French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Melding form with function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open to an expansive fridge on top and freezer drawer below. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, higher-end ice machines and adjustable flex drawers make them stand out from the rest.
We asked experts like Ladina Schopf, interior designer architect, founder, and co-founder of LS Projects, for tips on picking the right one. They evaluated the capacity of storage, layout and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that the GE Profile series is targeted at people who want to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed 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 costs an extra amount, I'd like to see better.
Other than that, this fridge is a great option. french style fridge freezer has a huge freezer compartment that is not common for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds plenty of frozen food items compared to other models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment offers 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is on par for the size of a French door fridge costing this much. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, but it isn't the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelving in both compartments to create custom storage setup for what you want to store. The GE PYE22PYNFS's interior design is attractive, too. Its LED lighting is a nice addition and the storage bins come with an additional shelf that folds down to allow you to store large items. The drawers come with temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings to be a bit rough on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with the complete set of features you'd expect from a refrigerator at this price, including Wi-Fi and app support through GE's SmartHQ software. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices and allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the globe. It also has a lot of customization options. reference will also send you notifications when the door is unlocked, when the freezer or fridge needs to be defrosted, and when the filter needs to be changed.
It would be nice if the GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill which is an option that is available in a handful of other GE refrigerators that allows you to preset how many cups of water you'd like to dispense at once. The fridge shows a countdown to display how much water is left, but it's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The Bosch French-door Refrigerator is a striking piece. It's designed to appear like a seamless piece in your kitchen. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also features a veggie compartment which keeps vegetables and fruits fresher for longer periods, and dual compressors to preserve 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 perfect for a single family or a kitchenette that wants an attractive design and top of the line food preservation.
This fridge was rated the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. The freezer temperature remained steady at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never changed more than a tiny fraction - this is essential to avoid freezer burn. The refrigerator section of the fridge also did well. It reached the temperature it was set within an hour and maintained the temperature throughout our testing.
Bosch is known for its high-end appliances and appliances, so it's not a surprise that this counter depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance, with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi network and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your fridge from your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is a bit expensive, but it offers great features and capabilities for the price.
It's important to understand the limitations of your fridge. It is possible to be inventive with tall items since the fridge is limited in shelf space. Additionally, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. It's easy to remove the trays in the fridge However, be sure to clean them frequently to prevent the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, you should also look over 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 option for those who need a lot of space in an extremely 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 a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins at each door, two rows of shelves for spill-capture and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give tall items more space. There's also 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 also features clever design features, like sliding drawers that help you sort your things. It also has a large bin that holds plenty of frozen food items as well as a separate storage bin for ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It lets you control the fridge's temperature and lighting using your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when you're not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat however it doesn't enhance the performance of the fridge. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill food in this refrigerator than other refrigerators we tried. This is probably due to its larger capacity.
The doors pose a problem with this fridge. They have sunken handles on the front, which allow smaller people to pull them open from the bottom, however they're not easy for taller people to pull closed without slamming them. It would have been much better if they had a front-mounted handles.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal choice for those who want to combine the advantages of a fridge with a French door with a more efficient layout. Its capacity is superior to counter-depth models and also cools evenly. It's also a bit less than the top counter-depth refrigerator that has an ice maker, which helps make it a desirable choice.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
If you're looking for an French door refrigerator that won't cost a fortune and isn't expensive, this Frigidaire is a great choice. It's a simple fridge which may not be as appealing as some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make a an excellent choice. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also has a large water and ice maker dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is situated above the two crisper bins, is another excellent feature. This drawer lets you redirect a portion of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, meaning you can store foods that need extra attention. You can alter this feature using a slider that's located right outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling level for the entire fridge however, I've found that changing the general settings tends to produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, I found that the temperatures of the refrigerator were fairly consistent across various parts of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a pretty good 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 pair this fridge with an intelligent thermometer to get more precise measurements of your fridge's temperature.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's exterior is constructed of grey-bodied stainless steel that has a "smudge-proof" finish. It does an excellent job of repelling fingerprints and streaks even when compared with glossy stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guide and product reviews for test products. She has over 15 years of experience in commerce and publishing, primarily digital and retail. Stephanie is enthusiastic about finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with an emphasis on home products and technology.