French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
French-door fridges combine functionality and form. They have stylish double doors that reveal the large fridge on top, and a freezer drawer beneath. Special features like through-the-door dispensers, high-end ice machines, and customizable flex drawers make them stand out from the rest.
We sought out experts like Ladina Schopf, an interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects, for tips on choosing the right model. They considered storage capacity, layout and energy efficiency, among other features.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Like its name implies, the GE Profile series is targeted at those who wish to incorporate cutting-edge technologies into their kitchens. This fridge is loaded with them, from an in-the-door Keurig K-cup coffee maker to a smart 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.
Apart from that minor flaw, this fridge is a great choice. It has a huge freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door refrigerators. It also holds a lot of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
The fridge is equipped with 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is typical for a French-door refrigerator at this price. french door fridge freezers has a decent-sized icemaker in the left-hand door, although it's not the largest I've seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make a custom storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive, too. Its LED lighting is a nice feature, and the in-door storage bins come with an additional shelf that can fold down to allow you to store items that are tall. 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 plastic textured coatings a bit rough on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator has all the features you'd expect from a refrigerator within this price range. It has Wi-Fi, app support and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app is available for iOS and Android devices and allows you to manage your refrigerator from anywhere around the world. It also has many options for customization. It also gives you notifications when a door is left open, when the refrigerator or freezer needs to be defrosted and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be great if GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill which is a feature available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allow users to select how many cups they want to dispense. It does offer a countdown feature on the display of the fridge to show how much water you have remaining, but that's not as useful as Precise Fill.
Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
Designed to look like a seamless part 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 that keeps fruits and vegetables fresher for longer periods, and two compressors for preserving food items. The ice maker is one of the best we've ever tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice with a low water consumption. This fridge is perfect for a small household or a kitchenette with an attractive design and top of the highest quality food preservation.
This fridge was rated as the top in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never fluctuated more than a tiny fraction - this is essential to avoid freezer burn. The fridge section of the refrigerator also did well. It reached the initial temperature 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, with the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app allows you to control and monitor the refrigerator remotely using your smartphone or tablet. The fridge is expensive, but it offers top-quality features and functions for the price.
While the fridge is an incredible appliance but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a small space for shelves, so you may require some creativity when storing tall items. The shelves are not resistant to spills and are easily damaged or stained by sharp items. It's easy to remove the refrigerator trays However, be sure to clean them regularly to prevent the growth of mold.
If french door fridge and freezer are considering 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 counter-depth refrigerator is a great choice for those who require 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. The fridge features an ordinary French door layout, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to make space for tall items. You'll also find a full width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker making it simple to transfer frozen ice as needed. The freezer also comes with clever design features, like sliding drawers that can help you sort your things. It also comes with a large bin that can accommodate plenty of frozen food and an additional container for storing ice.
Another great feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. You can control the temperature, lighting, and more of your fridge from your smartphone. It's a simple way to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when away from home.
However, while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. In fact it took longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than other refrigerators we test. This is likely due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this fridge. The sunken handles let shorter people open them from the bottom. However taller people will have a hard time closing them without slamming them. It would have been better if they had handles mounted on the front.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent choice for those looking to blend the look of a French door refrigerator with more efficient design. It has a capacity that is higher than average for counter-depth models and also cools evenly. It's also less expensive than the best counter depth refrigerators that have an ice maker, making it a desirable option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good option for those looking for a French-door fridge that doesn't break the budget. It has a simple design that's not as striking visually like some of the competitors, but it has enough features to make it a good pick. Its most important feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food items like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also comes with a large water and ice maker dispenser.
Another feature that is worth mentioning is the "Chill Drawer" that sits above the two crisper bins. The drawer allows you to divert part of the refrigerator's cooling power directly to this area, which means you can put away food items that need extra attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also alter the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I have found that the general settings work better than the specific ones.
In my experiments, I noticed that the temperatures in the refrigerator were fairly consistent in different parts of the fridge. Temperatures at the top and bottom of the fridge didn't vary very far from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. 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 pair this fridge with a smart thermometer to get more precise measurements of your fridge's internal temperature.
The exterior of the Frigidaire is made of grey-bodied stainless with a "smudge proof" finish. It is capable of removing streaks and fingerprints, even compared to glossy 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 review of test products. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in retail and digital. Stephanie is passionate about finding and recommending the top products for consumers, with a particular focus on home items and technology.