French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with functionality, French-door refrigerators have elegant double doors that open to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the rest.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, an interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They considered storage capacity as well as layout, energy efficiency, and other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like its name implies, the GE Profile series is aimed at those who wish 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. The refrigerator is expensive, so I expected better.
Apart from that minor flaw, this fridge is a great choice. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it can hold a decent amount of frozen food when in comparison to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on the same as an French door fridge that costs this much. It also has a decent-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, but it's not the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to make the perfect storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is attractive, too. The LED lighting adds an appealing feature. The bins for storage inside have a third shelf which 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 however I found the textured plastic coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the 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, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and it has a ton of customization options. It also alerts you when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS included Precise fill, an option available in a few 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 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 it's a seamless part of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment to keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer and has dual compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The Ice maker is among the most efficient we've ever tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice with a low use of water. This fridge is perfect for a single household or kitchenette that needs an attractive design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, never fluctuating more than a fraction of a degree--this is key to avoiding freezing burn. The refrigerator section of the fridge also performed well. It reached the initial temperature within an hour and remained at the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is a household name for its top-quality appliances. Therefore, it's no surprise that Bosch counter depth refrigerator is one of them. Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app allows you to control and monitor the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, but offers great features and capabilities at a fair price.
It's important to understand the limitations of the fridge. You might need to be creative with tall items because the fridge has a limited shelf space. Additionally the shelves aren't completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, be sure to read our review of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S counter-depth fridge is a great option for those who need a lot of space in an extremely 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 door bins 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. There's also a full-width drawer to store food items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the best things about this refrigerator is that the ice maker is in the freezer, which makes it easy to transfer ice into the fridge for use when needed. The freezer also features innovative design features like sliding drawers that help you sort your things. It has a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a good way to monitor and manage your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily enhance the efficiency of the fridge. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill foods in this fridge than some of the others we test. This is probably due to its bigger capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this refrigerator. They have sunken handles on the front that allow smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to guide shut without slamming them. french door fridge freezer would have been much better to have front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those looking to blend the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. It has a capacity that is above average for counter-depth models and also cools evenly. It's also less expensive than the top counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which helps make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door fridge that doesn't cost a fortune this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a basic refrigerator that might not be as attractive as some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make it a suitable choice. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher for longer. french style fridge freezer has a large water dispenser and a decent Ice machine that is fast.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you divert a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, meaning you can put away food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature by using an adjustable slider that is located just on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends have a better effect than specific ones.
In my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the top, bottom and middle of the refrigerator didn't vary much from 38 degrees. This is a great 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. 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 gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
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 over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with particular focus on home items and technology.