-
Munoz Ebsen posted an update 4 months, 3 weeks ago
French Door Refrigerator With Ice Maker Review
Combining form and function, French-door refrigerators come with elegant double doors that open up to an expansive fridge on the top and a freezer drawer beneath. Special features like door-to-door dispensers, ice machines with higher-end features and flex drawers that can be customized 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 picking the right one. They weighed the capacity of storage as well as layout, energy efficiency, and other aspects.
GE Profile Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator
The name of the series suggests that GE’s Profile series is targeted at people who want to incorporate cutting-edge technology into their kitchen. This fridge is loaded 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. Given that this fridge costs an extra amount, I’d like to see higher quality.
Aside from that blip, this fridge is a great option. It has a large freezer compartment which is uncommon for counter-depth French-door fridges. It also holds a lot of frozen food, which is a big difference from other models.
Inside the fridge, you’ll find 17 shelves and compartments. The fridge compartment is 18.5 cubic feet of space, which is about the same as an French door fridge that costs this much. It also has an adequate-sized icemaker that is tucked away in the left door, though it’s not the biggest I’ve seen.
You can alter the shelves in both compartments to make an individual storage solution. The interior design of the GE PYE22PYNFS is also attractive. The LED lighting is a nice feature and the storage bins have a third shelf that folds up beneath itself to make it possible to store items that are tall. The drawers have temperature controls that allow you to set them to Meat, Beverage or Deli settings. They’re easy to open and close, however I found their textured plastic coatings to be a bit hard on the fingers.
The GE PGE29BYTFS Smart Refrigerator comes with all the features you would expect from a refrigerator in 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, lets you control your fridge from anywhere in world, and it has many options for customizing. It also sends you notifications when the door is left unlocked and when the freezer or fridge needs to be defrosted, and when the filter requires a change.
It would be great it GE PYE22PYNFS could offer Precise Fill, an option available in a handful of GE refrigerators that allow users to set how many cups they want to dispense. It also has a countdown on the fridge’s display to display how much water you have left, but it’s not as useful 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 boasts a veggie compartment that helps keep vegetables and fruits fresher longer and dual compressors for the best preservation of food. The ice maker is one of the top we’ve tested and produces a pyramid-shaped Ice with low water usage. This refrigerator is a great option for households with a single member or kitchenettes looking for a built-in look and top-of-the-line food preservation.
This refrigerator was rated as the most efficient in our Refrigerators Test due to a variety of reasons. The freezer temperatures remained steady at just a few degrees Fahrenheit, and never fluctuating more than a fraction a degree–this is key to avoiding freezing burn. The refrigerator section of the refrigerator also did well. french door fridge and freezer reached the temperature it was set within a matter of hours, and remained at the temperature throughout our tests.
Bosch is known for its premium appliances which is why it’s no 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. The app lets you monitor and control your fridge from your tablet or smartphone. The refrigerator is expensive, but it comes with great features and capabilities for the cost.
While the fridge is an amazing appliance however, it is important to understand the limitations. You may need to get creative with tall items because the fridge is limited in shelf space. Additionally the shelves aren’t impervious to sprills and could be stained or damaged by sharp objects. The trays are easily removed from the fridge. However, they must be cleaned frequently to stop the growth of mold.
If you are thinking about this refrigerator, be sure to 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 refrigerator is a great choice for those who require lots of space within a small 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 on each door, two rows of spill-capture shelves and a set of sleeker drawers. The top shelf to the right can be folded down to make space for tall items. There’s also a full-width drawer for deli and an inside water dispenser.
This refrigerator has a freezer with an ice maker, making it simple to transfer frozen ice as needed. The freezer also has innovative design features such as sliding drawers that allow you to sort your things. It has a large bin for storing frozen food, and a separate container for ice.
Another cool feature of this refrigerator is its Smart InstaView panel. You can control the temperature, lighting and other aspects of your refrigerator from your smartphone. It’s a nice way to control and monitor your refrigerator, especially if you’re away from home.
Although the Smart InstaView is a neat feature, it doesn’t necessarily improve the overall performance of the refrigerator. The refrigerator took longer to defrost food and chill it than the other fridges we tried. This could be due to the bigger capacity.
The doors are another problem with this fridge. The handles with a sunken design let shorter people open them from the bottom. However, taller people still struggle to close them without slamming. It would have been better if they had a front-mounted handle.
The LG Counter-Depth MAX is a ideal option for those looking to combine the advantages of a French-door fridge’s aesthetics with an efficient layout. Its capacity is above average for counter-depth models, and it cools evenly. It’s also a little less than the most expensive counter depth refrigerators that have an icemaker, which makes 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 won’t break the budget. It’s a basic fridge that might not be as eye-catching like some of its competitors, but it still has enough features to make a suitable choice. Its most notable feature is the temperature adjustable drawer, helps to keep food items like vegetables and meat fresher longer. It also comes with a huge water dispenser and a decent ice machine that works fast.
Another great feature is the “Chill Drawer” that sits above the two crisper bins. This drawer lets you redirect some of the fridge’s cooling power directly to this area, which means you can keep food items that require extra attention. You can adjust this feature using an adjustable slider that is located just in the middle of the drawer. You can also use this feature to set a general cooling level for the whole fridge, but I’ve noticed that adjusting the general settings tends produce better results than specific ones.
During my tests, the refrigerator’s temperatures stayed fairly consistent across different areas of the fridge. The temperatures in the top and bottom of the fridge did not 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 make it into the top ten 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. This fridge can be paired with a smart thermostat to get more accurate readings on the internal temperature of your fridge.
The Frigidaire FGHB2866PF’s exterior is made of stainless steel with a grey body with a “smudge-proof” finish. It repels fingerprints and streaks better than other stainless steel finishes I’ve seen.
Stephanie Cronk, executive editor of Reviewed’s Commerce/Product Reviews Team, oversees the site’s buyer’s guides and product test reviews. She has more than 15 years of commerce and publishing experience, mostly in digital and retail. Stephanie is adamant about finding the most effective products and recommending them to consumers. She focuses on home goods and technology.