French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators come with stylish double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on the top and a 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 asked experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that GE’s Profile series is targeted at consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchens. This fridge is loaded with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a sophisticated 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 is more, I'd expect higher quality.
This fridge is a good choice, despite the blip. It comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a good amount of frozen food as compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about par for the size of a French door fridge costing this much. It comes with a decent size freezer in the left side. However, it's not the largest one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments for a custom storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. The LED lighting is a nice touch, and the in-door storage bins feature an additional shelf that folds up beneath itself so that you can store items that are tall. The drawers are equipped with temperature controls, so you can set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to shut and open, but I found the plastic's textured coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices, lets you control your fridge from anywhere in world, and has many options for customizing. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the fridge or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS included Precise fill which is an option that is available in other GE fridges that allows you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to dispense at a time. The fridge displays a countdown timer to show you how much water remains however it's not as useful as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a striking piece. It's designed to look like a seamless piece in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher longer and dual compressors to ensure the best preservation of food. The ice maker we tested was one of the most efficient and makes pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This refrigerator is the ideal choice for single household or kitchenettes who want a sleek design and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at a level that was just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit and never fluctuating more than a fraction a degree--this is key to avoiding freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within an hour and maintaining that temperature steady throughout the course of our tests.
Bosch is known for its top-quality 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. The app allows you to monitor and control your refrigerator remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, however it has top-quality features and functions for the price.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of the fridge. It has a small shelf space, so you'll have to think creatively when storing tall objects. Additionally the shelves aren't completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If french door fridge and freezer about buying this refrigerator, make sure to also check out our reviews of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator as well as the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is a great counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage into the frame's compact size. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge is built with a standard French door design, and two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded down to make space for taller items. There's also a full-width drawer for products from the deli and an inside water dispenser.
One of the best features of this refrigerator is that its ice maker is inside the freezer, which makes it simple to move the ice to the refrigerator to use as needed. The freezer also features innovative design features like sliding drawers that allow you to sort your things. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate container for ice.
french door refrigerator freezer is a cool feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It's a nice way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially when you're away from home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this fridge than other refrigerators we test. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this fridge. The handles with a sunken design let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people struggle to close them without slamming. 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 advantages of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model, and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which helps make it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option if you want a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It's a basic refrigerator which may not be as eye-catching like some of its competitors however it has enough features to make it a an excellent choice. Its most important feature, the adjustable temperature drawer, helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also comes with a large ice maker and a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated over the two crisper bins, is a excellent feature. This drawer lets you direct a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power into the area so that you can keep food items which need extra attention. french door fridge and freezer can be adjusted by using a slider on the outside of the drawer. It is also possible to use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge but I've noticed that adjusting the general settings tends have a better effect than specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator's temperatures were fairly consistent across all areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the fridge didn't differ significantly from 38 degrees. This is a solid performance, but does not quite make it to 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 get more accurate readings on 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 does a great job of repelling fingerprints and streaks even when compared with shiny stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides and product reviews for test products. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, with a focus on digital and retail. Stephanie is adamant about finding the top products and recommending them to consumers. She focuses on home goods and technology.