French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with functionality, French-door refrigerators have stylish double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their special features, like through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the right one. They considered storage capacity, 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 consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with features, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a clever water dispenser. But french style fridge freezer don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. This fridge is expensive and I was expecting better.
Apart from that minor flaw, this fridge is a great option. It has a large freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it holds a fair amount of frozen foods 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 also has an adequate-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, but it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelving in each compartment to create a custom storage setup for whatever you have to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. The LED lighting is a nice addition, and the in-door storage bins come with a third shelf that folds down to make it possible to store large items. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to shut and open, but I found the plastic's textured coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range with Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices, lets you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and has numerous options for customization. It also gives you notifications when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs defrosting 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 other GE fridges that allow you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to pour out simultaneously. It does have an indicator on the fridge's display to display how much water have remaining, but that's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look 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 vegetable compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer, and two compressors for preserving food items. The ice maker is one of the best we've ever tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice with a low water consumption. This refrigerator is the ideal option for a single family or kitchenettes looking for a sleek design and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained constant at just above 0°F and never changed more than a tiny fraction - this is essential to avoid freezing burn. The refrigerator section of the refrigerator also did well. It reached the initial temperature within a matter of hours, and remained at the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is a household name known for its high-end appliances. It's therefore no 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 Home Connect. This app lets you monitor and control your fridge from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is a bit expensive, however it has excellent features and functionality 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 inventive with tall items since the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, make sure to read 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 plenty 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. Inside, the refrigerator has a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins on each door, two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set more spacious drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give tall items more space. There's also a full-width drawer to store deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice features of this refrigerator is that its ice maker is inside the freezer, which makes it easy to move the ice to the refrigerator to be used when it is required. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, too, like sliding drawers to help you to organize the place of your items. It also has a huge bin that can hold plenty of frozen food items and a separate container for storing ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. It allows you to manage the refrigerator's temperature, lighting, and more via your smartphone. It's a great method of monitoring and managing your refrigerator, especially if you're away from home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. This fridge took longer to chill food and defrost it than the other fridges we test. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. They have sunken handles on the front, which allow smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're still difficult for taller people to guide closed without slamming them. It would have been more effective if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent choice for those who want to combine the benefits of a French-door fridge'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 an attractive option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a great choice if you want a French-door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It's a basic fridge that might not be as attractive as its rivals however, it does have enough features to make a an excellent option. Its most important feature is the temperature adjustable drawer that helps keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge ice maker and a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits above the two crisper bins, is another nice feature. This drawer lets you direct the majority of the fridge's cooling power to this area so that you can store foods which need extra attention. You can adjust the feature using an adjustable slider that is located just on the outside of the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings work better than the specific ones.
During my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary much from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a great performance but doesn't quite make it to the top of 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. The fridge can be linked with a smart thermostat to gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of grey-bodied stainless steel that has a "smudge-proof" 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 as well as product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to customers. She focuses on home goods and technology.