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 because of their distinctive features, like door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the best one. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series is geared towards those who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology in their kitchen. This fridge is loaded 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 a premium, I expect higher quality.
This fridge is a good choice, despite the small blip. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French door fridges. It also holds a lot of frozen food items compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, there are 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on par for an French door fridge that costs this much. It also has a decent-sized icemaker in the left door, though it's not the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make an individual storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting adds an attractive accent. The in-door storage bins have a third shelf which can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers come with temperature controls so that you can set them to Beverage, Meat or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to open and close, but I found the textured plastic coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge at this price that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also comes with a lot of customization options. french door fridge and freezer sends you notifications when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be great it GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill the option that is that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to choose the amount of cups they wish to dispense. The fridge displays a countdown to show you how much water is left however it's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Designed to look like a seamless part of your kitchen, Bosch's French-door refrigerator is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment to keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer, and two compressors for the best 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 a great choice for single household or kitchenettes that want a built-in look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never changed more than a tiny fraction - this is crucial to prevent freezer burn. The refrigerator section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature within an hour, and remained at that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is a household name for its high-end appliances. Therefore, it's not a surprise that the Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app lets you monitor and control your fridge remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive and has great features and capabilities at a reasonable cost.
It is important to know the limitations of the fridge. It has a limited shelf space, which means you'll need to be creative when storing tall objects. Also, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the refrigerator trays, but be sure to clean them frequently to prevent mold growth.
If you are considering this refrigerator, you should also look over our review of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator and 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 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 a standard French door design, with two rows of shelves that can be used to capture spills and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give tall items more space. You'll also find a full width deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker, making it easy to transfer the frozen ice as needed. The freezer also has clever design features, like sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It also has a large container to store frozen food items, and a separate container for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's a simple way to keep track of your refrigerator and control it, especially when you're not at home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. This fridge took longer to chill food and defrost it than other models we tried. This could be due to the greater capacity.
The doors are another problem with this refrigerator. They have sunken handles on the front, which allow smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're still difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming them. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent choice for those who want to combine the benefits of a French-door fridge's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a great layout. It's also a bit less than the best counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which can make it an attractive option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't cost a fortune this Frigidaire is a good choice. It's a basic fridge which may not be as eye-catching as its rivals however, it does have enough features to make it a good choice. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also has a large water dispenser as well as a good ice maker that operates quickly.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits over the two crisper bins, is another great feature. The drawer allows you to divert part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, meaning you can keep food items that need extra attention. You can adjust this feature by using a slider that's located right outside of the drawer. You can also set the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the general settings work better than the specific ones.
During my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different areas of the fridge. The 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 pretty good performance, but it doesn't quite make it into the top ten in 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 combine this fridge with a smart thermometer for more precise readings of your fridge's temperature.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of grey-bodied stainless steel with a "smudge-proof" finish. It blocks streaks and fingerprints 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 as well as product test reviews. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.