French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators blend form and function. They come with elegant double doors that open to reveal an enormous fridge on top, and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, such as through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end ice makers.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They weighed storage capacity and layout, energy efficiency, and other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As the name suggests, GE's Profile series is targeted at those who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. This refrigerator has it all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker on 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 costs an extra amount, I'd like to see better.
Aside from that blip however, this refrigerator is a fantastic choice. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door fridges. It also holds plenty of frozen food items compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on par for the size of a French door fridge that costs this much. It also has a decent sized ice maker packed into the left door, though it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make the perfect storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is stylish, too. The LED lighting is an appealing feature. The storage bins in the door include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers have temperature controls so you can set them for Beverage, Meat, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings a bit rough on the fingers.
french style fridge freezers is equipped with a complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and lets you manage your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also comes with a lot of customization options. It also sends you notifications when the door is left unlocked and when the freezer or fridge must be defrosted and when the filter has to be changed.
It is nice it GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill which is a feature found in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to choose the number of cups they would like to dispense. It does offer an indicator on the display of the fridge to display how much water you have left, but it's not as effective as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a stunning piece of equipment. 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 comes with a veggie compartment that helps keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer and has dual compressors for the best preservation of food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and produces pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This fridge is the perfect option for a single family or kitchenettes that want a built-in look and top of the line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best 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's refrigerator section also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within an hour and keeping the temperature constant over the course of our tests.
Bosch has a reputation for premium appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter-depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your fridge remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is costly, but offers great features and functionality at a fair price.
While the fridge is an amazing appliance, it's important to know the limitations. It has a narrow space for shelves, so you'll require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. It is easy to take out the refrigerator trays, but be sure to keep them clean to avoid the growth of mold.
If you're considering this refrigerator, make sure to read our reviews of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator and 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 in 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 fridge features a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins at each door and two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set sleeker drawers. The top right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more space. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice things about this refrigerator is that its ice maker is in the freezer, making it simple to move frozen ice to the fridge to use as required. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, for instance, sliding drawers that can help you better organize the placement of your items. It also has a huge bin that can hold plenty of frozen food items as well as a separate ice storage bin.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's a great way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially when you're away from home.
But while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. The refrigerator took longer to defrost food and chill it than the other fridges we tested. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this refrigerator. The sunken handles let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people will struggle to close them without slamming them. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent option for those looking to combine the look and feel of a French-door refrigerator with an efficient design. It has a capacity that is superior to counter-depth models and also cools evenly. It's also a bit less than the top counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which can make it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for a French door refrigerator that won't cost a fortune, this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a basic refrigerator that may not be as attractive like some of its competitors however it has enough features to make a good choice. Its most important characteristic is the adjustable temperature drawer which helps keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent ice maker that operates quickly.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you redirect the majority of the refrigerator's cooling power into this area, so it can be used to store food items that require special attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've noticed that the general settings are more effective than the specific ones.
In 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 stray significantly from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. This is a great performance but doesn't quite make it to the top of 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 a smart thermometer to get more precise readings of your fridge's internal temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It is capable of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared with glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as review of test products. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the most effective products and recommending them to consumers. She concentrates on home and technology.