French door refrigerators are a relatively new design, first appearing in the 1990s, and are very popular. They incorporate the advantages of other refrigerator types. Like a top freezer fridge, each compartment is full-width. Like a side-by-side, the doors span half the width of the refrigerator, minimizing front clearance requirements and making the doors lighter and easier to open and close. And like a bottom freezer design, the freezer uses a pull-out drawer on the bottom of the refrigerator for easier access. The French door design's capacity and accessibility make it a nice upgrade over the default top freezer fridge for families, especially with wider fridges where the half-width doors are a necessity. However, these fridges have more sealing surfaces, causing greater air leakage and potentially lower efficiency. French door fridges generally tend to be pricier than other fridge configurations, even when considering models that have similar internals. Ice makers, both in-door and in-freezer, are a common feature on these fridges too; if you're interested in seeing how they work, check out our article on the topic.
If you're looking for the best French door fridge, take a look at our recommendations below. We've tested over 30 refrigerators and recommend these French door models based on their performance and capacity. Since refrigerators are routinely sold at considerable discounts, the price difference between our recommendations can be quite small. For more recommendations, see our picks for the best refrigerators, the best refrigerator brands, and the best counter-depth fridges.
We've recently started testing refrigerators. We purchase each unit independently from major retailers, just like you, to keep our reviews free of manufacturer influence. Each refrigerator undergoes the same tests to measure objective metrics such as temperature uniformity, produce preservation, and actual storage capacity, so you can easily compare results.
Want to learn more about how we operate? Check out our About Us page.
-
Best French Door Refrigerator
Everyday Use8.5Produce Preservation9.0Refrigerator Capacity8.3Freezer Capacity7.7Temperature Uniformity8.2Authorized Service Coverage8.8See all our test resultsParts Availability8.8If you don't mind spending a small fortune on a single appliance, the Café CGE29DP2TS1 is the best French door refrigerator that we've tested. This 36" standard-depth unit is based on the more pedestrian GE Profile PGE29BYTFS, with both fridges featuring an additional climate-controlled drawer and a dual-evaporator cooling system with an inverter-controlled compressor. That said, the Café features a whole raft of modifications to improve performance. The Café's pull-out drawer has a lower minimum temperature setting, allowing you to use it to gently thaw frozen items or soften up frozen treats like ice cream, but without letting it get too warm.
There's also additional freezer shelving space, and its crisper drawers seal considerably tighter, helping seal in moisture and keep fresh produce crisp for even longer. Temperatures are also impressively uniform throughout the fridge and freezer compartments, with no one section being notably warmer than the rest. In terms of serviceability, part availability for this fridge is good, and GE's network of authorized service providers reaches most parts of the USA.
-
Best Upper Mid-Range French Door Refrigerator
Everyday Use8.4Produce Preservation8.6Refrigerator Capacity8.3Freezer Capacity7.6Temperature Uniformity8.6Authorized Service Coverage9.0See all our test resultsParts Availability6.9If you're looking to spend less on a 36" French door model and don't mind foregoing the Café's extra climate-controlled drawer, the Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS is a stellar option. It offers a similar amount of usable space and offers good overall refrigeration performance, despite its simpler single-evaporator cooling system. Produce preservation performance is exceptional as long as you leave items like celery or lettuce in the crisper drawers: they'll wilt much faster outside of that well-sealed environment. Temperatures are highly consistent in the fridge and freezer compartments, though its door bins do get fractionally warmer than those of the Café. It runs noticeably quieter overall, too: while the Café is far from exorbitantly loud, the Bosch produces nothing more than a faint hum in standard operation.
There are a few small blemishes, however: the Bosch's in-door water and ice dispenser introduces more failure points than the Café's relatively simple in-freezer arrangement. While Bosch's service network is highly robust, making it easy to get in touch with an authorized repair technician, part availability isn't always consistent, so if something does go wrong, you might be stuck with a malfunctioning fridge for a longer period of time than you would be with the Café
-
Best Mid-Range French Door Refrigerator
Everyday Use8.0Produce Preservation8.0Refrigerator Capacity8.6Freezer Capacity7.0Temperature Uniformity8.5Authorized Service Coverage7.2See all our test resultsParts Availability8.1The best French door refrigerator we've tested in the mid-range category is the Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL. Unlike the pricier Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS, this fridge has dual evaporators, leading to excellent temperature uniformity performance, especially in the freezer. The separate evaporator keeps the fridge's humidity high, ensuring very good produce preservation even outside of the crisper drawer, the latter being a weak point for the Bosch. There's plenty of capacity in the fridge, with features including split shelving, many door bins, and two rows of storage drawers.
The water dispenser consists of a docked auto-refill pitcher, which saves space over externally accessible in-door water and ice dispensers. However, you have to fill your own glass using the pitcher and can't use the dispenser directly. The ice maker is in the freezer, which is a better location than the fridge for reliability. It produces two types of ice and deposits a substantial amount in a large tray. Unfortunately, this tray takes up 30% of the freezer space, resulting in less room than in the Bosch. It runs noticeably louder, too, though it's far from a racket.
-
Best Budget French Door Refrigerator
Everyday Use7.2Produce Preservation6.3Refrigerator Capacity8.9Freezer Capacity7.0Temperature Uniformity7.7Authorized Service Coverage8.6See all our test resultsParts Availability8.9Check out the Frigidaire FRFN2813AF if you're on a tight budget. This 36" standard-depth model offers more refrigerator capacity than the Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL, but otherwise falls a little short of the pricier models on this list. It features a relatively basic cooling system, consisting of a single evaporator and an inverter-controlled compressor. The fridge cabinet is quite dry overall, and the crisper drawers don't seal all that tightly: you can expect to see produce with a high moisture content, like lettuce or celery, to begin wilting within the span of a week or so. Temperature consistency performance within its fridge cabinet is also mediocre. The upper shelf is a few degrees warmer than the lowest, and the door bins are a few degrees beyond even that. As a result, we'd recommend only using the door bins for chilling shelf-stable condiments and drinks.
On the upside, serviceability is a high point. Frigidaire has a robust US service network, and general part availability is highly consistent, so you won't be stuck with an enormous paperweight if your fridge does experience an issue.
-
Best Counter-Depth French Door Refrigerator
Everyday Use8.1Produce Preservation9.0Refrigerator Capacity7.1Freezer Capacity6.7Temperature Uniformity8.4Authorized Service Coverage9.0See all our test resultsParts Availability9.1The Bosch 800 Series B36CT80SNS is the best French door refrigerator we've tested if you don't mind giving up some capacity and require a counter-depth refrigerator. It offers outstanding performance in nearly every category. Produce preservation is superb due to the well-sealing crisper drawers and the separate evaporator in the fridge, which keeps the humidity in the compartment fairly high. The refrigerator exhibits very good temperature uniformity in each compartment, allowing you to place groceries wherever you like in the fridge or freezer with confidence, knowing they're cooled to the right temperature regardless of their location. The freezer ice maker has a good production rate and a very large ice tray.
The refrigerator's high performance is due to its construction, which features not only dual evaporators but also dual compressors, similar to those found in commercial refrigerators. This feature prevents odor transfer between compartments and delivers precise temperature and humidity control. Due to its sophisticated build and high performance, this would be the best French door fridge we've ever tested. However, its main drawback is its counter-depth design, which compromises capacity. This refrigerator simply can't compete with the standard-depth Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS or Bosch 100 Series B36FD10ENS in terms of capacity. It's somewhat decent in the fridge, with multiple storage options to make the most of the limited 14-inch deep cabinet. But the freezer is quite cramped, and storing frozen food for even a small family here will be a struggle.
Notable Mentions
-
Bosch 100 Series B36FD10ENS:
The Bosch 100 Series B36FD10ENS features an identical internal layout to the Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS, offering the same impressive capacity and storage flexibility at a lower cost. However, it doesn't perform to the level of the Bosch 500 series, since the crisper drawers don't seal nearly as well, and the temperature uniformity is worse, especially in the fridge.
See our review -
LG LRFLC2706S:
The LG LRFLC2706S has a very high capacity for a counter-depth fridge, far more than the Bosch 800 Series B36CT80SNS. It has almost as much capacity as a standard-depth fridge. However, it doesn't perform like the flagship Bosch 800 in terms of preserving produce, although it's nearly comparable in terms of temperature uniformity.
See our review -
GE Profile PGE29BYTFS:
The GE Profile PGE29BYTFS is the cheaper version of the Café CGE29DP2TS1 and shares a similar overall design. That said, it uses different crisper shelves that don't seal as tightly, negatively impacting produce preservation performance. Its climate-controlled drawer also has a more limited range of temperature adjustments.
See our review -
Maytag MRFF4236RZ:
The Maytag MRFF4236RZ is a 36-inch standard-depth French door fridge. It has fewer features than the Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL and lacks capacity in its fridge and freezer cabinets, although it still offers good temperature uniformity and preserves produce well.
See our review -
Hisense HMS044M6RRE:
The Hisense HRM260N6TSE is a 36-inch standard-depth French door fridge. Compared to the Samsung Bespoke RF30BB6200QL, it offers comparable produce preservation performance and does a similarly good job of maintaining uniform temperatures in both cabinets. There's also the bonus of an additional temperature-controlled drawer. However, its in-fridge ice maker reduces usable space in its fridge.
Untested - Join the discussion
Recent Updates
Mar 19, 2026:
We did an extensive rework of this article due to current product pricing. We replaced the Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS with the Café CGE29DP2TS1 as the 'Best French Door Refrigerator' pick. We recategorized the Bosch 500 Series B36FD52SNS as the 'Best Upper Mid-Range French Door Refrigerator' pick. We added the Frigidaire FRFN2813AF as the 'Best Budget French Door Refrigerator' pick. We removed the Samsung RF32CG5400SR from the article.
Nov 14, 2025:
We made small text tweaks to further clarify product details. We also added the Hisense HRM260N6TSE and Maytag MRFF4236RZ to the Notable Mentions section of the article.
All Reviews
Our recommendations are based on what we think are currently the best options for most people. We don't just base our results on overall performance, but also on factors like availability, price, and reader feedback.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our French door refrigerator reviews. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no refrigerator is perfect for every use, most are good enough to please almost everyone (as long as they fit in your living space), and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.