French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer stylish double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, like door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We consulted Ladina Schopf - interior designer, architect and founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the right one. They evaluated the capacity of storage and layout and energy efficiency, among other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like its name implies, the GE Profile series is targeted at consumers who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with these, from an inside-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a smart water dispenser. 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.
Aside from that blip, this fridge is a great choice. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it can hold a decent amount of frozen food in comparison to similar models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is standard for a French-door refrigerator at this price. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, though it's not the largest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelving in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for the items you need to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is stylish, too. The LED lighting is a nice addition and the storage bins come with the third shelf, which folds up beneath itself to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers have temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their plastic textured coatings to be a bit rough on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the complete set of features you'd expect from a fridge at this price with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app, which is available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your fridge from anywhere in the world, and offers a ton of customization options. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted 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 refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to disperse simultaneously. It also has a countdown feature on the fridge's display to display how much water have remaining, but that's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a striking piece. It's designed to appear like it's a seamless part of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment that helps keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer and dual compressors to ensure the best preservation of food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient, and it produces pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This refrigerator is a great option for households with a single member or kitchenettes who want a built-in look and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated the best in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0°F and never changed by more than a fraction, this is essential to avoid the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature set within a matter of hours, and remained at the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for top-of-the-line 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 and Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is pricey however, it offers excellent features and capabilities at a fair price.
It is crucial to be aware of the limitations of your fridge. It has a narrow space for shelves, so you'll have to think creatively when it comes to storing large items. The shelves aren't resistant to spills and are easily stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the trays in the fridge however, you must clean them frequently to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, you should also read our review of the GE Appliances French Door Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is an excellent counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage in the frame's compact size. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features the standard French door layout, with two rows of shelves that can be used to capture spills and a set crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more room. There's also a full-width drawer to store products from the deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer ice when needed. The freezer also comes with innovative design features such as sliding drawers that allow you to organize your items. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate one for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's a great method of monitoring and managing your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't improve the efficiency of the fridge. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator than some of the others we test. This is probably due to its greater capacity.
The doors are another problem with this refrigerator. The sunken handles allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However french door fridge freezer will have a difficult time closing them without slamming them. It would have been more effective if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent option for those looking to blend the look and feel of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is superior 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 comes with an icemaker, which makes it a desirable 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 refrigerator that might not be as appealing as some of its competitors however it has enough features to make it a suitable choice. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large water dispenser, as well as an excellent ice maker that operates quickly.
Another great feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you redirect a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, so you can store foods that require special attention. You can adjust this feature by using an adjustable slider that is located just outside of the drawer. It is also possible to use this to set a general cooling setting for the entire fridge, though I've found that adjusting the generic settings tends to have a better effect than specific ones.
During my tests, the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator did not 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 pair this fridge with a smart thermometer to get more precise measurements of your fridge's internal temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It blocks streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as test-product reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding the most effective products and recommending them to customers. She focuses on home goods and technology.