French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of form and function. They have stylish double doors that reveal a large fridge on top, and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out because of their unique features, such as through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They evaluated the capacity of storage, layout, energy efficiency, and other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As its name suggests, GE’s Profile series is targeted at people who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. This fridge has them all from a Keurig K cup coffee maker inside the door to a sophisticated dispenser of water. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Since this refrigerator is an extra amount, I'd like to see higher quality.
This fridge is a great choice, despite the blip. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French door fridges. It also has a large capacity for frozen food compared to other models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is typical for a French-door fridge at this price. It also has a decent sized ice maker that is tucked away in the left door, but it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create customized storage layout for whatever you have to store. The GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is stylish, too. Its LED lighting is a nice addition, and the in-door storage bins have a third shelf that folds up beneath itself to allow you to store items that are tall. The drawers have temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close however I found the textured plastic coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to manage your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also has a lot of customization options. It also sends you notifications when doors are left open, when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill it's an option in a handful of other GE refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to pour out simultaneously. The fridge displays a countdown to display how much water remains but it's not as effective as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a striking piece. It's designed to appear like it's a seamless component in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also boasts a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer and dual compressors to ensure maximum food preservation. The ice maker is one of the top we've tested and produces pyramid-shaped ice with a low water consumption. This fridge is ideal for a single household or a kitchenette with an elegant design and top of the line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for various reasons. french door refrigerator freezer remained steady at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never changed more than a tiny fraction - this is essential to avoid freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, reaching the desired initial set temperature within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady over the course of our tests.
Bosch has a reputation for high-end appliances, so 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. This app allows you to monitor and control your refrigerator remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is costly however, it offers excellent features and capabilities at a fair price.
It's important to understand the limitations of your fridge. It has a limited shelf space, which means you'll need to be creative when storing tall objects. The shelves are not impervious to spills and could easily be damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the trays from the fridge However, be sure to clean them regularly to prevent mold growth.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, be 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 counter-depth refrigerator is a great option for those who need 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 the standard French door design, with two rows of shelving with spill-capture and a set crisper drawers. The top right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more room. You'll also find a full-width deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice things about this refrigerator is that the Ice maker is located in the freezer, which makes it easy to transfer ice into the fridge to be used when it is required. The freezer also has innovative design features such as sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It has a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. It lets you control the temperature of your fridge as well as lighting using your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your refrigerator and control it, especially when not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat but it doesn't enhance the efficiency of the fridge. This fridge took longer to defrost food and chill it than some others we test. This could be due to the bigger capacity.
The other issue we have with the doors of this refrigerator. They have sunken handles on the front that allow shorter people to easily pull them open from the bottom, but they're still difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming the doors. It would have been better if they came with a front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal choice for those who want to combine the benefits of a fridge with a French door with an efficient layout. Its capacity is above average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a little less than the most expensive counter depth refrigerator with an icemaker, which makes it an attractive choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't cost you a fortune, this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a simple fridge which may not be as appealing as some of its competitors however it has enough features to make a good choice. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser, as well as an excellent Ice machine that is fast.
french door fridge and freezer that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you redirect a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power into this area so that you can store foods that require extra attention. You can alter the feature using a slider that's located right on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the whole fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
During my tests, I discovered that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the fridge didn't differ much from 38 degrees. That's a good performance, but it doesn't quite be among the top 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. The fridge can be linked with a smart thermostat in order to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It does a great job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing, even compared to shiny stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guide and product reviews for test products. She has more than 15 years of publishing and commerce experience, with a focus on retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a an emphasis on home products and technology.