French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door fridges combine form and function. They feature stylish double doors that reveal a large fridge on top and a freezer drawer below. Special features such as through-the-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the crowd.
We asked experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on picking the right one. They considered the storage capacity, layout, and energy efficiency among other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that the GE Profile series is targeted at consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchens. This fridge has them all including a Keurig K cup coffee maker in 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. Since this refrigerator is a premium, I expect higher quality.
Aside from that blip the fridge is a fantastic choice. It features a large freezer compartment that is not common for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also has a large capacity for frozen food items compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, there are 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment has 18.5 cubic feet, which is standard for a fridge with a French door at this price. It has a decent sized icemaker in the left door. But it's not the biggest one I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to create customized storage layout for the items you need to keep. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. The LED lighting is an attractive accent. The storage bins in the door include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers are equipped with temperature controls so you can set them to Beverage, Meat, or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to open and close, but I found the textured plastic coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the all the features you'd expect from a fridge at this price that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to manage your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also offers many options for customization. It also sends you notifications when doors are 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 had Precise Fill which is an option that is available in other GE fridges that allow you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to dispense at once. It does offer a countdown feature on the fridge's display to show how much water you have left, but it's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a stunning piece of equipment. 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 boasts a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher longer, and two compressors to ensure the best preservation of food. french door refrigerator freezer tested is one of the most efficient and produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This fridge is perfect for a single household or kitchenette that needs an elegant design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for several reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a fraction - this is essential to avoid freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, reaching the desired temperature for initial set within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady throughout the course of our testing.
Bosch is a household name known for its high-end appliances. Therefore, it's no surprise that the Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's Home Connect. This app allows you to monitor and control your refrigerator remotely on your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is pricey and has great features and functionality at a reasonable price.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of your fridge. It is possible to be inventive with tall items since the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are not impervious to spills and could easily be damaged or stained by sharp items. It is easy to take out the trays from the fridge, but be sure to keep them clean to avoid mold growth.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, be sure to read our reviews of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator as well as the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S counter-depth refrigerator is a great option for those who need plenty of space in the space of 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 has a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized bins for the doors on each door and two rows of spill-capture shelves and a set of sleeker drawers. The top shelf to the right can be folded to provide more space for tall items. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice features of this refrigerator is that its ice maker is in the freezer, which makes it easy to transfer ice into the fridge for use when needed. The freezer features thoughtful design elements, as well, such as sliding drawers to help you better organize the placement of items. It also has a large bin that can hold plenty of frozen food and an additional container for storing ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It's a good way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially when you're away from home.
But while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily enhance the overall performance of the refrigerator. The fridge took a bit longer to chill food and defrost it than the other fridges we test. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The other issue we have with this refrigerator is its doors. They have handles that are sunken at the front, which allows smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're still difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming the doors. It would have been much better if they came with a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those looking to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with more efficient design. It has a capacity that is higher than average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. 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 great choice when you're looking for a French door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a simple fridge that might not be as eye-catching like some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make a good choice. Its main feature is the temperature adjustable drawer which helps keep food items like veggies and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent ice machine that works fast.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. The drawer allows you to divert some of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, so you can put away food items that require extra attention. This feature can be adjusted using a slider located outside the drawer. It is also possible to use this to set a general cooling setting for the whole fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, I discovered that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't stray much from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. That's a good performance, but it doesn't quite rank among the best 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. You can also pair this fridge with an intelligent thermometer to get more precise measurements of your fridge's temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It blocks streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've seen.
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 publishing and commerce experience, mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with a focus on home goods and technology.