We drink a lot of sparkling water, enough that we were getting through multiple plastic bottles a week, and it had started to feel genuinely wasteful. Recycling storage in the new house is more limited too, which made it feel even more pressing. We'd been meaning to get a proper sparkling water maker for ages. A relative has one, and using it on a visit properly sold us on the idea, that fizz made right at the counter rather than lugging bottles home from the supermarket. Moving into the new house felt like a good reason to treat ourselves, so we finally gave ourselves permission to buy one.
What it's actually been like, a week in
It's early days, so this is a first impressions piece rather than a verdict. Fitting the CO2 canister is simple, lie it on its side and screw it in, and there's a satisfying bit of mechanism to the whole process, screwing the bottle into place at the top and pressing the handle down to carbonate. Each press of the lever adds more fizz, so how sparkling the water ends up is entirely down to how many times it's pressed. It turns out my husband and I don't agree on how fizzy we like it, he's a two-press person, I'm more of a three, so there's already a bit of gentle negotiating over the exact setting. It's already become a small daily habit rather than a novelty we're forcing ourselves to use, and more to the point, it's actually replaced the bottled water we were buying, not just supplemented it.
on the counter, cactus tiles and all
Choosing the Aarke
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There are cheaper carbonators out there, but after seeing the Aarke in action we didn't seriously consider them. We went for the Carbonator 3 in matte white as part of the starter kit with a canister and bottle, plus an extra PET bottle so we'd have two on the go rather than fighting over one. £219 altogether, £197.10 after a 10% newsletter sign-up discount. It's a proper investment for something that essentially makes fizzy water, and whether it was worth that price is something we'll only really know over a much longer stretch of time. For now, we're pleased with it.
Living with it on the counter
It doesn't need to be plugged in, which gives more flexibility about where it lives, it's currently sitting on the kitchen counter. We've got two bottles that live in the fridge, filled with tap water ready to go. We'd read that chilled water takes less gas to carbonate, so that's become the routine. We're drinking more water as a result, having it cold and ready in the fridge makes it the easier choice most of the time. The bottles look great on the table for meals.
out on the table, not hidden away in a cupboard
Was it worth £197?
Too early to say properly. What we can say after a week is that it's genuinely changed one of our everyday habits, we haven't bought a bottle of sparkling water since it arrived. What we can't yet say is whether it's a £197 purchase we'll still be glad of in three years' time. The things we'll actually be watching are how quickly we get through CO2 canisters and what that costs over time, whether the bottles hold up to daily use, and whether we're still reaching for it once the novelty has worn off.
What's next
We'll revisit this once we've had it long enough to say something meaningful about durability and the real running cost, but we're confident it's going to give us years of sparkling water. For now, it's earned its place on the counter.
First impressions
- Ease of use
- Simple to fit the canister and satisfying to operate
- Design
- Matte white, sits well on the counter, doesn't need to be near a socket
- Would we buy again?
- Too early to say for certain, but no regrets after week one
- Best for
- Households buying a lot of bottled sparkling water who are ready to pay a premium for something they'll use daily
