French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of design and function. They come with stylish double doors that show a large fridge on top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their special features, like through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They considered the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that the GE Profile series is aimed at consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with these, from an inside-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a smart water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Given that this fridge costs an extra amount, I'd like to see better.
Aside from that blip the fridge is a great option. It comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it can hold a decent amount of frozen food as compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is the standard for a fridge with a French door at this price. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker in the left door, but it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make an individual storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice addition and the storage bins have the third shelf, which folds up beneath itself to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers are equipped with temperature controls so that you can set them for Beverage, Meat, or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to shut and open however I found the textured plastic coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator has all the features you would expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi as well as app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also offers many options for customization. It will also send you notifications when the door is unlocked and when the freezer or fridge needs to be defrosted, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It would be nice it GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill which is a feature that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to select the amount of cups they wish to pour out. The fridge displays a countdown timer to show you how much water is left however it's not as helpful 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 in 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 keeps vegetables and fruits fresher longer, and two compressors to ensure maximum preservation of food. The ice maker we tested was one of the most efficient and produces an ice pyramid with only a little water. This fridge is ideal for a small household or kitchenette that needs an attractive design and top of the best food preservation.
This fridge was rated the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained stable at just a few degrees Fahrenheit, and never moving by more than a fraction an inch. This is essential to avoiding freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady throughout the course of our testing.
french style fridge freezer 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 of connecting to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and control the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the price.
It is important to know the limitations of the fridge. It is possible to be creative with tall items because the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the trays in the fridge However, be sure to clean them regularly to prevent mold growth.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, be sure to read our review 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 a lot 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. The fridge has the standard French door design, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to make space for tall items. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker, making it easy to move the frozen ice as needed. The freezer also features innovative design features like sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It also has a large container for storing frozen food and a separate container for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a simple way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't enhance the performance of the fridge. This fridge took longer to defrost food and chill it than other models we tried. This is probably due to its larger capacity.
The doors are another problem with this refrigerator. They have sunken handles at the front, which allows shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, however they're difficult for taller people to pull shut without slamming them. It would have been more effective to have front-mounted handles.
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 well and has a nice layout. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which helps 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 and isn't expensive, this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a basic fridge which may not be as eye-catching as some of its competitors however, it does have enough features to make a suitable choice. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a large ice maker as well as a water dispenser.
Another great feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you divert some of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, meaning you can store foods that need 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 adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge, but I've noticed that adjusting the generic settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
During my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in various parts of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't stray much from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a great performance however it doesn't make it into the top ten 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 paired with a smart thermostat to obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It does a great job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared with 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 guide and test-product reviews. She has more than 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.