French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and functionality, French-door refrigerators have elegant double doors that open to a spacious fridge up top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their unique features, like through-the-door dispensers and higher-end Ice makers.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the right one. They weighed storage capacity and layout and energy efficiency, among other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As its name suggests, GE’s Profile series is aimed at consumers who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchens. The refrigerator is brimming with these, from an inside-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a smart 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 higher quality.
This fridge is a great choice, despite the blip. It comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a fair amount of frozen foods as compared to similar models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is standard for a French-door refrigerator at this price. It also has a decent-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, but it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelving in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for the items you need to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins have an additional shelf that folds up beneath itself to allow you to store large items. The drawers come with temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and shut, but I found the plastic's textured coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a complete set of features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price with Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from any place around the world. It also has many options for customization. It also sends you notifications when the door is unlocked, when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It is nice to have GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill the option that is available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allow users to select the amount of cups they wish to pour out. It does offer a countdown on the display of the fridge to display how much water have left, but it's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Designed to look as a seamless element of your kitchen Bosch's French-door refrigerator looks seamless and is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also boasts a veggie compartment to keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer, and two compressors for maximum preservation of food. The ice maker we tested was one of the most efficient and produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This refrigerator is the ideal option for households with a single member or kitchenettes looking for a built-in look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just a few degrees Fahrenheit, never moving by more than a fraction a degree--this is key 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 has a reputation for premium appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your fridge remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is costly, but offers great features and capabilities at a fair price.
While the fridge is an incredible appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a narrow shelf space, so you may have to think creatively when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are not spillproof and can easily be damaged or stained by sharp items. It's simple to remove the trays from the fridge, but be sure to clean them frequently to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, make sure you check out our review of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S counter-depth fridge is a great option for those who require lots of space within the space of a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features an ordinary French door design, with two rows of shelving with spill-capture and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded in order to create more space for tall items. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
One of the best things about this refrigerator is that its ice maker is inside the freezer, making it simple to move the ice to the refrigerator for use when required. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, too, like sliding drawers that can help you to organize the place of your items. french door refrigerator freezer comes with a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate container for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. You can manage the temperature, lighting, and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and control it, especially when you're not at home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily enhance the overall performance of the refrigerator. The fridge took a bit longer to chill food and defrost it than some others we tested. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this refrigerator. They have handles that are sunken on the front that allow smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, however they're still difficult for taller people to steer closed without slamming them. It would have been better if they had a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal choice for those who want to combine the benefits of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is higher than average for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also a little less than the most expensive counter depth refrigerator that comes with an ice maker, which makes it a desirable option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for a French door refrigerator that won't cost you a fortune this Frigidaire is a good choice. It's a basic fridge that might not be as eye-catching like some of its competitors however it has enough features to make it a suitable option. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer which helps keep food items like veggies and meat fresher for longer. It also has a large ice maker as well as a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated above the two crisper bins, is a nice feature. This drawer lets you redirect a portion of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, meaning you can keep food items that require extra attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge but I've noticed that adjusting the general settings tends to have a better effect than specific ones.
During my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across different areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator did not differ significantly from 38 degrees. This is a great performance, but doesn't quite make it to the top of 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. french door fridge freezers can be linked with a smart thermostat in order to gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's exterior is constructed of grey-bodied stainless steel that has a "smudge-proof" finish. It does an excellent job of removing streaks and fingerprints 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 more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding the top products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.