<p>This review provides an outline of the key processes behind the formation of dust grains in the interstellar medium, the growth of thin ice mantles upon their surface, and their impact on the chemistry that can take place at the centre of cold molecular clouds. These dust grains provide a vital surface to catalyse complex chemistry, without which many of the complex molecules now observed in the interstellar medium could not form. We highlight the experimental methodology by which ice analogues may be grown and analysed in a laboratory setting, as well as their shortcomings; in particular, the limitations on experimental deposition timescales that present a particular problem when compared to the accretion rates in the interstellar medium. Potential solutions to these constraints are underscored through computational simulations, with particular emphasis on the impact that newly emerging multiscale methods may have on future models of ice mantle formation.</p>