<p>My repair guy (just had my fridge fixed) echoes the “better in the olden days” mantra. It’s not your imagination…</p>
<p>We’ve had a french door fridge for a few years now. Love it. We got it for primarily the same reasons as you mentioned - far more use of the fridge rather than the freezer. The one big negative in my mind is the freezer - left to my H and S, it would be a black hole. It is fairly easy to keep things arranged in there, but apparently, since it is a drawer, it’s perfectly fine to toss anything you want there rather than arrange it :)</p>
<p>Didn’t get the ice in the door - one, it takes up too much space and two, it is the cause of a lot of maintenance issues. </p>
<p>I understand what you mean about the stainless steel shelves etc looking flimsy. When we looked, we had the same problem - the kenmore one we looked at was incredibly flimsy. We ended up buying the Amana model - very well made. The shelves are incredibly easy to slide out to take out stuff that’s placed at the back and very easy to take out completely to clean. </p>
<p>I’d buy a french door one again if I had to! Hate the side by side ones.</p>
<p>Ours is not stainless steel; it’s black enamel with clear shelves inside.</p>
<p>We have a GE profile french door. I absolutely love it. However, I’m not a big freezer person so YMMV.
It has a little alarm when the doors don’t close but the doors close fairly easily. Love the interior space. But the best feature is the absolutely delicious water it dispenses. The best water I have ever tasted at consistently perfect temperature. No ice on the door so no space is taken up on the inside.</p>
<p>I’m looking at a Samsung side by side that is counter depth. Of all the side by sides we saw…it was far and away my favorite. We’ll be getting white.</p>
<p>thumper–given that it’s largely a matter of taste, I have to say that I, as a mediocre housekeeper, have learned that going from an all-white kitchen to an all-black one was a key move in my keeping up appearances efforts.</p>
<p>^ I have all black appliances (except for that darn 20 year old white Kenmore fridge that won’t die) for the same reason. :)</p>
<p>I just bought two new refrigerators this summer, one replacing a big side by side in the kitchen that I didn’t like because it was hard to keep track of what was in there (the main reason we replaced it was it was sagging in the middle and pushing on our countertops) and one replacing a standard freezer on top refrigerator that came with the house and was old when we moved in 21 years ago. I got a Kenmore Elite Counter Depth French Door Refrigerator for the kitchen and a Kenmore (not Elite) one door refrigerator with freezer on the bottom for the mud room. First caveat is MEASURE the height to the hinges. I now cannot open the cabinets that are over my fridge, I need another 1/2 inch of clearance. I have never been a fan of Sears but I could only find the counter depth in white in Kenmore Elite. Kenmore Elite is made by LG. If you are getting stainless, check out the color of the sides. I was originally going to get stainless but one side of my refrigerator is visible and I didn’t like the black or gray sides showing with my white cabinets.</p>
<p>The french door refrigerator has ice in the door and there is never enough or it just gets stuck in there. You just stand there holding in the thing and it goes “err, err, err”. We bought as many refrigerators as there are people living in this house so I thought we would have adequate ice but not the case. Actually, the other refrigerator makes plenty of ice (icemaker in the bottom freezer, although sometimes you have to remind it make ice) but we just stand at the first one and cuss at it. I typically open the correct door to get out what I want but the bottom drawer goes all the way across so you have to open both doors to open it. Seems kind on inefficient to me and I put meat and cheese in there so there is never anything in there that is so wide that I need such a wide drawer.</p>
<p>Anyway, those are my observations after spending a good part of my summer doing a minor kitchen remodel. Those are just annoyances about my refrigerator, but nothing I can’t live with.</p>
<p>I am sorry I ever bought the French Door with the freezer on the bottom. It is a huge fridge that does not fit half the food that my other fridge was able to hold. I cook and entertain alot and this fridge made it necessary to buy a second fridge just to hold food. I guess not everything that looks new and sleek is efficient.</p>
<p>I love mine. It’s counter depth so not as large as my last frig but I love that it doesn’t stick out. I have no problem with the doors both closing but my DH does. Thankfully it beeps to let me know with the added bonus of bringing that fact up when he rags on me for leaving the oven on. </p>
<p>I have a water dispenser on the inside because I don’t like the look when they are on the outside. </p>
<p>My only complaint is that I have curved handles and it’s hard to wipe the smudges behind them. </p>
<p>The sides of mine aren’t stainless but when I remodeled I had an enclosed space designed to perfectly fit it. </p>
<p>I know several people who had the problem with the cabinet doors not opening above the frig. They solved it by having the cabinets cut down so there was room for them to open.</p>
<p>I like the look of the black appliances in OTHER folks’ kitchens…but I want LIGHT colors in mine. When I do all of this…it will be with a very light colored (no black or dark brown in it) granite or quartz counter top…and white appliances. I want that light airy “beach house” look…no black.</p>
<p>One other thing: it is my understanding that many of the products sold by Home Depot are specially–and more cheaply-- made for them so that they can undercut the competition. This is definitely the case with Andersen windows, for example. It is also my understanding that the items are not labelled as such, so that people who are comparing prices usually do not realize that there is a reason why Home Depot sells what appears to be the same thing for less.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that applies to appliances, but I would look into it before buying anything from them.</p>
<p>I love my French door fridge. We’ve had it for a year. We don’t have an ice/water dispenser on the outside. Only complaint is that it can be difficult for me to find stuff in the freezer when my back is acting up & I’m having trouble bending. </p>
<p>I don’t know why LG is getting such a bad rap. We’ve ended up replacing all our appliances in the past year and I think 3 out of 4 are LG’s. They’ve been great. Consumer Reports rated them well, and the salespeople at the time said they were among the best in the store.</p>
<p>ETA: all my appliances are black.</p>
<p>We recently bought a new fridge with freezer on the bottom but just one big door on top (not the two french doors). There is no ice/water in the door like our old side by side. Since we are empty nesters, we don’t keep a ton of stuff in the freezer so reaching down to get to it isn’t really a prob. for me. Mine has a roll out rack in the top portion of the freezer. That’s where the ice is. There is room for storage on the rack by the ice. I love the refrig. food all at eye level and the wide shelves. We’ve only had it a few months but I do like it more than the old side by side. Ours is a Kenmore that we got at a very good price at a Sears Appliance Outlet store. It’s stainless steel.</p>
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<p>But if you compare, say, Anderson Window Number 12345 in size 36" X 72", can it really be an entirely different product??</p>
<p>The french door fridges really appealed to me. It seems like all of the fridge stuff is easily viewable. </p>
<p>BUT the freezer stuff is all low, and DH is tall. We use the freezer A LOT. The kind with extra sliding freezer drawer (internal or better yet external 4th door) tempted us. But in the end, we got another side-by-side. Our kitchen allows for a large (36" wide) unit, so both fridge and freezer are decent width. And we find the door shelves on the freezer to be very handy. </p>
<p>I still like the more modern look of the French Door… but in the end convenience won over. (Not everybody will have the same opinion on what they favor for convenience.)</p>
<p>Any new thoughts on the French door models? This would be a big change for us, going from a single door top freezer model.</p>
<p>Why are some of the bottom freezer doors an open mesh?? Those seemed pretty flimsy when empty.</p>
<p>Treetopleaf- I have not been bothered by the flimsiness of the mesh, just the holes themselves. It allows for spills to hit hard to clean places. A tray liner would help. When we recently fridge shopped, I was more bothered by weak plastics and poor design that caused the drawers to not glide well (freezer and fridge). I would be very bothered by having to dance with a crisper every time I reached in it and was told that if it behaves like that in the store, it will at home as well. Replacing broken interior plastics in a fridge is expensive, so check carefully and see if there is any warrantee available. The interior quality has diminished greatly, but some brands have put a bit more into them than others.</p>
<p>Well, if anyone cares to post specifics I will be grateful. I have had a Popsicle stick construction holding one fridge door shelf in place for some time now (but for an Amana that doesn’t owe us anything at this point). My niece bought a Samsung that seems to be doing well.</p>
<p>I love my Samsung French Door fridge. (When I get home, I’ll post the model number.) The tray is not mesh; it’s a plastic drawer with holes. The top drawer opens when you pull out the freezer and then you push it back if not needed. I love having my veggies and such at waist level so I don’t have to bend over as far to get something out! It’s much easier to search through the freezer from the top than to search on bottom shelves. My dh cooks a lot, so we have lots of leftovers - they’re much easier to find, so there’s a chance that they’ll actually get eaten!</p>