French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door fridges combine design and function. They come with stylish double doors that reveal an enormous fridge on top and a freezer drawer beneath. Special features like through-the-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines and flex drawers that can be customized make them stand out from the rest.
We sought out experts like 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.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name implies that GE's Profile series targets consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. This fridge has them all including 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. Since this refrigerator is more, I'd expect higher quality.
Other than that however, this refrigerator is a fantastic choice. It features a large freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds plenty of 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 fridge that costs this much. french door refrigerator freezer has a decent-sized icemaker in the left door. But it's not the biggest one I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to create a a custom storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive. The LED lighting is an appealing touch. 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 let you set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, although I found their textured plastic coatings to be a little difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the all the features you'd expect from a fridge in this price range, including Wi-Fi and 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 also alerts you 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 included Precise fill it's an option in a handful of other GE fridges that allow you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to dispense at a time. The fridge shows a countdown to reveal how much water remains, but it's not as helpful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Created to appear like a seamless piece of your kitchen, Bosch's French-door refrigerator is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also features a veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer, and two compressors for preserving food items. The Ice maker is among the most efficient we've ever tested, and it produces a pyramid-shaped form of ice with a low use of water. This refrigerator is a great option for a single family or kitchenettes that want a built-in look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This fridge was rated the best in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never fluctuated by more than a fraction, this is crucial to prevent freezer burn. The fridge section of the fridge also did well. It reached the initial temperature set within an hour and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch is a household name for its top-quality appliances. Therefore, it's no surprise that the Bosch counter depth fridge can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app allows you to monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is costly however, it offers excellent features and functions at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is an amazing piece of equipment however, it is important to understand the limitations. You may need to get creative with tall items because the fridge has a limited shelf space. The shelves are not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp items. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they must be cleaned regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're thinking of buying this refrigerator, you should also check out 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 a top counter-depth refrigerator that packs plenty of storage space into a compact frame. It has a sleek, fingerprint-resistant stainless-steel finish and features thick handles that make them comfortable to grip. The fridge has an ordinary French door layout, with two rows of shelving with spill-capture and a set of crisper drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give taller items more space. There's also a full-width drawer to store food items and an internal water dispenser.
One of the nice aspects of this refrigerator is that the ice maker is in the freezer, making it easy to transfer the ice to the refrigerator for use when required. The freezer also comes with innovative 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 bin for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you manage the refrigerator's temperature, lighting, and more using your smartphone. It's a good method of monitoring and managing your refrigerator, particularly if you're away from home.
But while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it does not necessarily add to the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact, it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than some of the others we tried. This could be due to its bigger capacity.
The other issue we have with the door of this refrigerator. The handles that are sunken allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a difficult time closing them without slamming them. It would have been better to have front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a excellent choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a French-door refrigerator's aesthetics with an efficient layout. Its capacity is above average for a counter-depth model, and it cools well and has a nice layout. french door fridge and freezer 's also a bit cheaper than the top counter depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which makes it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good 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, but it has enough features that make it a great option. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer, helps to keep food items such as vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also comes with a large ice maker and a water dispenser.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you redirect a portion of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, which means you can put away food items that require special attention. You can alter this feature by using a slider that's located right in the middle of the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.
In my tests, I discovered that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator did not differ significantly from 38 degrees. This is a good performance but does not quite make it to the top of 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. The fridge can be linked with a smart thermostat to gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey-bodied body which has a "smudge-proof" finish. It does an excellent job of repelling fingerprints and streaks, even compared to glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances 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 publishing and commerce experience, with a focus on retail and digital. Stephanie is adamant about finding the most effective products and recommending them to consumers. She focuses on home goods and technology.