French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators blend form and function. They have stylish double doors that reveal a large fridge on top, and a freezer drawer below. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the rest.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They weighed storage capacity as well as layout, energy efficiency, and other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series is targeted at the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchen. This refrigerator has it all, from a Keurig K cup coffee maker inside the door, to a clever 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 is more, I'd expect better.
Apart from that minor flaw the fridge is a great choice. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a fair amount of frozen foods as compared to similar models.
The fridge comes with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about par for a French door fridge costing this much. It also has a decent sized ice maker that is tucked away in the left door, but it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can alter the shelving in each compartment to create a customized storage layout for what you want to keep. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice touch and the storage bins feature the third shelf, which folds up beneath itself to make it possible to store tall items. The drawers have temperature controls so you can set them for Beverage, Meat or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close however I found the textured plastic coatings a bit hard on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and lets you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also has a lot of customization options. It also sends you notifications when the door is left unlocked as well as when the freezer or fridge must be defrosted and when the filter needs to be changed.
It would be great if GE PYE22PYNFS offered Precise fill which is a feature found in a few GE refrigerators that allows users to select how many cups they want to pour out. The fridge displays a countdown to reveal how much water remains but it's not as useful as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look like a seamless piece 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 to keep vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and two compressors to ensure the best food preservation. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This fridge is perfect for a single family or kitchenette that needs a built-in appearance and top-of-the best food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the best in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and never moving more than a fraction one degree. This is crucial to preventing 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 keeping that temperature steady over the course of our testing.
Bosch is a household name known for its high-end appliances. It's therefore no surprise that Bosch's counter depth fridge Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app lets you monitor and control your refrigerator remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, but it comes with top-quality features and functions for the cost.
While best french style fridge freezer uk Frydge is a fantastic piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a limited shelf space, which means you'll require some creativity when storing tall objects. The shelves are also not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the refrigerator trays, but be sure to keep them clean to avoid the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, make sure you look over 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 top 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. Inside, the fridge has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins on each door and two rows of shelves that capture spills and a set of more spacious 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 food items and an internal water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker, making it easy to transfer the frozen ice as needed. The freezer also features clever design features, like sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It also has a large bin that can hold plenty of frozen food items and an additional ice storage bin.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. You can control the temperature, lighting, and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a simple way to monitor your refrigerator and control it, especially when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the efficiency of the fridge. This fridge took longer to chill food and defrost it than other models we tested. This could be due to the larger capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this fridge. They have handles that are sunken on the front, which allow smaller people to open them from the bottom, however they're not easy for taller people to pull closed without slamming the doors. It would have been more effective to have front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent option for those looking to combine the look of a French door refrigerator with more efficient design. Its capacity is above average for a counter-depth model, and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also less expensive than the best counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which helps make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't cost you a fortune this Frigidaire is a solid option. It's a basic design that's not as visually striking as other models but it does have enough features to make it a good 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 and a decent ice maker that operates quickly.
Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you redirect part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, meaning you can store foods that require special attention. This feature can be adjusted using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
During my tests, the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the refrigerator. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a great performance, but isn't quite at 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 pair this fridge with an intelligent thermometer to get more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It does an excellent job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared to the glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of 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 experience in commerce and publishing mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a an emphasis on home products and tech.