French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators offer stylish double doors that open to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, such as door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the right home. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As its name suggests, the GE Profile series is targeted at people who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with them all including a Keurig K cup coffee maker in 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. integrated french style fridge freezer Frydge is expensive, so I expected better.
Other than that the fridge is a fantastic choice. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it can hold a decent amount of frozen food compared to similar models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment has 18.5 cubic feet, which is typical for a French-door refrigerator 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 adjust the shelves in both compartments to create custom storage setup for whatever you have to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting adds an attractive accent. The in-door storage bins come with a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers have temperature controls, so you can set them to Beverage, Meat or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their plastic textured coatings to be a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the all the features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and lets you manage your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also has many options for customization. It will also send notifications when the door is unlocked, when the fridge or freezer requires defrosting, and when the filter requires a change.
It would be nice if GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill the option that is found in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to set the amount of cups they wish to disperse. It does have a countdown on the fridge's display to show 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 look like it's a seamless part in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer periods, and two compressors to preserve food items. The ice maker is one of the most efficient we've ever tested and produces pyramid-shaped Ice with low water consumption. This refrigerator is ideal for a single household or a kitchenette that wants a built-in appearance and top-of-the best food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures held firm at just a few degrees Fahrenheit, never fluctuating more than a fraction one degree. This is crucial in preventing freezer burn. The refrigerator section of the refrigerator also did well. It reached the initial temperature within an hour and remained at that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for top-of-the-line appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app lets you monitor and control your fridge remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, but it comes with top-quality features and functions for the cost.
It is important to know the limitations of your fridge. It has a limited shelf space, which means you may need to be creative when storing tall objects. The shelves are not spillproof and can easily be damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, be sure to read 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 option for those who require lots of space within 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 fridge has an ordinary French-door design with gallon-sized bins for the doors on each door, two rows of shelves that capture spills, and a set of more spacious drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give taller items more headroom. 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 move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer has thoughtful design elements, for instance, sliding drawers to help you to organize the place of your items. It has a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate container for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is a cool feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It's a simple way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, particularly 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. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator as compared to other fridges we tried. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this refrigerator. The handles that are sunken allow smaller people to open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a difficult time closing them without slamming them. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a fridge with a French door with an efficient layout. Its capacity is above average for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also a bit cheaper than the best counter depth refrigerator that comes with an ice maker, making it an attractive choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option for those looking for a French-door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It's a minimalist design that isn't as visually striking as other models but it does have enough features to make it a good pick. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent ice machine that works fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated over the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer allows you to direct the majority of the fridge's cooling power into this area so that you can keep food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature using an adjustable slider that is located just in the middle of the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings work better than the specific ones.
During my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across different parts of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator didn't vary significantly from 38 degrees. This is a pretty good performance, but it doesn't quite be among the top 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. The fridge can be linked with a smart thermostat in order to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's exterior is made of stainless steel with a grey body with a "smudge-proof" finish. It does a great job of repelling fingerprints and streaks, even compared to glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides and product reviews for test products. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to consumers. She focuses on home goods and technology.