TikTok's Designer Ice Trend, Explained

Creating "designer ice" involves freezing pieces of fruit in ice trays and adding them to your drinks to enhance both flavor and aesthetic appeal. Designer ice can also be formed into a multitude of fun and funky shapes, such as spheres, crescents, hearts, and more. The trend has made a major impact on TikTok, where users share their frozen innovations via #icedrawer and #icetok.

In one compelling clip, a person shows their meticulous process for restocking what appears to be numerous ice trays of all shapes and descriptions. The poster adds a variety of chopped fruits and vegetables to ice trays, such as strawberries, lemons, kiwis, and zucchinis, before filling them with water. The creator of the video is also seen using other items to make designer ice, such as a creamy white substance (perhaps yogurt or ice cream?), as well as a bottle of Prime energy drink. 

But this video merely scratches the surface when it comes to the ice enthusiasts of TikTok.

Designer ice videos document multiple steps in the ice-making process. While many focus on the joys of restocking and refilling ice trays, others show the end result of all this hard work. One video with a whopping 1.9 million likes features a multitude of shapes and ingredients as ice is moved from trays to plastic containers. Some are traditional cubes, albeit a bit larger than one might expect when it comes to ice trays. One selection includes rose petals, while another contains lemons and seeds. Also featured in the video are perfectly spherical ice, fruity ice in the shape of hearts, and even whimsical, blue-tinged unicorn ice.

While most of the comments praise the video, which has a satisfying ASMR feel, others are struck by the class implications of designer ice. As one commenter put it, "Idk how or why but these ice cubes just called me poor." It seems that this trend requires in-depth knowledge, as well as potentially expensive equipment to join the exclusive club.

One person was so inspired by designer ice that she launched a company surrounding it. According to the Disco Cubes website, Leslie Kirchhoff is a self-described "ice cube innovator." Kirchhoff was inspired by another innovator of ice, Camper English, who developed a specific ice-making method that produces completely clear cubes. However, Kirchhoff keeps her particular ice-making method under wraps.

Of course, you can always take a short cut by purchasing a fancy ice maker, if you have the cash. For example, the Opal Nugget Ice Maker from GE is said to create "crunchable, craveable" pellets of ice. If that seems enticing, gird your wallet, as the 2.0 version of this device retails for $649. With this contraption, you can enjoy a whole pound of ice once every hour, as well as voice-controlled operation and in-built WiFi to ensure you never miss a notification or alert from your almost-sentient ice maker.