Looks like I'll raise this one from the dead.
I was considering a different method of using the no-chill method and the cube in particular for late hopped beers. Boil brewing water, with salts added, put it into the cube and allow the vacuum to develop. Put it in the freezer on brew day, brew up the recipe as normal and use the semi-frozen sanitized water to cool the wort. You wouldn't need a full 5 gallon cube for water either, a 1.5-2.5 gal cube would work very well.
There are a few things that kill some advantages of No-chill, but it doesn't remove all the advantages. The main disadvantage is you would have to have space in your fermenter available in the next 24 hours (yes, I've let mine sit overnight to get to proper pitching temps after doing a less polished variation on this method.) and in your freezer. You also have to account for the top-up water in the recipe.
The advantages are being able to retain an "original" recipe, without the difficultly in cleaning a CFC or plate chiller. You also save time, because, at least in my experience with Texas ground water, the frozen couple of gallons achieves near-pitching temperatures very quickly compared to 10+ minutes on a plate chiller and 30+ with an IC. This method also favors water restricted areas, because the overall amount of water used should be nearly the same as a no-chill method.
Am I overlooking something?