French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer elegant double doors that open to an enormous fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their unique features, such as door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, an interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. We looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As the name suggests, GE's Profile series is geared towards the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technology in their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with these, from an inside-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a clever water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Since this refrigerator costs more, I'd expect higher quality.
This fridge is a great choice, despite the blip. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a fair amount of frozen food when as compared to similar models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is roughly on par for an French door fridge that costs this much. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, though it's not the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a a custom storage solution.
french door fridge freezers is good-looking, too. The LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins come with a third shelf that folds up beneath itself so that you can store tall items. The drawers come with temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their plastic textured coatings to be a bit rough on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your fridge from anywhere in world, and has a ton of customization options. It also alerts you when a door is left open, when your fridge or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill, an option available in other GE refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to disperse simultaneously. It does have a countdown on the fridge's display to display 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 striking piece. It's designed to appear like a seamless piece of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also boasts a veggie compartment that helps keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer, and two compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The Ice maker is among the top we've tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice with a low use of water. This refrigerator is ideal for a single family or a kitchenette that wants a built-in appearance and top-of-the line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for various reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never fluctuated by more than a fraction, this is crucial to avoid the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also performed well. It reached the temperature it was set within a matter of hours, and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch is a household name known for its high-end appliances. It's therefore no surprise that Bosch's counter depth fridge Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. The app allows you to control and monitor your refrigerator remotely on your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is pricey, but offers great features and capabilities at a fair price.
While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. 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 damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they must be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you are considering this refrigerator, you should also look over our review of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is an excellent 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. The fridge features the standard French door layout, with two rows of shelves that can be used to capture spills and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded in order to create more space for tall items. There's also a full-width drawer to store deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice things about this refrigerator is that the ice maker is inside the freezer, making it easy to transfer ice into the fridge for use when required. The freezer also has innovative design features like sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It also comes with a large bin that holds plenty of frozen food items and a separate ice storage bin.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you manage the refrigerator's temperature and lighting from your smartphone. It's a good way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially if you're away from home.
Although 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 could be due to its greater capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. They have sunken handles at the front, which allows smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to steer shut without slamming them. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a French-door fridge's aesthetics with an efficient layout. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also a bit less than the best counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which helps make it a popular choice.
french door fridge and freezerIf you're looking for a French door fridge that doesn't break the bank this Frigidaire is a good choice. It has a simple design that isn't as striking visually like some of the competitors, but it has enough features to make it a solid pick. Its most important feature, the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food items such as vegetables and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a large water and ice maker dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located above the two crisper bins, is a nice feature. This drawer lets you use the majority of the refrigerator's cooling power to the area so it can be used to store food items that require extra attention. You can alter the feature using a slider that's located right outside of the drawer. It is also possible to use this to set a general cooling setting for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the generic settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator's temperatures were fairly constant across the different areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the top, bottom and middle of the refrigerator did not differ much from 38 degrees. This is a pretty good performance however it doesn't make it into the top ten 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 from grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've seen.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as product reviews for test products. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing including retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with a particular focus on home items and technology.