French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer elegant double doors that open to an enormous fridge on the top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, such as through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - interior designer, architect, and the founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the right home. We looked at storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As its name suggests, GE’s Profile series is targeted at people who want to integrate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. The refrigerator is brimming with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a sophisticated water dispenser. But these flourishes don't mask mediocre performance, especially in the refrigerator's freezer and an ineffective temperature-controlled drawer. Since this refrigerator is a premium, I expect better.
This refrigerator is a good choice, despite the blip. It has a large freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door fridges, and it holds a good amount of frozen food as compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on what you would expect from an French door fridge costing this much. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker packed into the left door, but it's not the biggest I've seen.
You can adjust the shelves in both compartments for a custom storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is good-looking, too. The LED lighting is an appealing feature. The bins for storage inside include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers have temperature controls so that you can set them to Beverage, Meat or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, although I found their plastic textured coatings a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a full suite of features you'd expect from a refrigerator in this price range, including Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app, which is available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and offers many options for customizing. It also sends you notifications when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer is in need of defrosting, and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice to have GE PYE22PYNFS offered Precise fill the option that is that is available in a few GE refrigerators that allow users to select the number of cups they would like to disperse. It also has an indicator on the fridge display to display how much water you have left, but it's not as effective as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth freestanding french door refrigerator freezer 90cm 569l ice & water Door Refrigerator
Created to appear like a seamless piece of your kitchen, Bosch's French-door refrigerator is one of a kind. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also has a vegetable compartment which keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer and two compressors to preserve food items. The Ice maker is among the best we've ever tested and produces pyramid-shaped ice with a low water usage. This refrigerator is a great option for a single family or kitchenettes who want a built-in look and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained constant at just above 0°F and never fluctuated more than a tiny fraction - this is crucial to avoid freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well. It reached the initial temperature within an hour and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch is known for its premium appliances and appliances, so it's not a surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi as well as Bosch's Home Connect platform. This app lets you monitor and manage your fridge remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is expensive, however it has great features and capabilities for the cost.
It's important to understand the limitations of your fridge. It has a small shelf space, so you may require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. The shelves are not impervious to spills and could easily be stained or damaged by sharp objects. It's simple to remove the trays from the fridge However, be sure to clean them regularly to prevent mold growth.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, make sure you 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 refrigerator is a great option for those who require plenty of space in 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 fridge has the standard French-door layout, with gallon-sized door bins at each door and two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set more spacious drawers. The top shelf on the right side can be folded to provide more space for taller items. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli items and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker making it easy to transfer the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer has thoughtful design elements, as well, such as sliding drawers to help you to organize the place of your items. It also has a large bin that can accommodate plenty of frozen food items as well as a separate container for storing ice.
Smart InstaView panel is another awesome feature of the refrigerator. You can control the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's a nice way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially when you're away from home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't improve the efficiency of the fridge. The refrigerator took longer to defrost food and chill it than other models we tried. This is likely due to the greater capacity.
Another issue with this refrigerator is its doors. The handles with a sunken design allow smaller people to open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a hard time closing them without slamming them. It would have been much better if these had front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal option for those looking to combine the benefits of a French-door fridge's aesthetics with a more efficient layout. 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 best counter depth refrigerator that comes with an icemaker, which makes it a great choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire french style fridge door refrigerator is a good choice if you want a TCL 60cm French Door Frost Free Fridge Freezer-door fridge that won't break the budget. It's a minimalist design that isn't as visually striking like some of the competitors but it does have enough features that make it a great option. Its most important feature is the adjustable temperature drawer which helps keep food items like veggies and meat fresher for longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser, as well as an excellent ice maker that operates quickly.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated above the two crisper bins, is another nice feature. This drawer lets you redirect part of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, meaning you can put away food items that need extra attention. You can adjust the feature using an adjustable slider that is located just outside of the drawer. You can also set the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the general settings work better than the specific ones.
During my tests, I discovered that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the fridge. The temperatures in the middle, top and bottom of the refrigerator didn't vary much from 38 degrees. This is a solid performance, but it doesn't 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. You can also combine this fridge with an intelligent thermometer to get more precise readings of your fridge's temperature.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's outside is made of stainless steel with a grey-bodied body that has a "smudge-proof" finish. It does an excellent job of removing streaks and fingerprints even when compared to the glossy 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 as well as product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, primarily in digital and retail. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with particular focus on home items and technology.