French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with functionality, French-door refrigerators have elegant double doors that open up to a spacious fridge up the top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out because of their distinctive features, like through-the-door dispensers and higher-end Ice makers.
We asked experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer and architect, as well as the founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency among other factors.
french style fridge freezer
Like its name implies, the GE Profile series is targeted at people who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchen. This refrigerator has it all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker inside 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. This refrigerator is costly and I was expecting better.
Aside from that blip the fridge is a great option. It features a large freezer compartment, which is unusual for counter-depth French door fridges. It also holds a lot of frozen food items compared to other models.
The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on par for the size of a French door refrigerator that costs this much. It also has a decent sized ice maker packed into the left door, though it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for the items you need to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice touch and the storage bins come with an additional shelf that can fold down to make it possible to store tall items. The drawers come with 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 little hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes all the features you would expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi as well as app support, and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices, lets you control your fridge from anywhere in world, and offers a ton of customization options. It also sends you notifications when the door is unlocked as well as when the freezer or fridge must be defrosted and when the filter needs to be changed.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill which is an option that is available in a few other GE fridges that allow you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to disperse simultaneously. The fridge displays a countdown to display how much water remains however it's not as helpful as Precise fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is 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 vegetable compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer periods, and dual compressors to preserve food items. The Ice maker is among the most efficient we've ever tested and produces pyramid-shaped Ice with low use of water. This fridge is perfect for a single household or a kitchenette that wants an elegant design and top of the best food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the top in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained stable at just a few degrees Fahrenheit, never changing by more than a fraction an inch. This is essential to avoiding freezing burn. The fridge's fridge section also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady over the course of 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 of connecting to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app allows you to monitor and control your refrigerator remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the price.
It's important to understand the limitations of the fridge. It has a narrow shelf space, which means you'll have to think creatively when it comes to storing large items. Additionally, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained 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, 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 counter-depth fridge is a great option for those who require 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. Inside, the fridge features a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins at each door as well as two rows of spill-capture shelves, and a set of crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more headroom. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also comes with clever design features, like sliding drawers that can help you organize your items. It also has a large bin that can accommodate plenty of frozen food and an container for storing ice.
Another awesome feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you manage the refrigerator's temperature and lighting from your smartphone. It's an easy way to keep track of your refrigerator and control it, especially when you're away from home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't enhance the overall performance of the refrigerator. This fridge took longer to defrost food and chill it than the other fridges we test. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this refrigerator. The handles with a sunken design allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a hard time closing them without slamming. It would have been better if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those looking to combine 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 evenly and has a good layout. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which helps make it an attractive option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a great choice for those looking for a French-door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a basic design that's not as visually striking as other models however it comes with enough features to make it a good option. Its main feature is the adjustable temperature drawer, which helps keep foods like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a large ice maker as well as a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located over the two crisper bins, is a excellent feature. The drawer allows you to divert some of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, which means you can keep food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature using a slider that's located right outside of the drawer. You can also use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge, but I've noticed that adjusting the general settings tends be more effective than specific ones.
In my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator stayed fairly consistent across different areas of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge did not vary significantly from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a pretty good performance however it doesn't be among the top in 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 combine this fridge with a smart thermometer for more precise measurements of your fridge's temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" finish. It wards off streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
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, primarily in digital and retail. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with particular focus on home items and technology.