French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door fridges combine design and function. They feature elegant double doors that open to reveal the large fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out because of their special features, such as door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.
We asked experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer and architect, as well as the founder of LS Projects, for tips on how to select the best one. They considered the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series is targeted at the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in their kitchen. This fridge has them all from the Keurig K cup coffee maker on 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 a premium, I expect better.
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 refrigerators. It also has a large capacity for frozen food items compared to other models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is roughly on the same as an French door refrigerator that costs this much. 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 make an individual storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. Its LED lighting is a nice feature and the inside storage bins come with an additional shelf that can fold down to allow you to store tall items. The drawers include temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage, or Deli settings. french door fridge on sale to open and close, however I found their textured plastic coatings to be a bit hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the all the 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, which is available for iOS and Android devices, lets you control your fridge from anywhere in world, and offers many options for customizing. It will also send you notifications when the door is left unlocked as well as when the freezer or fridge must be defrosted and when the filter requires a change.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill, an option available in a few other GE fridges that allows you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to pour out at once. The fridge displays a countdown timer to display how much water is left, but it's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
It is designed to look like a seamless piece of your kitchen, Bosch's French-door refrigerator is a standout. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also boasts a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer and has dual compressors to ensure the best preservation of food. The Ice maker is among the best we've ever tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice that is low in water usage. This refrigerator is the ideal option for households with a single member or kitchenettes who want a sleek design and top of the line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for various reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never changed by more than a fraction, this is crucial to avoid freezing burn. The fridge's refrigerator section 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 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 of connecting to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, but offers great features and functionality at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is a fantastic appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a narrow shelf space, which means you'll require some creativity when storing tall items. The shelves are also not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the trays in the fridge however, you must keep them clean to avoid the growth of mold.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, make sure to check out our reviews of the French Door GE Appliances Refrigerator and the Bosch Bottom Freezer Refrigerator.
LG Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The LG LRFLC2706S is a top counter-depth refrigerator that packs a lot of storage into the frame's compact size. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge features a standard French door design, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set of crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded to provide more space for taller items. There's also a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the frozen ice as needed. The freezer also comes with clever design features, such as sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate container 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 good method of monitoring and managing your refrigerator, especially when you're away from home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator as compared to other fridges we test. This is likely due to the larger capacity.
The other issue we have with the doors of this refrigerator. They have sunken handles on the front that allow shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, but they're still difficult for taller people to guide shut without slamming them. It would have been better if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those who want to combine the look of a French door refrigerator with an efficient design. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a great layout. It's also less expensive than the top 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 when you're looking for a French door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It's a minimalist design that isn't as visually striking as some of the competition, but it has enough features to make it a solid pick. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer which helps keep food items such as meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also has a large water dispenser and a decent ice maker that operates quickly.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated above the two crisper bins, is another nice feature. This drawer allows you to direct the majority of your fridge's cooling power into this area, so that you can keep food items which need extra attention. This feature can be adjusted by using a slider on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the whole fridge, however, I've found that changing the generic settings tends to have a better effect than specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator's temperatures were fairly constant across the different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top, bottom and middle of the fridge didn't differ significantly from 38 degrees. This is a great performance however it doesn't be among the top 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 get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge resistant" finish. It does an excellent job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing even when compared to the glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor of Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides as well as product reviews for test products. She has more than 15 years of experience in publishing and commerce, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to consumers. She focuses on home goods and technology.