Refrigerator...Side by Side VS French door

[jujubiee4]

Hi looking to get a new refrigerator at the end of the year during holiday sales. Just wondering if you
went from a side by side to a french door type and happy. Or even vice versa. Have a side by side right
now and DH likes the look of the french door style but I'm not sure.

Looking for experiences/recommendations. Thanks!!

 

[MS_Warrior]

I have a french door refrigerator with the freezer below and I love it. Everyone I’ve known who had a true side by side said the freezer and fridge were too small, but I’ve never owned one personally.

 

[tvguy]

My wife and I have had a side by side for the past 38 years and grew up with french door with the freezer on the bottom. The advantage to the french door is you can place items you need frequently at the top of the freezer and refrigerator section and less used items on the bottom. I just remember my 88 year old mother having to get down on the floor to get anything out of the bottom freezer of her french door. No thank you.

 

[shawthorne44]

The only reason I tolerate our side-by-side is that it was free, and we have a standup freezer and a drink fridge on the back porch that also has a freezer. The freezer is about 10" wide, so anything wider than that I put in one of the other units

 

[zackiedawg]

Replaced my side-by-side just 6 months ago - had that one for 16 years and it was still working, but getting worn down, ice machine wasn't working as well, and didn't seem to stay as cold anymore. Really thought those french-door ones looked so cool and fancy, and one complaint had been the size of the freezer on my old one...but fridge size was good. Also, needed water and ice in door. Once I started shopping and comparing fridge & freezer cubic foot dimensions, every single french-door version with bottom freezer had LESS freezer capacity than my old fridge, with some having a few cu. ft more fridge space. Then I started looking for side-by-sides with the most room, and found I could get a model with 2 Cu ft more fridge space than my old one, PLUS 3 cu. ft more freezer space than my old one - 4 more than any french door version...so I decided to stick to side-by-side. Very glad I did - massive improvement in freezer space now over what I had before and still more fridge space too (big change with the newer side-by-side with ice and water is that they moved the ice maker to the door, which opened up a big extra space in the freezer where the old ice bin used to be).

 

[crazycatstacy]

We have a side by side and the freezer width is small- you cannot fit a frozen pizza in straight on.

 

[havaneselover]

French door with two freezer doors. I would never go back to side by side.

 

[firefly_ris]

I one million percent hate my side by side but it's still working fine so I don't have any real need to replace it now. Both sides are too small, especially when making trays or large meals for entertaining. When the time comes I would either do a french door or just a standard one with the freezer on top. We keep 90% of our frozen stuff in our large upright freezer so don't need much freezer space in the kitchen fridge.

The only side by side I have been good with is my parents' 32 year old Sub-Zero fridge, but it is absolutely gigantic so has plenty of wide shelf space -- I don't live in nearly the same size home (nor have a Sub-Zero budget...).

 

[elsbit]

I have a GE Cafe and I love it. I use that middle drawer for drinks and cheese, but you can turn it into a freezer if you want.

 

[quandrea]

Hate the french door and the side by side. Much prefer one door with freezer drawer on the bottom. My next fridge will be a Sub Zero.

 

[cvjw]

Went from side by side to French door and never looked back. On my second French door. The first one was a Samsung, and had the dreaded ice maker issue. Goggle it. Don’t buy a Samsung.

Replaced with a kitchenaid French door to match all my other appliances. Love it. My kitchenaid holds much more than the Samsung did, and the freezer section is so well designed.

 

[loves to dive]

We have a side by side with the ice and water in the door. We love it. Have had it for over 18 years and the only problems we've had has been the water line in the back burst. Hubby replaced that. I like the look of the french door but as I get older the thought of having to bend over every time I want some ice cream isn't very pleasing. My mama had one back in the day that had the top as one door and the freezer on the bottom similar to the french door. I hated it. We will probably get another side by side when the time comes.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

All I can add is if you think you are going to need a replacement, order it sooner than later.
There is a huge backlog of low inventory among appliances in at least the South.
Several plants shut down for months during the height of the lockdowns and they are still trying to catch up production.

We ordered a fridge on black friday with an original delivery date of 10 days out, we did not get it until end of Feb and that is with us getting bumped up the list due to other customers cancelling their orders.
We knew our fridge was on its last leg and was about to go out, thus why we purchased new. We ended up having to go to Lowes and buying a temp apartment size to hold us over, which is now the beer fridge in the garage.

We ended up going with a KitchenAid, to match the other appliance. It's a French Door. Do not buy Samsung. There is a plant about 45 mins from us, we know several ppl who work there and even they say, not to buy them.

 

[Artygal90]

Going against the grain here a little - I much prefer our side-by-side to my parents’ French door (I’ve never owned a French door personally but lived with theirs for several years and still deal with it when I go over for a visit ). I find it much easier to see everything I have at once and keep things organized in the side by side, vs. having to dig through layers of items in the freezer drawer. There are many long-forgotten frozen items languishing in the bottom of my parents’ freezer because there’s just a bunch of stuff on top!

However, I mostly just meal prep for the two of us, and don’t really ever need lots of space in our fridge to keep large items (eg a turkey or a big plate of hors d’oeuvres) chilled. If you really value having lots of square footage in the fridge a French door might be better.

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have a side by side, and also skipped french door the last time around, because less freezer space. One thing I will say is that I purposely went for a counter depth unit and it has made a huge difference. My refrigerator is near a corner, and it has made using the counter space in that corner more comfortably possible than before. So this one is actually slightly smaller than the previous one, but way worth that sacrifice. (this would not be a factor in many kitchens but in mine it was a great decison).

 

[tvguy]

We have a side by side and the freezer width is small- you cannot fit a frozen pizza in straight on.

LOL. True. But who buys frozen pizza anymore?

 

[karen4546]

I have a new Samsung side by side with pocket handles. I was looking for a refrigerator with pocket handles and so i bought the matching set. Mixed reviews, I like it overall. It is quite a bit larger than our previous side-by-side.

 

[elgerber]

I really like my side by side. We got a french door model in 2016, I love the fridge part but I really found my old side by side freezer, easier to find things and get things in and out of. My old ice maker worked way better than this one.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We have the french door type, with ice/water on it, and we love it. It looks much like the picture above, with the extra drawer--handy for trays or platters, and has its own temperature controls. Ours is a Samsung--I didn't realize their ice maker was a known issue, but I will say that ours drips occasionally, and sometimes freezes up--literally--DH has to get out a hair dryer to free it up. We live in the south and are a family of 5, so we go through a lot of ice. (DS15, my iced coffee fiend, is usually the culprit).

 

[FQLover]

I buy frozen pizzas. Judging from how many are in the freezer section at every grocery store, I venture to guess a lot of other people do, too. Red Barron Classic Crust Supreme. My DD's favorite!