French Door Refrigerator ?

[luvmarypoppins]

Our refrig. has just about died, so I am looking online right now. I am leaning toward the french door one, but maybe not with the ice machine in the door.

Everytime I think I like one, I start reading the reviews and they say dont buy this brand etc, terrible problems.

So if you have one, which brand do you have and have you had any problems, TIA for any information

 

[PatsMom]

I haven't really heard too much about the French doors. I do know that I was correct when I told my husband NOT to get the freezer on the bottom style. It has given us nothing but grief. I am curious to hear what you finally decide on because we are thinking about replacing ours and the French door ones look nice. Unfortunately I do have to stick with stainless steel since replacing the stove and hood would be a major remodel of the kitchen.

 

[chuckml]

We have a Frigidaire that we bought when we built our house in 2001. We haven't had any problems with it at all, but just remember that the freezers are on the smallish side of a side by side frig. There is technically plenty of square footage, but it is so tall and narrow that odd size things can be a bit of a hassle. Overall, I like the style though, and I do like the water and ice dispenser on the door.

 

[Poohforyou]

We've had a Kenmore Elite for 5 years with no issues. I LOVE having a french door fridge. I is so nice not to constantly rearrange things to fit in a big item.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

A friend of mine remodeled her kitchen a few months ago and was just showing me hers (not sure of the brand but I know it wasn't cheap). She likes the bottom freezer but doesn't like the refrigerator section she says because the space isn't well organized or sectioned off. Small items were a problem with nowhere for them to go and a lot of wasted space on top. That's all I know as far as what she said.

I checked a bunch out last year when I thought our side by side died. It didn't, thankfully, but if I was buying then I would have gotten another side by side as I didn't think the space was laid out as well as in the side by side. (And that was before my friend had used hers.)

I do think they look really nice and I would definitely consider getting the ice maker on the outside. Ours has broken and I really miss it!

 

[abdmom]

I had a Frenchdoor LG in my last house, which I loooved. I couldn't find the same one where I moved to. I now have a Maytag Frenchdoor which I don't like at all.

 

[LindaG4458]

We have the Amana French door refrigerator with the bottom freezer. It's five years old and hasn't given us any problems.

I'd buy the same unit for our NH home but it won't fit in the kitchen.

 

[lisajl]

We have a Whirpool Gold french door fridge. It is almost 2 years old and we have had no problems with it at all.
I love it. Growing up we had an old fridge with the freezer on the bottom, loved it then and now.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I have an LG French Door. I like it but I wouldn't say that I love it. But then again I didn't love our side by side or our traditional style either. This time we looked at pretty much EVERY model of refrigerator available in a 25 mile radius and picked the best one to match our needs.

My biggest complaint is that it is very difficult to find space for tall things. And since we shop at Costco and Sam's a lot it can be a problem. Also our freezer frosts over everything. I had the repair guy out and he couldn't find a problem but I think I may call again because I don't think it should be doing that.

I do love that the most used area of the refrigerator is at eye level, it is so much easier to find things.l

Here are the things that we looked for:

Ice Maker-- I had to have one but hated how much space they took up in the door. We finally decided to just go with an ice maker in the freezer, with no in door delivery. I actually have not liked our ice dispensers because the ice gets thrown on the floor, the drain tray gets nasty and my kids think it is a great toy. And they tend to break easily so my engineer husband hates them.

Drawers: This was a big deal. Many of the French Door models have a long skinny drawer (for meat and cheese) on the bottom, and the cover will open automatically as you open the drawer. But we found many where the drawer only comes out part way so you end up awkwardly sticking your hand into the neverland in the back to try to find things. I wanted the drawer to come out as far as possible. Also some of them would close on your fingers if you weren't careful (DH found that out!). And I wanted good quality wheels. Some of them were really cheap and it was obvious they would break easily.

Usable Door space-- think about what you like to store on the door and see if you will have enough space. Consider that most of your tall things (2 liter bottles, milk gallons, wine bottles) will have to go on the door, and then mostly small things in the other bins. I don't have enough room for even a large salad dressing bottle. Mostly I have small jelly and salsa type containers because that is all that fits. This is another reason I didn't want the ice maker in the door-- very little space for tall things anyway (without losing a shelf)

Door Alarm-- some styles (like my LG) have doors that don't close easily. You can't just let go with a small push like with other styles. So it is important to have a door alarm that you can hear if you don't get it shut all the way. Mine can also be turned on and off easily so when I am cleaning it out I don't have to keep hearing it beep!

Overall I do like it much better than our side by side. I have a large upright freezer and a traditional style refrigerator/freezer in the garage so I have plenty of other options for things and am not trying to fit everything into the kitchen so that makes it easier for me.

Good luck on your search!

 

[NAB]

I have a Magtag French door fridge , never had any problems with it , meaning repairs.

That being said I don't think you can fit in as much as a regular fridge. So putting left over away in bowls is a pain. Plus I do have an ice maker/water and the ice maker is on the top self and of course as to take some of the door to despense ice. This means less door space for condements.

Plus I find stuff freezes if it is beside the ice maker.

On the plus side I love the deli drawer, can really fit alot in there.