Certain refrigerator appliances include an ice maker. To produce ice, liquid water is directed to the ice maker and frozen. A variety of ice types can be produced depending upon the particular ice maker used. For example, certain ice makers include a mold body for receiving liquid water. An auger within the mold body can rotate and scrape ice off an inner surface of the mold body to form ice nuggets. Such ice makers are generally referred to as nugget style ice makers. Certain consumers prefer nugget style ice makers and their associated ice nuggets.
Ice nuggets are generally stored at temperatures above the freezing temperature of liquid water to maintain a texture of the ice nuggets. When stored at such temperatures, ice nuggets can clump such that dispensing the ice nuggets is difficult. In particular, the ice nuggets can collect in corners of the refrigerator appliance's ice bucket.
In addition, ice nuggets can melt when stored at temperatures above freezing, and liquid water from melted ice nuggets can collect within the ice bucket. The liquid water can negatively affect performance of the refrigerator appliance and can be difficult to remove. In particular, liquid water can damage or negatively affect performance of electrical components, such as motors.
Accordingly, an ice bucket for storing ice nuggets with features for assisting with dispensing ice nuggets from the ice bucket would be useful. In addition, an ice bucket for storing ice nuggets with features for limiting or preventing damage to electrical components would be useful.