French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of design and function. They have stylish double doors that show a large fridge on 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 crowd.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the right home. We looked at the storage capacity, layout, and energy efficiency among other factors.
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 incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchens. This fridge has them all from a Keurig K cup coffee maker inside 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. Given that this fridge costs more, I'd expect better.
This fridge is a good option, despite the slight blip. It comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a fair amount of frozen food when compared to similar models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is typical for a French-door refrigerator at this price. It has a decent-sized refrigerator with an ice maker in the left door. However it's not the biggest one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for whatever you have to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice addition, and the in-door storage bins feature the third shelf, which folds down to make it possible to store tall items. The drawers come with temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, although I found their textured plastic coatings to be a bit hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere around the world. It also has a lot of customization options. It will also send you notifications when the door is left unlocked, when the freezer or fridge requires defrosting, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill it's an option in other GE fridges that allow you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to pour out at once. It does have an indicator on the fridge display to show how much water you have remaining, but that's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a stunning piece of equipment. It's designed to appear like it's a seamless component 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 to keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer and dual compressors to ensure the best preservation of food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient, and it produces the shape of a pyramid using only 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 temperatures remained steady at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, never fluctuating more than a fraction an inch. This is essential to avoiding freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the temperature it was set within an hour, and maintained the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for premium appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter-depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your fridge from your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is pricey and has great features and functions at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a limited space for shelves, so you'll have to think creatively when storing tall items. Also the shelves aren't sprillproof and can be easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. It is easy to take out the refrigerator trays however, you must clean them regularly 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 is a great counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage in 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 features the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized bins for the doors on each door as well as two rows of shelves for spill-capture, and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give taller items more room. You'll also find a full-width deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker, making it easy to move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also features thoughtful design features, like sliding drawers that allow you to sort your things. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. It lets you control the fridge's temperature and lighting from your smartphone. It's a great method of monitoring and managing your refrigerator, especially if you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't enhance the performance of the fridge. In fact, it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than some of the others we tried. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
The other issue we have with the door of this refrigerator. They have sunken handles on the front that allow shorter people to easily pull them open from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to guide closed without slamming the doors. It would have been better if they came with a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those who want to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with more efficient design. Its capacity is higher than average for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a great layout. It's also less expensive than the best counter-depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which can make it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for a French door fridge that doesn't break the bank, this Frigidaire is a solid option. It's a basic design that isn't as striking in appearance like some of the competitors but it does have enough features to make it a good option. Its most important characteristic is the adjustable temperature drawer which helps keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large ice maker as well as a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits over the two crisper bins, is a nice feature. This drawer lets you redirect part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, which means you can store foods that require extra attention. You can adjust this feature using an adjustable slider that is located just in the middle of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling setting for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
In my tests, I found that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator didn't vary significantly from 38 degrees. This is a great performance, but isn't quite at the top of our ratings.
french door fridge freezer 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 paired 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 of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It wards off streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site’s buyer’s guides and product test reviews. She has over 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with a a focus on home goods and tech.