Let's talk refrigerators

[denisem]

So we're in the market for a new refrigerator. We currently have a side by side with water/ice dispenser in the freezer door - which I REALLY like, even though it's a struggle storing larger freezer items.

DH is interested in french door fridge with bottom freezer, and since I haven't looked at refrigerators for years, I haven't a clue of the logistics on water/ice dispensers with a bottom freezer.

Any insight or opinions are appreciated!

 

[lauradis]

love Ice and water in the door.

Depends what you keep in your freezer we have two freezers. one in the garage big stand up one, we use it for mostly meat storage and large items.

The one upstairs in the kitchen connected to the freg is side by side. is more veggie, convenience foods.

I like the drawn ones better, because we use the frig top part more.

 

[jen73]

http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RF23HCEDTSR/AA

we just got this one a couple of weeks ago at Lowes. The selling point for me was that there are two ice makers: one in the door and one in the freezer down below. Love it! In the last ten years, we have always had a bottom freezer and it hasn't bothered us, seems to be more space for bigger items than the old side by side we had years ago.

 

[havaneselover]

We have an LG French Door refrigerator with ice/water in the door. I love it. We purchased it in 2010 I believe. No issues. I got mine through Sears on sale and used ebates.

 

[PaulaSB12]

I am looking for a new fridge freezer and am deciding about having an american style fridge freezer. How do you find them for storage? Do you use the water and ice often. Do you who have dogs ever find them using them as i have seen on youtube.

 

[mnrose]

Samsung makes a french door with water/ice. I love my Samsung french door. LOVE it. It is so spacious, and holds WAY more than the identically sized side by side that it replaced. French door is the only way to go. You get very wide shelves that actually hold BIG pans when the need arises.

It is also pretty to look at. Doesn't show too many prints (mine is stainless), super quiet, and much more energy efficient than the one it replaced (which was 8 years old).

 

[kmb584]

http://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LFX29927ST-french-3-door-refrigerator is the one I picked out when I had my kitchen remodeled in 2013. I love it! It has a ton of storage space and the freezer is a generous size.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

So we're in the market for a new refrigerator. We currently have a side by side with water/ice dispenser in the freezer door - which I REALLY like, even though it's a struggle storing larger freezer items.

DH is interested in french door fridge with bottom freezer, and since I haven't looked at refrigerators for years, I haven't a clue of the logistics on water/ice dispensers with a bottom freezer.

Any insight or opinions are appreciated!

I am interested in this as well. We are not big on using the freezer.

We have a fridge in the basement that is a "bottom freezer" but it is not a "french door". There is more room to put larger items in the fridge. It does NOT have a ice/water dispenser so that adds space.

We have a side by side in the kitchen with the ice/water dispenser.

The only issue is the ice/water thing. It does eat space in your fridge and it is messy.

My ideal would be to get REAL ice maker in the kitchen so I could have the space in the fridge.

 

[barkley]

grew up w/old traditional freezer on top/no ice maker. for the last 16 years have had side by sides w/ice and water makers. I like my side by sides-but I have a stand up freezer in the garage that holds the bulk of the frozen foods. the side by side freezer is basically for holding frozen breakfast foods, common baking stuff (flour, chips/nuts), and frozen snacks so the space the ice/water maker takes up isn't a huge issue. I'm not a fan of top freezers b/c stuff gets buried behind other stuff, not a fan of bottom b/c stuff gets stacked on top of stuff so in both cases it becomes an artic digging expedition.

only experience w/side by sides that have ice/water is db's and some neighbors. when we visited db for a week we quickly realized that despite having the 2 French doors on his-they pretty much just use one side -the right that doesn't have the ice/water maker. the other side they store stuff in but it's less frequently used stuff. after seeing this I started noticing when I would visit neighbors w/French door fridges and they did the same thing. I finally asked one what the deal was-she explained that since the ice/water maker ate up space on the left hand side it was just easier to put most things on the right-so smaller/storage types of things (condiments and such) ended up on the left. several of them refer to the left had side as their 'holding area', it's where odds and ends go, along with newer purchases that then get moved over to the right side as the existing stuff on the right is consumed.

 

[Squirlz]

We bought a LG side by side in 2008. It's nice but we grew to dislike the space inefficiency. We made it the bar fridge when we built the garage in 2010 and got a French door LG with 2 freezer drawers. We like it a lot.

Both have ice and water in the door which has no impact on space for our needs.

 

[Dee77]

We renovated our kitchen this year and bought all new appliances.. My DH was so against getting a French door fridge because they mostly lead to things getting stacked and needing to be pulled out to get to the bottom of the freezer. We bought the Samsung 4 door, it looks like a side by side with bottoms doors that are freezer space but one of them can be changed to fridge space very easily with the front panel controls.. It has a great water and ice feature on the door. It is huge at 31 cubic feet and everyone that has visited all have to take a look inside and all agree that the set up is genius. It is expensive $4,000 but we bought it during Black Friday week which is the best time of the year to buy major appliances and got it for $2,700. Good luck, I never thought I would spend so much money or time picking out a fridge but it really is an essential part of your house that requires attention in the details..

 

[Miskey]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Frigidai...1&srccode=cii_10043468&cpncode=34-257166004-2

Link is for refrigerator only, freezer is separate purchase along with trim kit.

We have a separate refrigerator and freezer that looks like one unit, but are actually completely separate, full size units.

I didn't like when we had indoor water/ice dipensers because they were too hard to clean

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I love my side by side fridge and that's what I always want now. I very seldom completely fill up the freezer so I don't need a big freezer.

My inlaws have a freezer on the bottom fridge and love it but when you open the door to the fridge it completely blocks access to their small kitchen which would drive me nuts. LOL

 

[Bluestars]

I have a side-by-side with an ice/water dispenser in one of the doors. When we get to a point of replacing it, I will definitely get one with the freezer on the bottom. Several of my relatives have that type and they are so much better.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Samsung makes a french door with water/ice. I love my Samsung french door. LOVE it. It is so spacious, and holds WAY more than the identically sized side by side that it replaced. French door is the only way to go. You get very wide shelves that actually hold BIG pans when the need arises.

It is also pretty to look at. Doesn't show too many prints (mine is stainless), super quiet, and much more energy efficient than the one it replaced (which was 8 years old).

Is it this model?

I love the ice maker in the bottom as a feature!

 

[Disney Doll]

I hate my side by side fridge and can't wait til it dies.
As a matter of fact, I pray for it to die every day.

Then I'll get a French door fridge on top freezer on bottom.

 

[mnrose]

I hate my side by side fridge and can't wait til it dies.
As a matter of fact, I pray for it to die every day.

Then I'll get a French door fridge on top freezer on bottom.

That's how mine was. I hated it. And, when it stopped working one day (out of the blue, no warning), I was secretly very happy, even though it was an utter pain to deal with. But, now I am very happy with my fridge.

When mine stopped working, I refused to even call a repair guy. I told my husband it was time for new. If it was one I liked, I might have tried to repair it, but it was one I hated every time I opened it. LOL

 

[scheddj]

http://www.lg.com/us/refrigerators/lg-LFX29927ST-french-3-door-refrigerator is the one I picked out when I had my kitchen remodeled in 2013. I love it! It has a ton of storage space and the freezer is a generous size.

I have the same one. I love it.

 

[chrissyt27]

We had an electrolux that went out after only 3.5 years. My dad had the same issue so we knew it was coming. I was told by many people to stay away from GE and Samsung. A friend who works for GE said she would never buy one even with her huge discount. And then a friend's boyfriedn works for HH Gregg and he said never Samsung. They are all crap and he would't take one if you paid him.

We got an LG French Door refrigerator 28 cubic foot with ice/water in the door from Lowes for $1874. It was the same price at Best Buy and Menards. I ordered online with a 10% off coupon and went through Upromise to get $102 back. This was better than Ebates. I got the 4 year warranty.
I really like the French Door. It has so much space. We have a stand up freezer too, but I like the freezer. I feel like I can find stuff easier in the bottom drawer. We really wanted a 2nd ice maker, but it was $1000 more for 30 cubic square foot and it did have a few more lights, but I think ours is plenty bright.
DH uses a ton of ice, we just keep the bottom full too if we plan to need more. we have had a few weeks now and love it.


This is what we got, but it was onsale. Pus I used a 10% off online.
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...06114-49317-LFX28968ST&storeId=10151&N=0&Ntt=

 

[Simba's Mom]

So we're in the market for a new refrigerator. We currently have a side by side with water/ice dispenser in the freezer door - which I REALLY like, even though it's a struggle storing larger freezer items.

DH is interested in french door fridge with bottom freezer, and since I haven't looked at refrigerators for years, I haven't a clue of the logistics on water/ice dispensers with a bottom freezer.

Any insight or opinions are appreciated!

We're also looking at a new refrigerator. Ours is 11 yo, so we're just "pre-shopping" for when it dies. Currently we have a side-by-side and at first I hated it because of the small, narrow freezer. But we bought a small separate freezer for the garage and are now fine. But, like your DH, I really liked the looks of the french door/bottom freezer ones. However, in shopping, I discovered that the french door ones are several hundred dollars more. Side by sides are often as cheap as top freezers, making them seem OK to me. Color-I like the looks of stainless steel, but I hear it shows fingererprints, and I'm not a great housekeeper. How about the fingerprint-free stainless steel. And we've always been Whirlpool devotees, probably going with either that or maybe GE or Fridgedare.