I have broken more ice cube trays than I can count. The cheap plastic ones crack in the freezer, and the fancy ones fight you when you try to pop the cubes out. Last winter I bought six different kinds and ran a very scientific test: which trays survive the freezer and release cubes without a struggle.

What breaks and what sticks

Two failure modes ruin most trays:

• Brittle plastic cracks when you twist it, especially after it has been in the freezer a while. The plastic gets stiff and snaps.
• Rigid trays stick. Even when the plastic survives, cubes in a hard tray need a brutal twist, and half of them crack or fly across the kitchen.

The winners from my test

Silicone trays with a steel frame were the clear winner. The flexible silicone pops cubes out with a gentle push from underneath, and the steel frame keeps the tray from flopping around when you carry it full of water. A tray like that costs a little more, but it survived the whole winter and still looks new.

Second place: plastic trays with a lever release. You slide a lever along the bottom and the cubes drop out. They do not crack because you never twist them. Mine have lasted two years. The downside is they take up more freezer space and the lever mechanism needs a wipe now and then.

Pure silicone trays without a frame work fine too, but filling them is fiddly. Water sloshes while the tray bends. The frame fixes that.

What to avoid

Avoid the thin rigid plastic trays, the classic kind. They crack, they stick, and they pick up freezer smells. Also avoid trays with tiny cube molds if you want large cubes for drinks, the small ones freeze fast but water the drink down quickly.

One tip that helps any tray: let it sit at room temperature for two minutes before popping cubes. The cubes release cleanly instead of shattering, and the tray lasts longer because you are not torquing cold plastic.