French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators come with stylish double doors that open to a spacious fridge up the top and a freezer drawer below. Special features such as through-the-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the crowd.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, interior designer and architect, as well as the founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They considered storage capacity, layout, energy efficiency, and other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series is geared towards those who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in 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. This refrigerator is costly, so I expected better.
This fridge is a great option, despite the slight blip. french door refrigerator freezer comes with a huge freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Furthermore, it holds a fair amount of frozen foods as compared to similar models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment has 18.5 cubic feet, which is typical for a French-door refrigerator at this price. It has a decent sized freezer in the left side. However it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a the perfect storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting adds an attractive touch. The bins for storage inside come with a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. french style fridge freezer 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 in this price range. It has Wi-Fi as well as app support, and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is available on iOS and Android devices and allows you to manage your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also has many options for customization. It also gives you notifications when a door is left open, when the fridge or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS had Precise Fill it's an option in other GE fridges that allow you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to dispense at once. It also has a countdown feature on the fridge's display to show how much water you have left, but it's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is an impressive product. It's designed to appear like a seamless piece in 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 for preserving food. The ice maker is one of the best we've ever tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice with a low use of water. This fridge is ideal for a small household or kitchenette that needs an attractive design and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, never fluctuating by more than a fraction an inch. This is essential to preventing freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the desired temperature for initial set within an hour and keeping the temperature constant over the course of our testing.
Bosch is a household name for its top-quality appliances. Therefore, it's not a surprise that Bosch's counter depth fridge Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's Home Connect. The app allows you to control and monitor the refrigerator remotely using your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, but offers great features and functions at a reasonable price.
It is important to know the limitations of your fridge. It has a small shelf space, so you may need to be creative when storing tall items. The shelves are also not resistant to spills and are easily stained or damaged by sharp items. It is easy to take out the trays in the fridge However, be sure to keep them clean to avoid the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, make sure you look over 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 refrigerator is a great choice for those who require lots of space within the space of a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge is built with a standard French door design, and two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf to the right can be folded to provide more space for tall items. There's also a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice things about this refrigerator is that its ice maker is inside the freezer, which makes it simple to move the ice to the refrigerator to use as needed. The freezer also comes with clever design features, like sliding drawers that allow you to organize your belongings. It also has a large container to store frozen food items, and a separate container for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It allows you to control the temperature of your fridge, lighting, and more from your smartphone. It's an easy way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, particularly when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily enhance the performance of the fridge. The fridge took a bit longer to defrost food and chill it than some others we test. This is probably due to its greater capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this fridge. They have handles that are sunken on the front that allow smaller people to open them from the bottom, however they're difficult for taller people to guide closed without slamming the doors. It would have been better if they came with a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent option for those looking to combine the benefits of a fridge with a French door with an efficient layout. Its capacity is higher than average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a little cheaper than the best counter-depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, which can make it a popular choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for a French door fridge that doesn't break the bank this Frigidaire is a great choice. It has a simple design that isn't as visually striking as some of the competition but it does have enough features to make it a good option. 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 an excellent ice machine that works fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which sits over the two crisper bins, is a excellent feature. This drawer lets you divert some of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, which means you can store foods that require extra attention. This feature can be adjusted using an outside slider that is located inside the drawer. It is also possible to use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends be more effective than specific ones.
During my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across all areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top, bottom and middle of the refrigerator didn't vary significantly from 38 degrees. 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. The fridge can be linked 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 grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge resistant" 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 guide and review of test products. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a focus on home goods and tech.