In the quest for a perfect kitchen, refrigeration is a key element to consider when planning the necessary kitchen appliances. In the old days, kitchen refrigeration was fairly straightforward – pick a fridge, and you’re done. Today, it’s a far more complex challenge, as refrigeration varies tremendously, depending on your needs. There’s french door refrigerators, side-by-sides, built-in all fridge and all freezers – with varying depths, widths and capacities. In addition, for more specialized refrigeration, under counter refrigeration drawers, wine coolers, etc. all provide the ability to fine tune refrigeration to meet your specific culinary needs.
In assessing my own kitchen’s refrigeration, I initially was leaning towards a large refrigeration option – namely, a combination of the 32″ all fridge and all freezer units. But the more I studied the amount of kitchen space at my disposal, the more I realized I didn’t want to sacrifice that much cabinet area. I started looking at smaller refrigeration options paired with specialized refrigeration units, and I eventually decided on the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, the Electrolux Icon refrigeration drawers, and the Electrolux Icon wine cooler. In doing so, I have significantly more options in terms of integrating the refrigeration units in different areas of the kitchen, and in the case of the wine cooler, I can even integrate it into a different area of the house, if I so desire.
I took delivery of all three units precisely a month ago, and having used them for the past four weeks, I’ve been exceptionally happy with my decision to break up the refrigeration into multiple components. I’m going to be bringing you my experiences with all three Electrolux Icon appliances in the coming weeks, but today I’m going to look at the biggest unit of the three: the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator.
Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Design
In selecting a new refrigerator, the first element you’ll have to consider is it’s design, with french door, side-by-side and all-fridge / all-freezer combos the more common choices. Coming from a side-by-side, I was already familiar with both their advantages and drawbacks. On the plus side, they require minimal door clearance to open and the top half of the freezer is more easily accessible. The downside, however, is a major one: it’s virtually impossible to fit any large platter items into the fridge. When entertaining, this is a serious, serious problem.
As for the all fridge / all freezer option, I loved the idea of having that much refrigeration at my disposal, but the downside was giving up over five feet of cabinet space to make it happen. Plus, despite wanting a large freezer, in truth, much of its space would have gone unused, as neither I or my family tends to eat much frozen food. The last negative is door size – because all fridge and all freezers use large single doors, they require more clearance to ensure the proper flow of traffic through the kitchen.
This led me to look at the Electrolux Icon French Door design. It is, in a nutshell, the best of both worlds. Up top, the large refrigerator area opens completely, making it possible to store a tremendously large serving platter or wide item with ease, much like an all fridge unit. Because it utilizes two doors up top, however, it requires much less clearance than a single door – similar to that of a side-by-side. As for the negative, the lone downside is that the freezer is located at the bottom of the unit, making it a less accessible than the other options. However, when realizing how little I use the freezer in relationship to the refrigerator, I’ve found the french door design to be far more usable than my previous side-by-side unit, and as I’ll discuss in the next section, the freezer’s storage space and divided drawer design further alleviates any accessibility issues you may be worrying about.
Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Space
In making the switch to the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, my biggest concern was space. Because it notes a cabinet-depth design, with an exact cabinet depth of 23 5/8″, the Electrolux Icon notes a 23 Cu. Ft. capacity – larger than many other french door refrigerators, but slightly less than the side-by-side I was replacing. Despite my initial concerns, a month later, I’m ecstatic with the switch, especially in terms of size.
Due to its incredibly thoughtful design with completely customizable shelving, the Electrolux Icon French Door refrigerator easily holds everything my previous refrigerator was capable of holding, and then some. On the left side of the refrigerator is a spacious area for milk and large liquid items, with a second adjustable shelf above, giving you the ability to store a second level of taller items – including half gallons of milk, liquids, etc. On the right side of the fridge, there’s a total of three adjustable shelves along with the base shelf (four levels in total), with all the adjustable shelves noting thin glass spill-resistant designs thanks to their upwardly curved edges. The beauty of the adjustable shelves, however, is the tremendous amount of flexibility they afford. Should you prefer to store your liquids in the doors, for example, you can move one of the adjustable shelves from the right side of the fridge to the left, thus providing multiple full-length shelving spans – perfect if you have multiple large serving trays.
And while we’re on the subject of doors, each door notes its own shelving, ideal for liquids and/or condiments. On the left side door, there’s a total of two shelves, with the top smaller shelf big enough to hold a half gallon of milk, whereas the bottom shelf is easily capable of storing several bottles of wine. On the right door, there’s a total of two adjustable shelves, an upper enclosed storage bin, and a bottom mounted shelf that tips down for easier access. Personally, I use the door shelving for various condiments and small items, but because of their adjustability, you can easily use them for a variety of taller items as well, per your own needs. It’s incredibly customizable, and incredibly efficient at storing whatever you need it to.
Moving past the Electrolux Icon’s vast amount of adjustable shelving, another storage feature I absolutely love is a pair of side-by-side custom temp drawers – perfect for storing fresh produce – and each of which offers individual humidity controls. Underneath the two side-by-side custom temp drawers, a third larger custom temp drawer spans the width of the fridge, allowing you to set a custom temp for virtually anything you can think of. There’s a total of 9 preset settings including meat/poultry, white/sparkling wine, fish/shellfish and cheese; and there’s a total of 3 customizable favorite settings that allow you set any custom temps you desire. The beauty of the drawer (in addition to its customizable temperature) is its size, with space big enough for a birthday cake, numerous bottles of wine, a plethora of cheese, or pretty much anything that needs a large, uninterrupted surface area.
That takes care of the Electrolux Icon French Door refrigeration storage; then there’s the freezer. As is the case with the upper refrigerator, Electrolux ingeniously engineered the freezer with a series of adjustable storage bins. There’s a total of two individually movable shelves with dividers, allowing you to arrange your freezer with extreme precision. Because it’s common for frozen food to be packaged in boxes, the shelving makes it easy to arrange your frozen goods in an easy-to-find manner, with minimal wasted space. As for the lower bin, it’s a deep, spacious area perfect for large frozen items. In my freezer, I use the left half of the lower bin to store frozen poultry (I currently have a frozen turkey, multiple packs of organic chicken breasts, etc.), whereas the right side is designated for beef and other red meats (of which I have plenty).
It’s really a fantastic design, and while I was unsure how much the freezer would be capable of holding, I’m amazed at how much more efficient the Electrolux french door design is than my outgoing side-by-side. There’s so much less wasted space, and the sliding shelves make it absolutely simple to organize and find whatever frozen items I need. And that’s really the greatness of the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator as a whole. Its intelligent design makes it so much more accessible than other refrigerators. Unlike in other designs, where food goes in, gets moved to the back, and is discovered a month later, everything in the Electrolux Icon is so much more visible. Best of all, because you can make the storage work exactly the way you need it to, it’s still capable of holding a tremendous amount of food. It’s simply brilliant.
Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Styling
When selecting an Electrolux Icon french door refrigerator, there’s a total of four design options, with key differences being firstly your choice of handles in either the Professional or Designer series, and secondly, whether or not the electronic display, ice maker and water dispenser are visible on the outside of the unit. I personally love the look of the Electrolux Icon Professional Series, which notes more industrial, rounder handles, and I opted for exterior electronic controls and ice maker, simply because I preferred having the controls easily accessible on the outside. All of the units look great, however, and you really can’t go wrong with any.
As with all the appliances in the Electrolux Icon range, the French Door Refrigerator notes a gorgeous industrial design with styling at home in virtually any kitchen. With a completely flat front, the Electrolux icon refrigerator looks like solid hunk of steel – a style further complimented by the finished stainless steel sides. Finished steel sides are especially important for stand alone designs or installations where the edge of the refrigerator is partially exposed, as there’s nothing worse than having a kitchen full of stainless steel appliances only to have the black edge of your refrigerator exposed.
Inside, my absolute favorite styling element is the theater lighting. When you open the door, gorgeous LED lighting located throughout the refrigerator illuminates your food, and while it sounds like a minor feature, it’s a gorgeous lighting design that just makes your food look better, and is one of my favorite things about the refrigerator. Another interior element I’ve come to love is the thin glass shelving, which not only looks great, but makes cleaning up spills a breeze. As a whole, the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator looks fantastic, and it matches the rest of my Electrolux Icon appliances beautifully.
Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Performance
Using the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator for the first month, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. In assessing its most important duty – it’s ability to keep food at the appropriate temperature – the Electrolux Icon has performed flawlessly, maintaining its set temperature perfectly in both the main storage area and the custom temp drawer. And because you can set the custom temp drawer to a different temperature than the main area, you can keep specific foods fresher, longer. In truth, there’s not a whole to say about the refrigeration element, other than it works, exactly as you expect it to.
From a technological standpoint, the Electrolux Icon has numerous features that aid in its everyday use, with one of the most used in my family being an alert if the door is left open. My two year old loves sneaking into the fridge when no one is looking, so having an audible alert when he leaves the door open is a fantastic feature. Another thing I love is the electronic control panel on the front of the fridge, allowing you to control everything from the refrigerator and freezer temperatures, ice and water settings, sound settings, etc., all from a single, easy-to-use panel. Other notable technology features that I’ve yet to use (but still am happy to have) include a power failure alarm as well as an alert if either the freezer or refrigerator goes above a certain temperature.
The final performance element to note is the ice maker and water dispenser, both of which have worked as advertised. Featuring a PureAdvantage filtration system, the Electrolux Icon produces crystal clear ice in both regular and crushed varieties, with the capability to make up to 9 pounds per day. Compared to my previous refrigerator, the ice is remarkably clear and tastes significantly better, but my go-to for ice is still my dedicated Electrolux Icon ice maker. For those without a dedicated ice maker, however, the Electrolux Icon refrigerator is the next best thing.
Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Conclusion
A month after purchasing the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, the Electrolux has become an absolutely gorgeous new addition to my kitchen. Its storage is ingeniously designed, helping it hold more food than my outgoing refrigerator, despite its cabinet-depth design. It’s theater lighting is stunning. And its beautifully industrial design makes it at home in virtually any kitchen. There simply isn’t anything not to love about the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator, and it’s a fantastic choice for anyone currently shopping for new refrigeration in their own home.
Pricing for the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator varies between $3,200 and $3,700, with pricing higher should you opt for the external ice maker and electronic control panel. You can learn more about the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator at the offical Electrolux Icon website, and you can see photos of the Electrolux Icon French Door Refrigerator Professional Series in the gallery below.
