The 3 Best Sphere Ice Molds of 2024, Tested & Reviewed

The W&P Silicone Ice Tray next to a cocktail with an ice sphere in it — Photo:
Food & Wine / Mary Claire Lagroue

A big chunk of ice in a refreshing spring cocktail or a classic Negroni makes for an elegant presentation (and indicates that you might know what you're doing behind the bar), but it also serves a practical purpose. “Large ice is all about chilling a drink as much as possible while limiting dilution,” says Seth Corr, beverage director at Greens Restaurant in San Francisco.

“Spherical ice gives you the maximum chill-to-dilution ratio, as a cube has 24 percent more surface area than a sphere with the same volume. More surface area equals more dilution, so an ice sphere is preferred when possible,” Corr says. In other words: A sphere is the mathematically optimal shape for ice. A round globe of ice will cool a beverage — whether an Old Fashioned or single malt Scotch in a rocks glass — without turning it into a watery echo of what it once was.

Bars and restaurants often turn to professional ice purveyors for a steady supply of these impressive ice shapes, but the best sphere ice molds allow you to get similarly professional results at home. We tested 10 sphere ice molds from brands including Brümate, Dexas, Glacio, Tinana, and W&P to find the best picks for chilling our beverages.

Our Top Picks

Best Overall:

Williams Sonoma Ice Sphere Mold, Set of 4 at Williams-Sonoma $25

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Best Value:

W&P Peak Silicone Ice Molds at Amazon $18

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Best Splurge:

TINANA Crystal Clear Ice Ball Maker at Amazon $60

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Best Overall

Williams Sonoma Ice Sphere Mold, Set of 4

PHOTO: Williams Sonoma

$25 at Williams-Sonoma

Pros

This simple device makes four smooth, round spheres that pop right out of the mold.

Cons

The 2-inch spheres are smaller than other molds we tested.

The two-piece design of this Williams Sonoma mold is the simplest to use, and we found in testing that it's just as effective as more complicated models at making complete, seamless ice spheres. The plastic bottom of this mold is somewhat flexible to help loosen the frozen balls, and then the silicone lid lets you lift all four right out for serving. Overall, this sphere ice mold was easy to use, wash, and store neatly in our freezer.

We do want to note that this mold makes 2-inch spheres. That may not sound dramatically different from the 2.5-inch spheres produced by competitors, but those options have almost double the total volume. The bigger the ice ball, the less it will melt and dilute your drink while it cools. Still, for its consistency and ease of use, we name this Williams Sonoma pick our favorite overall sphere ice tray.

Dimensions: 6 x 6.25 x 2.5 inches | Yields: 4 (2-inch) spheres | Materials: Silicone, plastic | Dishwasher-Safe: Top shelf only

Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman
Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman
Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman
Food & Wine / Jennifer Zyman

Best Value

W&P Peak Silicone Ice Molds

PHOTO: Amazon

$18 at Amazon $18 at Sur La Table

Pros

This simple, all-silicone mold makes large spheres with little fuss.

Cons

The ice doesn't come out perfectly round or very clear.

If you're looking to chill your daily water, soda, and cold brew coffee with big, slow-melting spheres, this could be a great option. We're big fans of W&P's high-quality food storage containers, and its two-piece sphere mold is made of the same durable, dishwasher-safe silicone. You simply pop the lid into the base, fill it with water through the holes in the top, and freeze. We found it easy to fill and hard to spill in testing, plus there are no crevices for excess water to collect and create ice bits that get everywhere.

On the downside, the W&P tray doesn't create the roundest or clearest spheres. There were ridges and cracks across their surfaces that might not be up to the standards of a high-end mixology bar. On the other hand, the 2.5-inch size is more important to keep drinks colder longer than absolute perfection in shape. (And you're probably not charging your guests $20 a cocktail.)

Dimensions: 6.3 x 6.3 x 2.5 inches | Yields: 4 (2.5-inch) spheres | Material: Silicone | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Food & Wine / Mary Claire Lagroue
Food & Wine / Mary Claire Lagroue
Food & Wine / Mary Claire Lagroue
Food & Wine / Mary Claire Lagroue

Best Splurge

TINANA Crystal Clear Ice Ball Maker

PHOTO: Amazon

Orig. $60 $55 at Amazon Orig. $110 $33 at Walmart

Pros

This mold reliably yields four large, uniform, perfectly round ice spheres.

Cons

It's finicky to set up and doesn't make ice as clear as advertised.

Tinana's mold impressed us with how uniformly its spheres came out. Most other molds left behind a seam around the middle or a bump at the top, but this one made smooth globes every time in testing. And at 2.5 inches across, they're big enough to chill down a glass of straight whiskey or a boozy cocktail.

This device is not, however, the easiest thing in the world to use. You put a plastic reservoir inside the foam insulating box, fill it about two-thirds of the way with water, and then Tetris the three-piece silicone mold into place before putting the whole thing in the freezer. Overfilling the mold won't mess up the shape of the spheres, but it does make the pieces tough to pull apart after freezing; we needed two people to break off the excess ice and separate the mold in our test.

Despite the insulated slow-freezing, we didn't get spheres quite as crystal-clear as the Tinana advertises. They varied from pretty clear to mostly cloudy. It did a bit better than the rest of the molds on our list, but the truth is that nothing we tested made fully transparent ice — that's just difficult to achieve, especially with tap water rather than distilled. This set is fairly expensive, but it also makes more and larger spheres than other options.

Dimensions: 8.46 x 7.48 x 7.3 inches | Yields: 4 (2.5-inch) spheres | Materials: Silicone, plastic, foam | Dishwasher-Safe: Yes

Food & Wine / Dana Fouchia
Food & Wine / Dana Fouchia
Food & Wine / Dana Fouchia
Food & Wine / Dana Fouchia
Food & Wine / Dana Fouchia

Our Favorite Sphere Ice Mold

The Williams Sonoma Ice Sphere Mold topped our tests thanks to its reliably uniform results and easy-to-remove silicone and plastic design. This sphere ice mold will keep drinks stylishly chilled at a reasonable price.

How We Tested Sphere Ice Molds

A person removes an ice sphere from the Samuelworld Large Ice Ball Maker with Lid — Food & Wine / Arnesia Young

Based on the results of previous rankings, we chose a total of 10 sphere ice molds to test in person. We froze multiple batches of ice in each one, using standard tap water.

Ease of use: We looked at how easy or difficult they were to fill, and whether they spilled any water between the sink and the freezer. We also considered how easy it was to remove the ice from the molds and whether they were dishwasher-safe.
Sphere quality: We closely examined the ice balls, looking for a perfect spherical shape and lack of cracks, bumps, or other malformations.
Performance: We poured both sparkling water and a cocktail or straight spirit over the spheres, noting how quickly they cooled the drinks, and how much they melted while doing so.

After making all of our other ratings, we revealed the retail prices of the molds to consider value. At the time of testing, the molds ranged from $9 to $560, with an average of $23.

A person holds up an ice sphere made in the Dexas iceâ¢ology Silicone Clear Ice Maker Tray for Crystal Clear Craft Cocktail Ice — Food & Wine / Jason Horn

Factors to Consider

Material

Like a lot of ice cube trays, Ice sphere molds are typically made of plastic or silicone (or a combination of the two). Both materials are easy to clean and shouldn't hold onto odors. Rigid plastic is good for holding ice in shape while it freezes, but it can't make as tight a seal as flexible silicone. Silicone can often be easier to "peel" off the ice sphere as well, where you have to carefully flex plastic back and forth to release the ice without cracking the mold. With either material, thicker is better: It can hold up to more freezing and washing cycles without deteriorating.

Size

Different cocktails work best with different types of ice, but when it comes to spheres, you pretty much want the largest one you can get. A big ice ball cools the drink efficiently while melting and diluting it as little as possible. At a minimum, your ice sphere should be about 2 inches in diameter — anything smaller won't offer much advantage over other shapes. In testing, we generally preferred 2.5-inch spheres, which have significantly more volume and melt very slowly. This still fits comfortably into most rocks glasses, though it may be too big for a tall, skinny highball glass.

A cup of ice spheres made in the BruMate Ice-Sphere Set of 2 — Food & Wine / Danielle St. Pierre

Clarity

Some ice sphere molds claim to make crystal-clear ice. These use what's called the directional freezing method, which relies on an insulated container to force the water to freeze on one side before it freezes on the other. This (in theory) makes for clear ice by forcing bubbles and impurities out of the mold and into a chunk of cloudy ice you can simply discard. In practice, the clear-ice molds we tested didn't work very well despite costing significantly more than others. For truly transparent spheres, you might need pro-level equipment, or just to buy them from a local specialty ice provider.

A person holds up an ice sphere made in the Samuelworld Large Ice Ball Maker with Lid — Food & Wine / Arnesia Young

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do bartenders use ice spheres?

“Spherical ice, in contrast to cubed ice, has less surface [area] but the same amount of volume, which translates to less dilution,” says Jonathan Nunez, beverage director at Sugar Palm in Santa Monica, California. A perfect sphere is the most efficient possible way to chill a drink with the least meltage.
How do sphere ice molds work?

“Sphere ice molds work the same way any other ice mold does, but they typically have a top and a bottom piece that connect to make the spherical shape,” says Corr. “The two pieces then detach to remove the spherical ice.”
How do you keep ice spheres from cracking?

“To keep them from cracking, you need to temp them before you make your drink,” says Gordon Bellaver of Penny Pound Ice, a Los Angeles-based ice supplier. “If you add room-temperature alcohol to ice straight from the freezer, the ice goes through thermal shock and cracks.” He suggests letting your ice warm up before you add the alcohol by letting it sit out in the glass for a minute or two (the ice should have a wet surface). Then, drain any excess water before adding your drink.

Other Sphere Ice Molds We Tested

Strong Contenders

Rottay Ice Cube Trays ($17 at Amazon)

This set gives you trays to make two different shapes of cocktail ice: spheres and cubes. The setup is basic, and we were impressed with how easily the sphere mold let go of the ice. However, the spheres were quite cloudy and small, so we took away points for presentation.

Samuelworld Large Ice Ball Maker ($9 at Amazon)

A favorite in a previous version of this story, the Samuelworld sphere mold has a similar design to the W&P model above, at a seriously budget price. The silicone lid makes a good spill-proof seal, but all the spheres come out with little "tails" thanks to the funnel-shaped fill holes. If you're going to the trouble to freeze ice spheres, it's probably worth paying a few extra bucks for rounder ones.

Tovolo Sphere Ice Molds ($14 at Amazon)

Tovolo's mold gives you very round spheres by ensuring the mold is completely packed with water — you fill it up and then dump out the excess over the sink. The shape was nice, but the ice stuck to the molds and was tough to remove without running under warm water.

What Didn't Make the List

The remaining molds we tested were from Houdini, Glacio, Brümate, and Dexas. None of these did a bad job at making reasonably round globes of ice, but they were either too small, too lumpy, or not clear enough.

Our Expertise

Bernadette Machard de Gramont is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer specializing in food, wine, and kitchen products. After a two-year stint at Williams Sonoma headquarters in San Francisco, she now researches and tests a variety of cookware, bakeware, and wine tools, and interviews field experts for their insight.
Food & Wine senior writer Jason Horn updated this story with results from our in-house testing. A former senior editor at Liquor.com and longtime cocktails and spirits writer, he has experienced some very fancy ice in his career.

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