here at Short Order. Are those steaks done yet?

But that is not the only great item we have in our inventory. There’s a great variety of other products, perfect for warming, cooling, cooking, storing, prepping, serving and much, much more.  You can even get other great Vulcan products, from range ovens to hot plates.

Whether you are a restaurateur, restaurant equipment enthusiast or simply looking for the right place to upgrade your restaurant equipment, check out our full selection of commercial kitchen-enabling wonderworks today at www.shortorder.com!

Any regular readers of this blog (restaurateurs, restaurant equipment enthusiasts, manufacturer moguls, and the supremely bored but otherwise unaffiliated among you) would know that we love our ice machines.  It’s not hard to see why: After all, we here at Short Order provide only the finest restaurant equipment to our customers, and we’re in contact with those finely tuned pieces of machinery that we send out on a daily basis, so why wouldn’t we become a little attached to them?  Right?

Sounds right to us, anyway.

Okay, enough with the crazy talk.  It’s hard not to fall in love with machines as well-made and outright productive as the ice machines we stock.  These include Manitowoc ice machines, of course, which is one of our favorite products from one of our favorite manufacturers of restaurant equipment, ever.  There’s a few reasons for that.  First, Manitowoc is the industry leader in ice machine manufacturing.  That in itself might not sound like it means much, but think about this: Industry leaders are usually where they’re at because of their work ethic and the quality of their product.  Manitowoc and its products are obviously high quality and obviously the products of a rigorous work ethic.

However, Manitowoc doesn’t make the only products we care about.  Ice O Matic ice machines, Hoshizaki ice machines, and Scotsman ice machines are all just as good as their Manitowoc counterparts.  We’re happy to offer them to our customers as well.

Now, we’re way into our ice machines, but that’s not the only thing we at Short Order happen to have in our inventory, and it’s certainly not the only thing that we’re proud to offer.  We’ve also got a range of other products perfect for warming, cooling, cooking, storing, prepping, serving, and more.  Check out our full selection of commercial kitchen-enabling wonderworks today!

When you’re on the market for new restaurant equipment, especially high-quality, top-flight equipment from trusted manufacturers like Manitowoc ice machines, you know you’re going to be making an investment into your restaurant’s future success.  You may be spending a decent chunk of change, but you know that money will pay dividends down the road, when you’ve had your equipment for a few years.  While cheap equipment ia often more likely to start breaking down with age, the good stuff is more likely to weather the typical wear and tear of a hustling, bustling commercial kitchen environment.

That is a great reason to buy the best restaurant equipment money can buy, pieces like Manitowoc ice machines.  Nevertheless, that’s not the only reason to opt for Manitowoc ice machines when you’re looking for new ice machines.   Manitowoc ice machines, like many other notable lines of restaurant equipment from the best manufacturers, are easy to maintain.  Cleaning any such ice machine according to the manufacturer’s recommendations is the best upkeep any owner can take.  And when a piece of restaurant equipment is well-conceived and artfully designed, regular upkeep is surprisingly easy to keep on top of.

Consider a common scourge of the ice machine, the buildup known as slime.  Slime consists of an accumulation of mold that occurs in ice machines.  It’s easy to stay on top of slime problems by regularly cleaning the ice machine in question while sprinkling in regular, deeper cleans to really keep your machine sparkling.

Now, that’s no so bad, but Manitowoc ice machines make it even easier to keep on top of things, with its sodium chloride sachet insert, which aids in the inhibition of mold growth.  And that’s just one of the many wonderful, thoughtful touches you’ll see in Manitowoc ice machines and other high-grade pieces of restaurant equipment.