The Unspoken Secrets Of French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker

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 the top and a freezer drawer beneath. These refrigerators stand out due to their distinctive features, such as door-to-door dispensers and more expensive ice makers.

We consulted Ladina Schopf - interior designer, architect, and founder of LS Projects - for her suggestions on how to pick the best one. We looked at the capacity of storage, layout, and energy efficiency, among other factors.

GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator

Like the name suggests, the GE Profile series targets consumers who want to incorporate cutting-edge features in their kitchen. This refrigerator is packed with these, from an inside-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 a premium, I expect higher quality.

Other than that, this fridge is a great choice. It boasts a spacious freezer compartment, which is uncommon in counter-depth French door refrigerators. Additionally, it can hold a decent amount of frozen food compared to similar models.

The fridge has 17 shelves and compartments. The refrigerator compartment has 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about par for a French door refrigerator that costs this much. It has a decent-sized icemaker in the left door. But it's not the biggest one I've seen.

You can adjust the shelves in both compartments to create a customized storage layout for the items you need to store. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. The LED lighting is a nice accent. The bins for storage inside include a third shelf that can be folded down to store tall items. The drawers have temperature controls, so you can set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They're easy to open and close, although I found their textured plastic coatings to be 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. This includes Wi-Fi as well as app support, and GE's SmartHQ Software. The app, available for iOS and Android devices allows you to control your refrigerator from anywhere in the world, and offers numerous options for customization. It also sends you notifications when the door is left unlocked as well as when the fridge or freezer must be defrosted and when the filter needs to be changed.

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 preset how many cups of water you'd like to disperse simultaneously. It also has a countdown feature on the display of the fridge to display how much water you have remaining, but that's not as effective as Precise fill.

Bosch Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator

It is designed to look 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 comes with a veggie compartment to keep fruits and vegetables fresher longer and dual compressors to ensure maximum food preservation. The ice maker we tested was one of the most efficient and makes pyramid shaped ice using minimal water. This refrigerator is a great option for a single family or kitchenettes who want a sleek design and top-of-the-line food preservation.

This refrigerator was the highest-rated refrigerator in our Refrigerators test, for various reasons. The temperature of the freezer remained constant at just above 0° Fahrenheit and never fluctuated more than a tiny fraction - this is crucial to avoid freezing burn. The fridge section of the fridge also performed well, achieving the temperature that was set for the initial setting within a matter of hours and keeping that temperature steady over the course of our tests.

Bosch is known for its top-of-the-line appliances which is why it's no surprise that this counter-depth refrigerator is also a smart appliance with the option of connecting to your home Wi-Fi and Bosch's Home Connect platform. The app lets you monitor and control your refrigerator remotely on your smartphone or tablet. The refrigerator is expensive, but it offers great features and capabilities for the cost.

While the fridge is an incredible piece of equipment but it's important to be aware of the limitations. It has a narrow shelf space, which means you may require some creativity when it comes to storing large items. Also, the shelves are not impervious to sprills and could be damaged or stained by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the refrigerator. However, they should be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.

If you are considering this refrigerator, be sure to 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 fridge is a great option 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. Inside, the fridge has a standard French-door layout with gallon-sized door bins at each door, two rows of shelves that capture spills and a set of sleeker 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 and an inside water dispenser.

This refrigerator is equipped with an ice maker making it easy to move the frozen ice whenever you need it. The freezer is designed with thoughtful elements, for instance, sliding drawers to help you better organize the position of your items. It also comes with a large bin that can accommodate plenty of frozen food items as well as an container for storing ice.

Smart InstaView panel is another cool feature of the refrigerator. You can manage the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your fridge using your smartphone. It's a simple method to keep track of your refrigerator and manage it, especially when away from home.

But while the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn't necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. This fridge took longer to chill food and defrost it than some others we tried. This is likely due to the greater capacity.

The other issue we have with this refrigerator is its doors. The handles that are sunken allow shorter people to open them from the bottom. However, taller people still have a hard time closing them without slamming. It would have been better if they had front-mounted handles.

The LG Counter-Depth MAX fridge is an excellent option for those who want to combine the look of a French door refrigerator with a more efficient design. Its capacity is superior for a counter-depth model and it cools evenly and has a good layout. It's also a bit less than the best counter-depth refrigerator with an ice maker, which can make it an attractive option.

french door fridge freezers

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 basic fridge which may not be as eye-catching as its rivals, but it still has enough features to make a suitable choice. Its most significant feature, the adjustable temperature drawer helps to keep food like meat and vegetables fresher for longer. It also comes with a large ice maker and a water dispenser.

Another nice feature is the "Chill Drawer" that sits over the two crisper bins. The drawer lets you direct the majority of the fridge's cooling power to this area so that you can store foods that require special attention. This feature is adjustable using a slider located outside the drawer. You can also adjust the general cooling settings for the entire fridge. I've found that the generic settings are more effective than the specific ones.

In my experiments, I noticed 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 stray significantly from 38 degrees, and even the middle of the fridge was within a degree of 36. This is a great performance, but 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 paired with a smart thermostat to obtain more precise readings of the internal temperature of your fridge.

The exterior of the Frigidaire is made from grey-bodied stainless that has a "smudge proof" finish. It does a great job of preventing streaks and fingerprints from appearing, even compared to glossy stainless steel finishes on other appliances I've tried.

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 publishing and commerce experience, primarily in retail and digital. Stephanie is committed to finding and recommending the most effective products for consumers, with a an emphasis on home products and tech.