French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door fridges combine functionality and form. They have elegant double doors that open to reveal a large fridge on top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their special features, including through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end ice makers.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, an interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They evaluated the capacity of storage as well as layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series is targeted at those who want to incorporate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with these, from an inside-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a clever water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Since this refrigerator is a premium, I expect better.
This fridge is a good choice, despite the small blip. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, french door fridge freezer holds a good amount of frozen foods compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is the standard for a fridge with a French door at this price. It has a decent-sized refrigerator with an ice maker in the left door. But it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can alter the shelving in both compartments to create customized storage arrangement for whatever you have to keep. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice addition, and the in-door storage bins come with an additional shelf that folds up beneath itself to allow you to store large items. The drawers include temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, although I found their plastic textured coatings to be a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator has all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi as well as app support, and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your fridge from anywhere in the world, and has many options for customizing. It also gives you notifications when a door is left open, when your fridge or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be great it GE PYE22PYNFS offered Precise fill, an option found in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to set the number of cups they would like to disperse. It also has a countdown on the fridge display to display how much water you have left, but it's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is an impressive product. It's designed to look like a seamless piece of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also boasts a veggie compartment to keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer and dual compressors for the best preservation of food. The Ice maker is among the most efficient we've ever tested and produces a pyramid-shaped Ice with low water usage. This fridge is perfect for a small household or kitchenette that needs an elegant design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for various reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained stable at a level that was just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, never changing more than a fraction of an inch. This is essential to preventing freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the temperature it was set within an hour and maintained that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is known for its premium appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is pricey however, it offers excellent features and functions at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is a fantastic piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. You might need to be creative with tall objects because the fridge has a limited shelf space. The shelves are also not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the fridge. However, they must be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, be sure to also review our opinions on the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator as well as the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is a great counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage space into the frame's compact size. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. Inside, the fridge has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins on each door and two rows of shelves that capture spills and a set of crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more headroom. There's also a full-width drawer for food items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the best things about this refrigerator is that the ice maker is in the freezer, making it simple to move frozen ice to the fridge for use when needed. The freezer also has thoughtful design features, such as sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It also comes with a large bin that holds plenty of frozen food items and a separate storage bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. It lets you control the temperature of your fridge and lighting via your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, especially when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't enhance the performance of the fridge. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than some of the others we tested. This is probably due to its bigger capacity.
Another issue with the doors of this refrigerator. The sunken handles let shorter people open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a hard time closing them without slamming. It would have been much better if they had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a good choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a fridge with a French door with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is higher than average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a bit cheaper than the best counter depth refrigerator that comes with an icemaker, which makes it a great choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option when you're looking for a French door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It has a simple design that's not as striking in appearance as other models however it comes with enough features to make it a solid option. Its most important feature, the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food items like vegetables and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a large water and ice maker dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits above the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer lets you use some of the fridge's cooling power to this area so it can be used to store food items that require special attention. You can alter this feature by using the slider located on the on the outside of the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the general settings work better than the specific ones.
In my tests, I discovered that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across different areas of the fridge. Temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary much from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a solid performance, but it does not quite make it to the top of our ratings.
This fridge has a few other neat features, including a temperature-monitoring display that alerts you to fluctuations and provides a forecast for the day ahead. You can also connect this fridge to a smart thermometer for more precise readings of your fridge's temperature.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey body with a "smudge-proof" finish. It is capable of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared with glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site’s buyer’s guides and product test reviews. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is adamant about finding the top products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.