French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with functionality, French-door refrigerators have stylish double doors that open up to an enormous fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, including through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on picking the right one. They weighed the capacity of storage and layout and energy efficiency as well as other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series targets consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with features, 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. Since this refrigerator costs a premium, I expect higher quality.
Aside from that blip the fridge is a great option. It features a large freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French door fridges. It also holds plenty of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is standard for a French-door fridge at this price. It also has a decent sized ice maker that is tucked away in the left-hand door, although it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for a custom storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is attractive, too. The LED lighting adds a nice touch. The storage bins in the door include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers come with temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, however I found their plastic textured coatings a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app, which is available for iOS and Android devices, lets you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and has numerous options for customization. It also sends you notifications when the door is unlocked and when the freezer or fridge needs to be defrosted, and when the filter has to be changed.
It is nice if GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill, an option available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allows users to select the number of cups they would like to pour out. It does have a countdown feature on the fridge's display to show how much water you have remaining, but that's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look as a seamless element of your kitchen Bosch's French-door refrigerator looks seamless and is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and two compressors for the best preservation of food. The ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient, and it produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This fridge is perfect for a small household or a kitchenette with an elegant design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained stable at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, never moving more than a fraction one degree. This is crucial to avoiding freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, reaching the desired initial set temperature within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady over the course of our tests.
Bosch is known for its high-end appliances and appliances, so it's not a 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. The app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is pricey however, it offers excellent features and functionality at a reasonable cost.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of the fridge. It has a small space for shelves, so you'll require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. Also, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the refrigerator trays, but be sure to keep them clean to avoid mold growth.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, be sure to also read our reviews of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator as well as the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is a top counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage into 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 refrigerator has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins at each door as well as two rows of spill-capture shelves and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded to provide more space for taller items. There's also a full-width storage drawer for products from the deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the ice when needed. Frydge has thoughtful design elements, too, like sliding drawers that help better organize the position of items. It also has a large container to store frozen food items, and a separate one for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It allows you to control the temperature of your fridge as well as lighting via your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and control it, particularly when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't enhance the performance of the fridge. In fact, it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator than some of the others we tried. This is likely due to the larger capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. They have handles that are sunken at the front, which allows shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, however they're difficult for taller people to pull closed without slamming the doors. It would have been better if they had a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to blend the look 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 bit cheaper than the top counter depth refrigerator that comes with an ice maker, which makes it a great option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option for those looking for a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It's a simple fridge that might not be as eye-catching as some of its competitors however it has enough features to make it a suitable option. Its most important feature is the temperature adjustable drawer that helps keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large water and ice maker dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located over the two crisper bins, is a excellent feature. The drawer lets you direct some of the fridge's cooling power to this area so that you can keep food items that require extra attention. You can alter the feature using a slider that's located right in the middle of the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
In my tests, the temperatures of the refrigerator stayed fairly consistent across different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the fridge didn't differ much from 38 degrees. This is a good 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 combine this fridge with an intelligent thermometer to get more precise measurements of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of grey-bodied stainless steel which 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 tested.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site's buyer's guides and product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing including retail and digital. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the top products for consumers, with a focus on home goods and technology.