French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open to an expansive fridge on the top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their unique features, including through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, GE's Profile series is geared towards those who want to incorporate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a sophisticated 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 costs more, I'd expect better.
This fridge is a good choice, despite the blip. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it can hold a decent amount of frozen food compared to similar models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is roughly on what you would expect from the size of a French door fridge costing this much. It comes with a decent size icemaker in the left door. However it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a the perfect storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins have a third shelf that can fold down to allow you to store large items. The drawers have temperature controls, so you can set them for Beverage, Meat or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to open and shut however I found the plastic's textured coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your fridge from anywhere in world, and it has numerous options for customization. It also alerts you when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill which is an option that is available in a few other GE refrigerators that allows you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to pour out simultaneously. The fridge displays a countdown timer to show you how much water remains however it's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is an impressive product. It's designed to look like it's a seamless part in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment to keep vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and two compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and produces an ice pyramid with only a little water. This fridge is perfect for a small household or a kitchenette that wants a built-in appearance and top-of-the line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never fluctuated more than a fraction - this is crucial to prevent freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, reaching the temperature that was set for the initial setting within an hour and maintaining that temperature steady over the course of our testing.
Bosch is known for its high-end appliances and appliances, so it's not a surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, but it offers top-quality features and functions for the cost.
It's important to understand the limitations of your fridge. It has a narrow shelf space, so you'll need to be creative when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are also not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the trays from the fridge, but be sure to clean them regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, make sure to check out our reviews of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator as well as the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is an excellent counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage in the frame's compact size. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge has an ordinary French door design, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded in order to create more space for tall items. There's also a full-width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer ice when needed. The freezer also comes with thoughtful design features, like sliding drawers that can help you organize your items. It also has a large container for storing frozen food, and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting, and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a simple way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, especially when not at home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. In french style fridge freezer , it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than other refrigerators we tried. french door fridge and freezer is likely due to the greater capacity.
Another issue with the door of this refrigerator. french door fridge freezer have handles that are sunken on the front, which allow shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, however they're still difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming the doors. It would have been more effective if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those who want to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with an efficient design. Its capacity is above average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a bit cheaper than the most expensive counter depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which makes it a great choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good choice for those looking for a French-door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It's a basic refrigerator which may not be as eye-catching as its rivals however, it does have enough features to make a an excellent option. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a large ice maker and a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated over the two crisper bins, is a nice feature. This drawer lets you redirect a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, which means you can store foods that require extra attention. You can adjust this feature using the slider located on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this feature to set a general cooling level for the whole fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator stayed fairly consistent across different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator did not differ significantly from 38 degrees. This is a great performance, but it doesn't quite rank among the best in our rankings.
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. This fridge can be connected with a smart thermostat to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site’s buyer’s guides and product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is adamant about finding the best products and recommending them to consumers. She is particularly interested in home goods and technology.