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 the top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their special features, such as through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the best one. They weighed the capacity of storage as well as layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series targets the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technology in their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with them all including the Keurig K cup coffee maker in the door, to a clever 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 more, I'd expect better.
Other than that, this fridge is a great choice. It features a large freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French door fridges. It also has a large capacity for frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on the same as a French door fridge that costs this much. It comes with a decent size refrigerator with an ice maker in the left door. However it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in each compartment to create a customized storage arrangement for what you want to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting adds a nice accent. The bins for storage inside have a third shelf which can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers come with temperature controls so you can set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to open and close however I found the plastic's textured coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge 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 fridge from anywhere in the world, and it has a ton of customization options. It will also send you notifications when the door is left unlocked as well as when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It would be nice to have GE PYE22PYNFS offered Precise fill which is a feature that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to set the amount of cups they wish to disperse. It does offer a countdown feature on the display of the fridge to display how much water have remaining, but that's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look like a seamless part of your kitchen Bosch's French-door refrigerator looks seamless and is a standout. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment which keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer and two compressors for preserving food. The Ice maker is among the top we've tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice that is low in water usage. This fridge is ideal for a single family or a kitchenette with an attractive design and top of the best food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a fraction - this is crucial to prevent freezing burn. The refrigerator section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature set within an hour, and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch has a reputation for top-of-the-line appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance, with the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and Bosch's Home Connect platform. best french style fridge freezer lets you monitor and control your fridge from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, but it comes with excellent features and functionality for the cost.
While the fridge is a fantastic piece of equipment however, it is important to understand the limitations. You might need to be creative with tall items because the fridge is limited in shelf space. Also, the shelves are not completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are considering this refrigerator, you should also check out 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 refrigerator is a great choice for those who need plenty 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. The fridge features a standard French door design, and two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give tall items more space. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
One of the nice aspects of this refrigerator is that the ice maker is in the freezer, making it easy to move frozen ice to the fridge for use when required. The freezer also features clever design features, such as sliding drawers that can help you organize your belongings. It comes with a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate container for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you manage the refrigerator's temperature as well as lighting via your smartphone. It's a nice way to control and monitor your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the performance of the fridge. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill food in this fridge as compared to other fridges we tried. This could be due to its bigger capacity.
The other issue we have with the door of this refrigerator. The handles with a sunken design let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people have a difficult time closing them without slamming. It would have been more effective if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those looking to blend the look of a French door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is higher than average for counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It's also less expensive than the top counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which can make it an attractive option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option when you're looking for a French door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a simple fridge that may not be as attractive like some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make it a good option. Its most important feature is the adjustable temperature drawer, which helps keep foods such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser, as well as an excellent ice machine that works fast.
Another great feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you use the majority of the refrigerator's cooling power to this area, so that you can store foods that require extra attention. This feature can be adjusted using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also set the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator's temperatures were fairly constant across the different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and 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 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. This fridge can be connected with a smart thermostat in order to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge proof" finish. It is capable of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing, even compared to glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as test-product reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, with a focus on retail and digital. Stephanie is adamant about finding the most effective products and recommending them to consumers. She is particularly interested in home goods and technology.