French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. These refrigerators stand out because of their distinctive features, like through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We consulted experts such as Ladina Schopf, an interior designer and architect, as well as the founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They weighed storage capacity and layout, energy efficiency, and other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series is geared towards the consumer who wants to incorporate cutting-edge technologies in their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a clever water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. This fridge is expensive and I expected more.
This refrigerator is a good choice, despite the small blip. It features a large freezer compartment that is not common for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds plenty of frozen food compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about the same as a French door fridge 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 adjust the shelves in both compartments to create a the perfect storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is good-looking, too. The LED lighting is a nice accent. The storage bins in the door include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers are equipped with temperature controls, so you can set them to Beverage, Meat, or Deli settings. The drawers are simple to shut and open, but I found the textured plastic coatings to be a bit rough on my fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator includes the full suite 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, available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and has many options for customizing. It also alerts you when doors are left open, when your fridge or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It is nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS included Precise fill which is an option that is available in a handful of other GE fridges that allow you to set the number of cups of water you'd like to disperse at once. It does have an indicator on the fridge display to display how much water have remaining, but that'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 look like it's a seamless part in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher longer and has dual compressors for the best preservation of food. The ice maker we tested was one of the most efficient, and it produces the shape of a pyramid using only water. This refrigerator is a great choice for single household or kitchenettes looking for a sleek design and top-of-the-line food preservation.
The fridge was rated the best refrigerator in our Refrigerators test for a few reasons. Its freezer temperatures remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never changed by more than a fraction, this is crucial to prevent the risk of a freezer burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also did well. It reached the temperature it was set within an hour and maintained that temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch has a reputation for premium appliances, so it's no surprise that this counter-depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance that has the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your refrigerator remotely from your tablet or smartphone. The fridge is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the price.
While the fridge is an incredible appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. You might need to be creative with tall objects because the fridge has a small shelf space. Additionally, the shelves are not sprillproof and can be easily damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the trays in the fridge, but be sure to clean them frequently to prevent the growth of mold.
If you're considering this refrigerator, be sure to also read our reviews 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 need plenty 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 has a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins at each door and two rows of spill-capture shelves and a set more spacious drawers. The upper right shelf can be folded down to give tall items more room. You'll also find a full-width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
The refrigerator comes with an ice maker, making it easy to move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also features innovative design features such as sliding drawers that help you organize your belongings. It has a large bin to store frozen food items, and a separate container for ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It's a simple way to monitor your refrigerator and manage it, especially when not at home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't enhance the overall performance of the refrigerator. In french door refrigerator freezer took a bit longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than some of the others we tested. This is likely due to its larger capacity.
Another issue with the door of this refrigerator. They have handles that are sunken at the front, which allows smaller people to open them from the bottom, but they're difficult for taller people to steer closed without slamming them. It would have been better if they had a front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is a great choice for those who want to combine the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. It has a capacity that is higher than average for counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It's also a little less than the top counter depth refrigerator that comes with an icemaker, which makes it a great choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for a French door fridge that doesn't cost a fortune this Frigidaire is a good choice. It has a simple design that isn't as visually striking like some of the competitors, but it has enough features to make it a good pick. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items like vegetables and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser as well as a good Ice machine that is fast.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated over the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer lets you redirect some of the refrigerator's cooling power directly into this area, which means you can put away food items that require special attention. You can adjust this feature by using a slider that's located right on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the entire fridge, though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends to produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator's temperatures were fairly constant across the different areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the fridge didn't differ much from 38 degrees. This is a great performance, but it doesn't quite 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. You can also connect this fridge to an intelligent thermometer to get more precise measurements of the internal temperature of your fridge.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It is capable of repelling fingerprints and streaks even when compared to the glossier stainless steel finishes on other appliances 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 publishing and commerce, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is passionate about finding the best products and recommending them to customers. She focuses on home goods and technology.