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 such as through-the-door dispensers, high-end ice machines, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the rest.
We consulted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the best one. We looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As the name suggests, the GE Profile series is geared towards those who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a smart 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 an extra amount, I'd like to see higher quality.
This refrigerator is a good choice, despite the blip. It has a large freezer compartment, which is unusual for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds a lot of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment has 18.5 cubic feet, which is the standard for a French-door refrigerator at this price. It has a decent-sized freezer in the left side. But it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to create a an individual storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is attractive, too. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins have an additional shelf that can fold down to allow you to store tall items. The drawers come with temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings a bit rough on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range. It has Wi-Fi as well as app support, and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, which is 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 alerts you when a door is left open, when your fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be great to have GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill, an option found in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to choose how many cups they want to disperse. It does have a countdown feature on the fridge display to display how much water have left, but it's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Created to appear like a seamless part of your kitchen Bosch's French-door refrigerator looks seamless and is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment that helps keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer and has dual compressors for maximum food preservation. The ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and produces an ice pyramid with only a little water. This fridge is ideal for a single household or a kitchenette with an elegant design and top of the best food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a tiny fraction - this is essential to avoid the risk of a freezer burn. french door fridge freezers performed well, achieving the desired initial set temperature within an hour and keeping the temperature constant over the course of our testing.
Bosch is known for its top-of-the-line appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app allows you to control and monitor your refrigerator remotely on your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is expensive, however it has excellent features and functionality for the price.
It's important to understand the limitations of the fridge. It has a small space for shelves, so you'll have to think creatively when storing tall items. The shelves aren't spillproof and can easily be damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the refrigerator trays However, be sure to clean them regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, you should also read 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 require lots of space within a small frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features a standard French door design, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The top right shelf can be folded down to give tall items more headroom. There's also a full-width drawer for food items and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker making it easy to move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer features thoughtful design elements, too, like sliding drawers that help to organize the place of your items. It also comes with a large bin that can hold plenty of frozen food and an storage bin for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you control the fridge's temperature and lighting via your smartphone. french door fridge freezer 's a simple way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when away from home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. The refrigerator took longer to chill food and defrost it than other models we tried. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
The other issue we have with this refrigerator is its doors. They have sunken handles on the front, which allow smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, however they're difficult for taller people to guide closed without slamming the doors. It would have been much better if they had front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent option for those looking to combine the benefits of a fridge with a French door with a more efficient layout. It has a capacity that is superior to counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a bit less than the top counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which can make it a popular 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 basic fridge that might not be as attractive as some of its competitors however it has enough features to make it a suitable option. Its main characteristic is the adjustable temperature drawer which helps keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent ice machine that works fast.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you redirect some of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, which means you can store foods that need extra attention. This feature can be adjusted by using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this feature to set a general cooling setting for the entire fridge, but I've noticed that adjusting the generic settings tends to produce better results than specific ones.
In my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a good performance, but it isn't quite at the top of 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 gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey-bodied body which has a "smudge-proof" finish. It blocks streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guide and test-product reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing 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.