<p>I’ve had a counter-depth bottom freezer Amana for at least 10 years, replacing a very old and completely horrible SubZero side-by-side. For me, a side by side is the worst possible design, period. Love the bottom freezer. Now, I would love to replace the bottom freezer with a French door style. A key point to me: get an icemaker in the freezer, NOT ice and water through the door. That takes up far too much room in the fridge. My mother has had a Whirlpool french door model for a year, and loves it. When I was looking at them a year or so ago the KitchenAid seemed well-designed.</p>
<p>My mother also has a Bosch dual fuel range, and loves that too. I’m not certain of the width: either 30 or 36". It has continuous grates, a convection oven, and (she says) a great broiler. The new CR Buying Guide is apparently out, but since they do not review most of the “professional style” cooking appliances I find them of limited use. But I believe they like the Bosch.</p>
<p>Consolation, why don’t you like the side-by-side design? That’s what I’ve had for 30 years or so and I like it. Or maybe I’m just used to it and can’t consider anything else. </p>
<p>I agree, BTW, about the ice/water dispenser in the door. It seems to me it takes up an inordinate amount of space.</p>
<p>^Kitchen Aid has a french door style with ice maker in the freezer and water dispenser inside the frig. I actually hate the look of the water/ice dispenser on the outside…much prefer the “cleaner” look of nothing on the outside door.</p>
<p>The Bosch dishwashers are fantastic, I have had mine a while and they are quiet and use very little water, and we have had no problems with them. The Bosch Dishwasher wasn’t all that much more expensive then the ‘premium’ line with similar features that Kenmore and the others advertise, stainless steel interior and so forth, if I remember it was less then 100 bucks difference…and quite frankly, based on my own experience and from reading the Consumers reports blogs and talking to people, the standard brands dishwasher croak at about 5 years, and I from what I can tell the Bosch ones don’t.</p>
<p>I hate side by sides because in my experience there isn’t enough room on either side. One cannot, for example, chill a couple of entire poached salmons on platters</p>
<p>This may not be a concern to most people, but it is to me. :)</p>
<p>Wondering if folks have the same issue we have with our new d/w- that the water conservation principles make the cycles much longer. </p>
<p>Yes, the general pro complaints about side-by-sides is that the freezer width isn’t very accommodating for wide items or trays. Funny to try to stuff in pizzas. I got used to it. I like some items at eye level, less bending. But, love the idea of the French fridge section.</p>
<p>Consolation, agree with your assessment of side by sides because the biggest pizza box won’t fit. That’s really important to my family. Chilling a couple of entire poached salmons on platters? --Not so much. LOL!!</p>
<p>I guess you adapt to what you have. I grew up with a side by side… we never ran out of room. We would not dream of putting pizza in the fridge still in the box, we’ve always wrapped it a few slices at a time in tin foil… feels neater that way. I can’t imagine what else wouldn’t fit, besides maybe a platter of salmon. </p>
<p>I have a french door fridge now and we can’t even fill half the space and my freezer looks like a tornado hit it, and I hate it. I want to get a regular freezer for the garage and only use the inside freezer for things we use daily. That, I feel, is a decent compromise. Once the house is ready for entertaining I figure maybe we’ll use more of the space in the french door fridge.</p>
<p>I figure we will get used to the French door the same way we got used to the side by side. We had a 71 inch height limit with our counter depth fridge. The Kitchenaid French door was only 19 cuft…the smallest of the ones we looked at. That is why it fell off of the list.</p>
<p>I like having the water on the outside. It saves opening the door a lot…we use ours frequently especially in the summer. There seemed to be plenty of fridge room in the fridge section despite the ice water contraption.</p>
<p>I’m looking forward to the Bosch dishwasher. I hope I like it as much as everyone else!</p>
<p>Our dishwasher does run much longer than our old crappy one, but it does seem to save water so I’m ok with that, plus it’s so quiet, who cares? I’m glad the former owners chose it when they upgraded the kitchen, but can’t figure out why they left the old 70’s laminate counters and floors in place…</p>
<p>Thumper-sounds like you made great choices! Please let me know how you like your dw when you get it installed, and the features you like the best. I’m shopping for a new dishwasher since we are going to remodel the kitchen. </p>
<p>The one appliance I said must stay is my french door fridge. I LOVE it. I dislike the side by sides for the reasons mentioned–you really can’t store large items in it. The pizzas are more an issue for the freezer than fridge. With the french door fridge you can put a large pizza in the freezer in 1/2 of the bottom section and it lays flat. Mine has sliding drawers above the large section where I can put ice cream, small items, etc. I love being able to have the fridge section where you can place large deli trays or pizzas (premade but not cooked from Costco) etc in the large drawer. I have not run out of space in my french door fridge–I always seemed to run out in my regular fridge (not a side by side). So happy with it. I have the water/ice in door also, since I knew if I had the water inside I wouldn’t use it so it wouldn’t be worth having it.</p>
<p>It’s interesting you say that. A few months ago, I was all psyched to buy a new fridge and washer dryer. I figured I had to read Consumer Reports to find out which one to buy. Growing up, they were the gold standard of objectivity.</p>
<p>I was disappointed. The models they gave high marks to I couldn’t find anywhere – not on the company’s website, not on Home Depot. Plus the ones they raved about got negative reviews by users who posted right on the CR website. So who was raving about these items and why? </p>
<p>Plus some items (hot water heaters) just hadn’t been reviewed ever.</p>
<p>I canceled the CR subscription. I think fridges are like colleges – there is always SOMEONE who will post how terrible the experience was. You have to go with your gut. Keep us posted.</p>
<p>I chose the Bosch based on a prior thread here and thank you all! My mom hated my old dishwasher (too loud, took too long, dishes not so clean) and one week after she died the thing started leaking out of the bottom. Ok mom, I get the message! I purchased the 500 series, then heard her voice saying “why scrimp” so called the shop and signed up for the next model up. A few minutes later the shop called back to say they were running a special and the next model up was the same price as the mid model. Thanks mom! Then there was a $70 rebate. So. I have the top of the line Bosch and you can hardly hear the thing and it runs beautifully and my dishes have never been so clean. We’ll see if it holds up! So far so good =). I’m afraid to let my mom know the fridge’s ice maker is on the fritz. Don’t really want a new fridge now, lol. But that GE cafe series french door model looks very nice =))). Pricey tho!</p>
<p>A chocolate mousse cake for a crowd. Chocolate roll Leontine on a platter. In my old one, a turkey in a roasting pan. Platters of hors d’oeuvres…and so on. :)</p>
<p>Yes, it is true that the newer water-conserving dishwashers take longer to run. I have Whirlpool Gold series, and it is great, though. I specifically chose a model that enables me to put taller things–ganache bowls, for example–on the upper rack. Again, I realize that the need to wash lots of ganache bowls is probably not high on other people’s lists. :D</p>
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