French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and functionality, French-door refrigerators have stylish double doors that open up to an enormous fridge on top and freezer drawer below. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the rest.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the right one. They looked at the storage capacity, layout, and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that the GE Profile series targets consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. This refrigerator has it all including 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. The refrigerator is expensive and I expected more.
Apart from that minor flaw, this fridge is a fantastic choice. It features a large freezer compartment that is not common for counter-depth French-door fridges. It also holds plenty of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on par for a French door refrigerator that costs this much. It has a decent-sized icemaker in the left door. However french door fridge freezer '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 GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice feature. The storage bins in the door include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers have temperature controls so you can set them for Beverage, Meat, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings to be a little hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the full suite of features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and offers many options for customizing. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice it GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill the option that is that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to set the amount of cups they wish to disperse. It also has an indicator on the display of the fridge to show how much water you have left, but it's not as helpful 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 part in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment to keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer, and two compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The Ice maker is among the top we've tested and produces pyramid-shaped Ice with low use of water. This refrigerator is a great option for households with a single member or kitchenettes looking for a sleek design and top of the line food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the top in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a fraction - this is essential to avoid the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature within a matter of hours, and maintained the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for top-of-the-line appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive and has great features and functionality at a fair price.
It is important to know the limitations of the fridge. You might need to be inventive with tall items since the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are also not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, you should also 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 refrigerator is a great option for those who require 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 at each door and two rows of spill-capture shelves and a set 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 deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice features of this refrigerator is that the Ice maker is located in the freezer, which makes it easy to move the ice to the refrigerator to use as needed. The freezer also features clever design features, such as sliding drawers that allow you to organize your items. It also has a large container for storing frozen food and a separate one for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting, and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a simple method to monitor your fridge and manage it, particularly when you're away from 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 the other fridges we tried. This is probably due to its larger capacity.
The other issue we have with the doors of this refrigerator. The handles that are sunken let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a hard time closing them without slamming them. It would have been more effective to have front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent choice for those who want to combine the benefits of a fridge with a French door with an efficient layout. It has a capacity that is superior to counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also less expensive than the most expensive counter depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which makes it a great option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't break the bank this Frigidaire is a great choice. It has a simple design that's not as striking visually like some of the competitors however it comes with enough features to make it a good pick. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge ice maker as well as a water dispenser.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you divert some of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, so you can keep food items that need extra attention. You can adjust the feature using a slider that's located right outside of 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 be more effective 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 didn't vary significantly from 38 degrees. This is a great 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. This fridge can be paired with a smart thermostat in order to obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey body that has a "smudge-proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've seen.
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 digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to customers. She focuses on home goods and technology.