French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door refrigerators are a perfect blend of design and function. They have elegant double doors that open to reveal a large fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features and adjustable flex drawers make them stand out from the crowd.
We contacted Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and the founder of LS Projects - for her advice on how to choose the right one. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that the GE Profile series is aimed at those who wish to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchens. This fridge is loaded with them all from a Keurig K cup coffee maker in the door to a sophisticated dispenser of water. 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 better.
Other than that the fridge is a fantastic choice. It features a large freezer compartment that is not common for counter-depth French-door fridges. It also holds plenty of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on the same as an French door refrigerator that costs this much. It comes with a decent size icemaker in the left door. However it's not the most spacious one I've seen.
You can adjust the shelving in each compartment to create a custom storage setup for whatever you have to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is good-looking, too. The LED lighting adds a nice touch. The bins for storage inside include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall objects. The drawers come with temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. The drawers are easy to open and shut however I found the plastic's textured coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the complete set of features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range with Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to manage your refrigerator from anywhere across the globe. It also comes with a lot of customization options. It also sends you notifications when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if GE PYE22PYNFS included Precise fill, an option available in a few other GE fridges that allow you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to pour out simultaneously. It does have an indicator on the fridge display to display how much water have remaining, but that's not as useful 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 looks seamless and is one of a kind. 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 we tested was one of the most efficient and makes the shape of a pyramid using only water. This fridge is ideal for a small household or kitchenette that needs an attractive design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This fridge was the top-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators Test for several reasons. Its freezer temperatures held firm at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and never changing more than a fraction an inch. This is essential to preventing freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, reaching the desired temperature for initial set within an hour and keeping that temperature steady over the course of our tests.
Bosch is a household name known for its top-quality appliances. It's therefore no surprise that the Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's Home Connect. The app allows you to control and monitor your refrigerator remotely from your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the cost.
While the fridge is a fantastic appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. You might need to be creative with tall items because the fridge is limited in shelf space. The shelves are also not resistant to spills and are easily stained or damaged by sharp items. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they must be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, you should also 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 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. Inside, the refrigerator has an ordinary French-door design with gallon-sized bins for the doors on each door as well as two rows of shelves that capture spills and a set more spacious drawers. The top shelf to the right 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.
One of the great features of this refrigerator is that its ice maker is in the freezer, which makes it easy to move the ice to the refrigerator for use when needed. The freezer also features thoughtful design features, like sliding drawers that allow you to organize your items. It also has a large container to store frozen food items, and a separate one for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you control the temperature of your fridge and lighting using your smartphone. It's a great way to monitor and manage your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat but it doesn't enhance the efficiency of the fridge. In fact, it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this fridge as compared to other fridges we tested. This could be due to the greater capacity.
The doors are another problem with this refrigerator. They have handles that are sunken on the front that allow smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, however they're still difficult for taller people to steer closed without slamming the doors. It would have been better if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those looking to combine the look of a French door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is above average for counter-depth models and is able to cool evenly. It's also a bit less than the best counter-depth refrigerator that has 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 if you want a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It's a basic refrigerator that may not be as eye-catching as some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make it a good option. french door refrigerator freezer is the adjustable temperature drawer, which helps keep foods like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large water dispenser as well as a good ice machine that works fast.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you redirect the majority of the refrigerator's cooling power into the area so that you can store foods that require special attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider on the outside of the drawer. It is also possible to use this to adjust the general cooling settings for the whole fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, I discovered that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different 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 a 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 pair this fridge with a smart thermometer to get more precise measurements of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge proof" finish. It blocks streaks and fingerprints better than other stainless steel finishes 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 experience in commerce and publishing, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the top products and recommending them to customers. She concentrates on home and technology.