French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators blend functionality and form. They have stylish double doors that show an enormous fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. Special features such as through-the-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the crowd.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the best one. They considered the capacity of storage, layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, GE's Profile series is geared towards the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with them all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker in the door to a smart dispenser of water. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. This fridge is expensive, so I expected better.
This fridge is a great choice, despite the small blip. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it holds a good amount of frozen food when in comparison to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is standard for a fridge with a French door at this price. It has a decent-sized freezer in the left side. However it's not the biggest one I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for an individual storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. The LED lighting adds a nice feature. The in-door storage bins have a third shelf which can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers come with temperature controls that allow you to set them to 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 has 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, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and it has numerous options for customization. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill it's an option in a handful of other GE fridges that allow you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to dispense at a time. The fridge displays a countdown to show you how much water remains, but it's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Created to appear as a seamless element of your kitchen Bosch's French door refrigerator is one of a kind. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and dual compressors to preserve food. The Ice maker is among the most efficient we've ever tested and produces pyramid-shaped Ice with low water consumption. This refrigerator is a great choice for single household or kitchenettes looking for an integrated look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for several reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never changed more than a fraction - this is crucial to avoid freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the desired initial set temperature within an hour and keeping the temperature constant over the course of our tests.
Bosch is a household name for its high-end appliances. Therefore, it's not a surprise that Bosch counter depth refrigerator is one of them. Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is pricey, but offers great features and functions at a reasonable price.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of the fridge. You may need to get creative with tall objects because the fridge has a limited shelf space. Also, the shelves are not completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are considering this refrigerator, you should also look over 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 fridge is a great option for those who need a lot of space in a small frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. Inside, the fridge has an ordinary French-door design with gallon-sized bins for the doors on each door as well as two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set more spacious drawers. The top right shelf can be folded down to give tall items more space. You'll also find a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the best things about this refrigerator is that its Ice maker is located in the freezer, making it easy to move frozen ice to the fridge for use when required. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, too, like sliding drawers to help you better organize the placement of items. It comes with a large bin for storing frozen food, and a separate container for ice.
french style fridge freezer of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. You can manage the temperature, lighting, and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your refrigerator and control it, particularly when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the performance of the fridge. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator than some of the others we tested. This could be due to the bigger capacity.
Another issue with the door of this refrigerator. The handles with a sunken design allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However taller people have a difficult time closing them without slamming. It would have been much better if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal option for those looking to combine the benefits of a French-door fridge's aesthetics with an efficient layout. Its capacity is higher than average for a counter-depth model, and it cools evenly and has a great layout. It's also a little less than the best counter depth refrigerator with an icemaker, which makes it a great option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good choice when you're looking for a French door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It's a basic refrigerator that may not be as eye-catching as its rivals however, it does have enough features to make it a suitable choice. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food items such as vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also has a large water dispenser and a decent ice machine that works fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located over the two crisper bins, is a excellent feature. The drawer lets you use a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power to this area, so that you can store foods that require extra attention. You can adjust the feature using the slider located on the on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
In my tests, the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly constant across the different areas of the fridge. Temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't stray very far from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a great performance however it doesn't 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 obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge resistant" finish. It does an excellent job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared to the shiny stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tested.
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 digital and retail. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a particular focus on home items and technology.