French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer elegant double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out due to their special features, such as through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. We looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency among other factors.
french door fridge freezers
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series targets those who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with features, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a sophisticated 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 a premium, I expect better.
This fridge is a great option, despite the slight blip. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds a lot of frozen food compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about the same as a French door fridge that costs this much. It has a decent sized refrigerator with an ice maker in the left door. But it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for whatever you have to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting is an appealing feature. The storage bins in the door have a third shelf which can be folded down to store large items. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator within this price range. This includes Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your fridge from anywhere in the world, and offers numerous options for customization. It will also send you notifications when the door is unlocked as well as when the fridge or freezer requires defrosting, and when the filter requires a change.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill which is an option that is available in a handful of other GE refrigerators that allows you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to disperse at once. The fridge displays a countdown to show you how much water is left but it's not as effective as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Designed to look like a seamless part 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 veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer, and two compressors to preserve food. french style fridge freezer tested was one of the most efficient and makes pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This refrigerator is a great choice for single household or kitchenettes looking for an integrated look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures held firm at just a few degrees Fahrenheit and never fluctuating more than a fraction a degree--this is key to preventing freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well. It reached the initial temperature set within an hour and maintained that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for premium 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 lets you monitor and control the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is costly, but offers great features and capabilities at a fair price.
While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment, it's important to know the limitations. It has a small space for shelves, so you may require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are also not resistant to spills and are easily stained or damaged by sharp items. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they must be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about 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 is an excellent counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage in a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. Inside, the refrigerator has a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins on each door and two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded in order to create more space for taller items. You'll also find a full-width deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice things about this refrigerator is that the Ice maker is located in the freezer, making it easy to transfer frozen ice to the fridge to use as needed. The freezer also has clever design features, such as sliding drawers that allow you to sort your things. It also comes with a large bin that can hold plenty of frozen food items as well as a separate storage bin for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. It allows you to manage the refrigerator's temperature as well as lighting using your smartphone. It's a nice way to monitor and manage your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill foods in this fridge than other refrigerators we tried. This could be due to its larger capacity.
The other issue we have with this refrigerator is its doors. The handles with a sunken design allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a difficult time closing them without slamming. It would have been much better if they had a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those who want to combine the look and feel of a French-door refrigerator with a 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 top counter-depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which can make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't break the bank, this Frigidaire is a good choice. It has a simple design that isn't as striking visually as other models but it does have enough features to make it a solid choice. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer that helps keep food items like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser, as well as an excellent ice machine that works fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits over the two crisper bins, is another great feature. This drawer allows you to direct some of the fridge's cooling power to this area, so that you can store foods that require special attention. This feature can be adjusted using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the entire fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends have a better effect than specific ones.
During my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly constant across the different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge did not vary much from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a solid performance, but does not quite make it to 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. This fridge can be connected with a smart thermostat in order to obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from gray-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It is capable of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing, even compared to glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site's buyer's guides and product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in digital and retail. Stephanie is adamant about finding the top products and recommending them to consumers. She concentrates on home and technology.