French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer stylish double doors that open up to a spacious fridge up the top and a freezer drawer below. Special features like through-the-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the rest.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and the founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the best one. They considered storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that the GE Profile series is targeted at consumers who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchens. This fridge is loaded with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a clever water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Given that this fridge costs an extra amount, I'd like to see higher quality.
Apart from that minor flaw however, this refrigerator is a great choice. It has a large freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French door fridges. It also holds plenty of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 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 refrigerator with an ice maker in the left door. But it's not the biggest one I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to create a custom storage setup for whatever you have to keep. The GE PYE22PYNFS's design for the interior is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice touch, and the in-door storage bins feature the third shelf, which can fold down so that you can store large items. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to 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 the complete set of features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price that includes Wi-Fi as well as app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also offers numerous options for customizing. It also alerts you when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice it GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill, an option available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allows users to choose the amount of cups they wish to dispense. The fridge shows a countdown to show you how much water remains, but it's not as useful 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 of your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also features a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer, and two compressors to preserve food. The Ice maker we tested is one of the most efficient and makes the shape of a pyramid using only water. This refrigerator is ideal for a single household or a kitchenette with a built-in appearance and top-of-the line food preservation.
This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0°F and never changed by more than a fraction, this is crucial to prevent the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also did well. It reached the temperature it was set within a matter of hours, and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch is known for its 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 as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is expensive, but offers great features and capabilities at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is a fantastic appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It is possible to be creative with tall objects because the fridge is limited in shelf space. Additionally, the shelves are not completely sprillproof, and can easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If french style fridge of buying this refrigerator, make sure you read 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 need a lot of space in a small frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge has the standard French door design, with two rows of shelves that can be used to capture spills and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded in order to create more space for tall items. There's also a full-width drawer for products from the deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the ice when needed. The freezer features thoughtful design elements, as well, such as sliding drawers that help to organize the place of your items. It also comes with a large bin that holds plenty of frozen food items as well as an additional storage bin for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you control the temperature of your fridge, lighting, and more from your smartphone. It's an easy way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when you're away from home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. The fridge took a bit longer to defrost food and chill it than some others we tried. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this fridge. The sunken handles let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people will struggle to close them without slamming them. It would have been much better if they had a front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to blend the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is above average for a counter-depth model and it cools well and has a nice layout. It's also a little cheaper than the top counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which can make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a great choice for those looking for a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It has a simple design that's not as visually striking as other models but it does have enough features to make it a good option. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer, helps to keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large ice maker and a water dispenser.
Another great feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you direct the majority of your fridge's cooling power to this area so that you can keep food items that require extra attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the whole fridge, though I've found that adjusting the generic settings tends to be more effective than specific ones.
In my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the refrigerator. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge did not vary significantly from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one 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. This fridge can be paired with a smart thermostat to obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's exterior is made of grey-bodied stainless steel with a "smudge-proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as review of test products. She has more than 15 years of publishing and commerce experience, primarily in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding the top products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.