French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators offer stylish 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, like through-the-door dispensers as well as higher-end Ice makers.
We asked Ladina Schopf - an interior designer, architect and the founder of LS Projects - for her tips on how to select the best one. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other factors.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
As the name suggests, GE's Profile series targets consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. 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. The refrigerator is expensive and I was expecting better.
Apart from that minor flaw the fridge is a great option. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it holds a fair amount of frozen food as compared to similar models.
Inside the fridge, you'll find 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment is 18.5 cubic feet, which is the standard for a French-door fridge at this price. It also has a decent sized ice maker that is tucked away in the left door, though 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 keep. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is attractive, too. The LED lighting is a nice addition and the inside storage bins come with the third shelf, which folds down so that you can store tall items. french style fridge freezers uk Frydge include temperature controls that let you set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, but I found their textured plastic coatings a bit difficult on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator is equipped with a all the features you'd expect from a fridge at this price with Wi-Fi and app support via GE's SmartHQ software. The app, which is available for iOS and Android devices can let you control your fridge from anywhere in the world, and offers a ton of customization options. It also alerts you when doors are left open, when the refrigerator or freezer needs defrosting and when it's time to change the filter.
It would be nice if GE PYE22PYNFS came with Precise Fill, an option available in other GE fridges that allow you to choose how many cups of water you'd like to disperse simultaneously. It does have a countdown feature on the fridge's display to show how much water you have left, 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 looks seamless and is an eye-catching piece. The fridge uses fingerprint-resistant stainless steel, which is a great feature for busy households. It also comes with a veggie compartment that keeps vegetables and fruits fresher longer and dual compressors for the best food preservation. The ice maker is one of the best we've ever tested and produces a pyramid-shaped ice that is low in water usage. This refrigerator is ideal for a single family or a kitchenette that wants an attractive design and top of the line food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test for a variety of reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just above 0 degrees Fahrenheit and never fluctuating by more than a fraction a degree--this is key to avoiding freezing burn. The fridge's fridge section also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within an hour and maintaining that temperature steady throughout the course of our testing.
Bosch is a household name known for its top-quality appliances. Therefore, it's not a surprise that Bosch's counter depth fridge Bosch counter depth refrigerator can be connected to your home Wi Fi and Bosch's platform Home Connect. This app allows you to monitor and control your fridge from your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is pricey, but offers great features and functionality at a reasonable cost.
While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment however, it is important to understand the limitations. You may need to get creative with tall objects because the fridge is limited in shelf space. Additionally the shelves aren't sprillproof and can be easily stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they must be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you're thinking about buying this refrigerator, make sure to also review our opinions on 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 lots of space within 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 design, with two rows of spill-capture shelving and a set crisper drawers. The top shelf on the right can be folded down to give taller items more room. You'll also find a full width deli drawer and an internal water dispenser.
This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer also comes with thoughtful design features, like sliding drawers that help you organize your items. It has a large bin for storing frozen food and a separate container for ice.
Another awesome feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. It allows you to control the fridge's temperature and lighting using your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your refrigerator and control it, especially when not at home.
The Smart InstaView feature is neat, but it doesn't necessarily improve the efficiency of the fridge. In fact it took a bit longer to defrost and chill foods in this refrigerator than other refrigerators we test. This could be due to its greater capacity.
The doors are a different issue with this fridge. They have sunken handles on the front that allow shorter people to easily open them from the bottom, however they're still difficult for taller people to guide closed without slamming them. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent option for those looking to blend the aesthetics of a French-door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model and it cools well and has a nice layout. It's also a little less than the most expensive counter depth refrigerator that comes with an icemaker, which makes it an attractive option.
Frigidaire Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
This Frigidaire French door refrigerator is a good choice if you want a French-door refrigerator that doesn't cost a lot of budget. It's a minimalist design that isn't as striking in appearance as some of the competition, but it has enough features to make it a solid choice. Its most notable feature is the adjustable temperature drawer, helps to keep food like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also has a large ice maker and a water dispenser.
The "Chill Drawer", which is located over the two crisper bins, is a nice feature. This drawer lets you redirect part of the fridge's cooling power directly to this area, which means you can put away food items that require special attention. You can alter the feature using the slider located on the outside of the drawer. You can also use this to set a general cooling setting for the entire fridge though I've found that adjusting the general settings tends to have a better effect than specific ones.
In my tests, the temperature of the refrigerator stayed fairly consistent across different areas of the refrigerator. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge didn't stray much from 38 degrees, and the middle of the fridge was within one degree of 36. This is a good performance, but it doesn't 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. This fridge can be connected with a smart thermostat in order to gain more precise information on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF's exterior is constructed of grey-bodied stainless steel that has a "smudge-proof" finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I've tested.
Stephanie Cronk is the executive editor on Reviewed's Commerce/Product Reviews team and oversees the site's buyer's guides and product reviews for test products. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in digital and retail. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the best products for consumers, with a an emphasis on home products and technology.