French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators offer elegant double doors that open to a spacious fridge up the top and a freezer drawer below. Special features like through-the-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the rest.
We consulted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and the founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the right one. They weighed storage capacity as well as layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, GE's Profile series targets the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge features into their kitchen. This fridge is loaded with them all including the Keurig K cup coffee maker on 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. The refrigerator is expensive and I expected more.
This refrigerator is a good choice, despite the small blip. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it can hold a decent amount of frozen foods as compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is roughly on what you would expect from a French door refrigerator that costs this much. It has a decent-sized freezer in the left side. But it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
french style fridge freezer can alter the shelves in both compartments to create customized storage arrangement for the items you need to keep. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS also looks attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins come with a third shelf that can fold down so that you can store items that are tall. The drawers are equipped with temperature controls so that you can set them for Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and close however I found the plastic's textured coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes all the features you would expect from a refrigerator within this price range. This includes Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and lets you control your refrigerator from any place around the world. It also offers many options for customization. It also alerts you when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS included Precise fill it's an option in other GE refrigerators that allows you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to pour out at a time. It does offer an indicator on the fridge's display to display how much water have remaining, but that's not as helpful 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 component in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer and two compressors for preserving food. The ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient, and it produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This refrigerator is ideal for a single household or kitchenette that needs an elegant design and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators Test for various reasons. Its freezer temperatures held firm at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and never changing more than a fraction a degree--this is key in preventing freezer burn. The fridge's fridge section also performed well, reaching the desired temperature for initial set within an hour and keeping that temperature steady throughout the course of our tests.
Bosch is known for its high-end appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app lets you monitor and control the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. french door fridge and freezer is pricey and has great features and capabilities at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is an amazing piece of equipment, it's important to know the limitations. It has a small shelf space, which means you'll require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. Additionally the shelves aren't sprillproof and can be easily stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they must be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying 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 counter-depth fridge is a great choice for those who require a lot of space in an extremely compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features a standard French door design, and two rows of shelving with spill-capture and a set of crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give tall items more headroom. There's also a full-width storage drawer for food items and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also comes with thoughtful design features, like sliding drawers that help you organize your belongings. It has a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. It lets you control the fridge's temperature and lighting via your smartphone. It's an easy way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, particularly when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the performance of the fridge. This fridge took longer to defrost food and chill it than other models we tried. This could be due to its greater capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this fridge. They have handles that are sunken on the front, which allow shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to guide shut without slamming them. It would have been more effective if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent option for those looking to combine the advantages of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. It has a capacity that is superior to counter-depth models and is able to cool 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 when you're looking for a French door fridge that won't break the budget. It has a simple design that's not as visually striking as other models, but it has enough features to make it a solid pick. Its most notable characteristic is the adjustable temperature drawer that helps keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser as well as a good Ice machine that is fast.
Another great feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. This drawer allows you to use the majority of the fridge's cooling power into the area so that you can keep food items that require special attention. This feature can be adjusted by using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the general settings are more effective than the specific ones.
During my tests, I found that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the fridge. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. This is a great performance, but doesn't quite make it to the top of 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. You can also connect this fridge to a smart thermometer for more precise measurements of your fridge's internal temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless 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 of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides and review of test products. She has more than 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing including retail and digital. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with particular focus on home items and tech.