French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of design and function. They come with stylish double doors that show an enormous fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out because of their special features, such as door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We consulted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the best one. They evaluated the capacity of storage and layout, energy efficiency, and 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 technologies in their kitchen. This fridge has them all including the Keurig K cup coffee maker in 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 was expecting better.
Aside from that blip the fridge is a great choice. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a good amount of frozen foods compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about par for the size of a French door refrigerator that costs this much. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker in the left door, though it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for an individual storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. The LED lighting is a nice touch and the inside storage bins have the third shelf, which can fold down to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers have 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 to be a little hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and it has numerous options for customization. It also gives you notifications when doors are left open, when the refrigerator or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill, an option that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to choose the number of cups they would like to disperse. It also has a countdown on the fridge's display to display how much water you have remaining, but that's not as useful as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look like a seamless piece of your kitchen Bosch's French door refrigerator is a standout. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also features 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 best we've ever tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice with a low water consumption. This refrigerator is a great option for households with a single member or kitchenettes who want a sleek design and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for a few reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a tiny fraction - this is crucial to avoid the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also performed well. It reached the initial temperature within a matter of hours, and remained at that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is a household name for its high-end appliances. Therefore, it's no surprise that the Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's Home Connect. The app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is costly and has great features and capabilities at a fair price.
It is important to know the limitations of your fridge. You might need to be creative with tall items because the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are also not spillproof and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp items. It's simple to remove the trays from the fridge, but be sure to clean them regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're considering this refrigerator, be sure to also review our opinions on 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 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. Inside, the fridge has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins at each door and two rows of spill-capture shelves, and a set of sleeker drawers. The top right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more room. You'll also find a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker making it simple to transfer frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, too, like sliding drawers that can help you to organize the place of your items. It also has a huge bin that can accommodate plenty of frozen food and a separate container for storing ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. It allows you to control the fridge's temperature as well as lighting using your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and control it, especially when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the performance of the fridge. This fridge took longer to defrost food and chill it than some others we tested. This is probably due to its bigger capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this refrigerator. They have sunken handles at the front, which allows smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming them. It would have been much better if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is above average for counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It's also a bit less than the top counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which can make it a desirable choice.
french door fridge and freezer
If you're looking for an French door fridge that doesn't cost you a fortune this Frigidaire is a good choice. It has a simple design that's not as visually striking like some of the competitors but it does have enough features that make it a great choice. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer, helps to keep food items such as vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also has a large water dispenser, as well as an excellent ice machine that works fast.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer allows you to divert some of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, so you can keep food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature by using the slider located on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this feature to set a general cooling level for the whole fridge, however, I've found that changing the generic settings tends to have a better effect than specific ones.
In my tests, I found that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary much from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. 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. This fridge can be connected with a smart thermostat in order to gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It wards off streaks and fingerprints 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 publishing and commerce experience, with a focus on retail and digital. Stephanie is adamant about finding the best products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.