French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of design and function. They have stylish double doors that reveal a large fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out due to their unique features, like door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They evaluated storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series is geared towards the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge features into their kitchen. This refrigerator has it all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker inside the door to a sophisticated 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 higher quality.
This fridge is a good option, despite the slight blip. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it holds a fair amount of frozen food when as compared to similar models.
The fridge is equipped 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 an adequate-sized icemaker packed into the left door, but it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for the perfect storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is good-looking, too. The LED lighting adds a nice touch. The bins for storage inside come with a third shelf that can be folded down to store large items. The drawers come with temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close, but I found the plastic's textured coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and lets you control your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also comes with numerous options for customizing. It will also send notifications when the door is unlocked, when the freezer or fridge needs to be defrosted, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It would be great if GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill the option that is that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to set how many cups they want to pour out. It does have a countdown on the fridge display to display how much water you have left, but it's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a striking piece. It's designed to look like it's a seamless component in 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 vegetables and fruits fresher for longer and has dual compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and makes pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This refrigerator is ideal for a single household or a kitchenette with a built-in appearance 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 held firm at a level that was just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit and never changing more than a fraction of an inch. This is essential to preventing freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature set within a matter of hours, and remained at that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is a household name 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. This app lets you monitor and control your fridge remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, but it offers great features and capabilities for the price.
While the fridge is an amazing piece of equipment however, it is important to understand the limitations. It is possible to be creative with tall items because the fridge has a small shelf space. Additionally the shelves aren't impervious to sprills and could be stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the refrigerator trays, but be sure to clean them regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If french door fridge freezers are considering this refrigerator, you should also read our review of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is a great counter-depth refrigerator that packs plenty of storage space 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 an ordinary French door design, and two rows of shelves that can be used to capture spills and a set crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more space. There's also a full-width drawer to store products from the deli and an inside water dispenser.
One of the great features of this refrigerator is that the ice maker is inside the freezer, which makes it easy to transfer frozen ice to the fridge for use when needed. The freezer features thoughtful design elements, for instance, sliding drawers that help to organize the place of items. It also has a large container for storing frozen food and a separate one for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It allows you to control the fridge's temperature and lighting via your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, particularly when you're not at home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill food in this fridge than other refrigerators we test. This could be due to the larger capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this refrigerator. The sunken handles allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However taller people have a difficult time closing them without slamming them. It would have been more effective if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model, and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also less expensive than the best counter depth refrigerator that comes with an ice maker, making it an attractive choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a great choice for those looking for a French-door fridge that won't break the budget. It has a simple design that's not as visually striking as other models, but it has enough features to make it a good pick. Its main feature is the adjustable temperature drawer that helps keep food items like veggies and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser as well as a good ice maker that operates quickly.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer allows you to use a portion of your fridge's cooling power into the area so it can be used to store food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature using the slider located on the outside of the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
During my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the fridge. The temperatures in the top, bottom and middle of the refrigerator did not differ significantly from 38 degrees. That's a good performance however it doesn't make it into the top ten in 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 measurements of your fridge's temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It blocks 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 guide and test-product reviews. She has more than 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a an emphasis on home products and technology.