French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer elegant double doors that open to an enormous fridge on the top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their unique features, like through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the right one. They evaluated storage capacity and layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that GE’s Profile series is targeted at those who wish to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with them all including a Keurig K cup coffee maker inside the door to a sophisticated dispenser of water. But french door fridge and freezer 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 higher quality.
Apart from that minor flaw the fridge is a great choice. It has a large freezer compartment, which is unusual for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds plenty of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is roughly on the same as an French door fridge costing this much. It comes with a decent size freezer in the left side. However, it's not the largest one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a a custom storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. The LED lighting adds a nice accent. The bins for storage inside include a third shelf that can be folded down to store large items. The drawers include temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close however I found the plastic's textured coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a all the features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also has a lot of customization options. It also alerts you when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill, an option available in other GE fridges that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to disperse at once. The fridge shows a countdown to show you how much water remains but it's not as effective as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Designed to look like a seamless part of your kitchen, Bosch's French-door refrigerator is one of a kind. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and dual compressors to preserve food items. 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 the perfect option for a single family or kitchenettes looking for 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. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just a few degrees Fahrenheit and never changing more than a fraction of an inch. This is essential to avoiding freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within an hour and maintaining that temperature steady throughout the course of our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for premium appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance, with the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive and has great features and capabilities at a fair price.
While the fridge is an amazing piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. You might need to be inventive with tall items since the fridge is limited in shelf space. Also the shelves aren't completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you're considering this refrigerator, make sure to read our reviews 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 need plenty of space in the space of a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. Inside, the fridge features the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins at each door, two rows of shelves that capture spills, and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf to the right can be folded to provide more space for taller items. You'll also find a full-width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker, making it easy to transfer the ice when needed. The freezer also features clever design features, like sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It also has a large container for storing frozen food, 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 from your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your fridge and manage it, especially when not at home.
But while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily enhance the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact, it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than some of the others we tried. This is probably due to its bigger capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. They have handles that are sunken on the front that allow smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, but they're not easy for taller people to guide closed without slamming the doors. It would have been much better if they had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a good choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is higher than average for counter-depth models and also cools evenly. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which helps make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option if you want a French-door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a basic fridge which may not be as appealing as its rivals, but it still has enough features to make it a suitable choice. Its most important feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent Ice machine that is fast.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you direct a portion of the fridge's cooling power into this area so that you can keep food items which need extra attention. You can adjust this feature using the slider located on the on the outside of the drawer. You can also set the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings work better than the specific ones.
During my tests, I found that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different areas of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge did not vary very far from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. That's a good performance however it doesn't rank among the best 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 to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey-bodied body with a "smudge-proof" finish. It wards off streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've seen.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guide and product reviews for test products. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a particular focus on home items and technology.