French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on the top and a freezer drawer below. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the crowd.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the right one. They weighed storage capacity and layout, energy efficiency, and other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that GE’s Profile series is targeted at people who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchens. This refrigerator has it all from a Keurig K cup coffee maker inside the door, to a clever dispenser of water. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Given that this fridge costs an extra amount, I'd like to see better.
Apart from that minor flaw the fridge is a fantastic choice. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds a lot of frozen food items compared to other models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is the standard for a fridge with a French door at this price. It also has a decent sized ice maker packed into the left-hand door, although it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to create custom storage setup for the items you need to store. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is stylish, too. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the inside storage bins have an additional shelf that folds up beneath itself to allow you to store tall items. The drawers come with temperature controls so you can set them for Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close however I found the plastic's textured coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes all the features you would expect from a refrigerator in this price range. It has Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and lets you manage your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also offers a lot of customization options. It will also send you notifications when the door is left unlocked as well as when the freezer or fridge requires defrosting, and when the filter requires a change.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill, an option available in a few other GE refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to pour out at once. The fridge displays a countdown timer to reveal how much water is left however it's not as useful as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a stunning piece of equipment. It's designed to look like it's a seamless part of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher longer and has dual compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and makes an ice pyramid with only a little water. This fridge is the perfect option for a single family or kitchenettes looking for a built-in look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators Test for various reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0°F and never changed by more than a fraction, this is crucial to prevent freezing burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also performed well. It reached the temperature it was set within an hour and remained at that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for high-end appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter-depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi network and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app allows you to monitor and control your refrigerator remotely on your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is a bit expensive, but it offers great features and capabilities for the cost.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of the fridge. It has a small shelf space, so you may have to think creatively when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are also not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the trays from the fridge However, be sure to clean them frequently to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, make sure to also review our opinions on 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 a lot of space in an extremely compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge has an ordinary French door layout, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded to provide more space for tall items. There's also a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also comes with thoughtful design features, such as sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting, and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, especially when not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat but it doesn't improve the efficiency of the fridge. This fridge took longer to chill food and defrost it than some others we test. french style fridge freezer Frydge could be due to its bigger capacity.
Another issue with this refrigerator is its doors. The sunken handles allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a difficult time closing them without slamming them. It would have been better if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to blend the look and feel of a French-door refrigerator with an efficient design. Its capacity is above average for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also less expensive than the top counter depth refrigerator with an ice maker, making it an attractive choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a great choice if you want a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It's a simple fridge that may not be as appealing as its rivals however it has enough features to make it a an excellent option. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer that helps keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large water dispenser, as well as an excellent Ice machine that is fast.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you use some of your fridge's cooling power into the area so it can be used to store food items that require special attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also set the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've noticed that the generic settings work better than the specific ones.
During my tests, the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly constant across the different areas of the refrigerator. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary significantly from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. This is a good performance, but it isn't quite at the top of our rankings.
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 pair this fridge with a smart thermometer for more precise readings of your fridge's internal temperature.
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 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 over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is adamant about finding the most effective products and recommending them to customers. She focuses on home goods and technology.