French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of form and function. They feature stylish double doors that reveal the large fridge on top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, like through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the best one. We looked at the storage capacity, layout, and energy efficiency among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like its name implies, GE’s Profile series is aimed at those who wish to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with features, from an in-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 costs a premium, I expect higher quality.
This refrigerator is a good choice, despite the blip. french door fridge freezers comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Furthermore, it holds a good amount of frozen food when as compared to similar models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on what you would expect from an French door fridge costing this much. It also has a decent sized ice maker packed into the left door, but it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for an individual storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is good-looking, too. Its LED lighting is a nice feature, and the in-door storage bins have an additional shelf that can fold down to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, which is available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and has numerous options for customization. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill it's an option in other GE refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to dispense simultaneously. It also has an indicator on the fridge display to display how much water have left, but it's not as effective 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 component in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer and two compressors to preserve food items. The ice maker is one of the most efficient we've ever tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice that is low in water consumption. This fridge is perfect for a single household or kitchenette that needs an attractive design and top of the best food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for various reasons. Its freezer temperatures held firm at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit and never moving by more than a fraction an inch. This is essential in preventing freezing burn. The fridge's refrigerator section also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady throughout the course of our tests.
Bosch is known for its top-quality appliances. It's therefore no surprise that the Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's Home Connect. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the cost.
While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment, it's important to know the limitations. It has a narrow shelf space, so you'll have to think creatively when storing tall objects. Also, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, be sure to 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 counter-depth refrigerator is a great option for those who need a lot of space in 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. Inside, the refrigerator has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins on each door, two rows of shelves that capture spills, and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side 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.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker making it easy to move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer has thoughtful design elements, for instance, sliding drawers that can help you to organize the place of your items. It comes with a large bin for storing frozen food, and a separate container for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. It lets you manage the refrigerator's temperature and lighting using your smartphone. It's a simple way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, particularly when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't improve the efficiency of the fridge. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator as compared to other fridges we tested. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. The sunken handles allow smaller people to open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a hard time closing them without slamming. It would have been more effective if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal option for those looking to combine the advantages of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with an efficient layout. Its capacity is superior to counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which helps make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door fridge that doesn't cost you a fortune and isn't expensive, this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a basic refrigerator that might not be as eye-catching as its rivals however it has enough features to make a suitable option. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer which helps 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 works fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located over the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer lets you divert part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, so you can put away food items that need extra attention. You can alter this feature using a slider that's located right outside of the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
In my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly constant across the different areas of the refrigerator. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge did not vary very far from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. That's a good performance, but it doesn't quite rank among the best 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 connect this fridge to an intelligent thermometer to get more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've seen.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides and review of test products. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with a focus on home goods and technology.