French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open to a spacious fridge up the top and a freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their unique features, such as through-the-door dispensers and higher-end ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the best one. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series is targeted at consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology in their kitchen. This fridge has them all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker in the door to a smart 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.
Other than that, this fridge is a great choice. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is quite uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it holds a fair amount of frozen foods 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 typical for a fridge with a French door at this price. It also has a decent-sized icemaker packed into the left door, though it's not the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make a custom storage solution. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice feature and the inside storage bins have an additional shelf that folds down to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers have temperature controls so that you can set them for Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, however I found their textured plastic coatings to be a little difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range. This includes Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and lets you manage your refrigerator from anywhere around the world. It also offers many options for customization. It will also send you notifications when the door is unlocked, when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted, and when the filter has to be changed.
It is nice it GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill, an option available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allows users to select the amount of cups they wish to disperse. It also has an indicator on the fridge display to show how much water you have left, but it's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Created to appear as a seamless element of your kitchen Bosch's French door refrigerator is a standout. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a veggie compartment which keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and two compressors for preserving food. The ice maker is one of the top we've tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice with a low water usage. This refrigerator is the ideal option for a single family or kitchenettes that want a sleek design and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated by more than a fraction, this is crucial to avoid freezing burn. The fridge's fridge section also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady over the course of our testing.
Bosch is known for its high-end appliances, so it's no 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. This app lets you monitor and control the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is expensive, but it comes with excellent features and functionality for the price.
While the fridge is an incredible appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a small shelf space, so you'll need to be creative when it comes to storing large items. Additionally the shelves aren't impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays can be easily removed from the fridge. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, be sure to check out our review of the French Door GE Appliances 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 space into a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features an ordinary French door layout, with two rows of shelving with spill-capture and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to make space for taller items. There's also a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer ice when needed. The freezer also features thoughtful design features, such as sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate bin for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It allows you to manage the refrigerator's temperature as well as lighting using your smartphone. It's a simple way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, especially when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily enhance the performance of the fridge. The fridge took a bit longer to defrost food and chill it than the other fridges we test. This is likely due to its bigger capacity.
Another issue with the doors of this refrigerator. The sunken handles allow smaller people to open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a hard time closing them without slamming. It would have been more effective if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a good option for those looking to combine the benefits of a fridge with a French door with a more efficient layout. It has a capacity that is higher than average for counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It's also less expensive than the best counter depth refrigerator with an icemaker, which makes it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option for those looking for a French-door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a basic refrigerator which may not be as eye-catching as some of its competitors however it has enough features to make a an excellent choice. Its most significant feature, the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher for longer. It also has a large water dispenser as well as a good ice maker that operates quickly.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated over the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer lets you redirect part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, so you can keep food items that require special attention. This feature can be adjusted by using an outside slider that is located inside the drawer. french style fridges can also use this feature to adjust the general cooling settings for the whole fridge, but I've noticed that adjusting the general settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
In my tests, I discovered that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the fridge didn't differ significantly from 38 degrees. That's a 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. You can also connect this fridge to an intelligent thermometer to get more precise measurements of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge resistant" finish. It does a great job of repelling fingerprints and streaks even when compared to the glossy 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 review of test products. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding and recommending the top products for consumers, with an emphasis on home products and technology.