<p>I recently asked the members of this forum what they thought about their vacuum cleaners. Now I’m asking for some input about side by side refrigerators? If you have one, do you like it? Do you find there is enough room for everything and would you buy one again? If you hate it and wish the thing would break so you could buy a new one please tell me why.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I never liked my side-by-side refrigerator. Refrig part is ok, but: Not much room in the freezer at all. “Inherited” it when DH and I first met. We each had our own homes and eventually married and moved into his of the side-by-side. Lived with it, but didn’t like it. The door storage in the freezer is bad, too. Lots of “cute” specialty shelves, but if you don’t happen to use the same # of juice cans etc. the designers imagined, much of it is useless.</p>
<p>We remodeled our current kitchen when we bought and now have a bottom freezer and I do like it. We moved yet another side-by-side which was in the pre-remodeled kitchen to the basement for extra storage. Same problem as above. But at least it’s not my only freezer.
To be honest, no freezer seems to have enough space if you cook a lot, buy in bulk etc. Unless you have a whole separate freezer. I don’t have room for one now, but I want one.</p>
<p>I love my side by side. It’s a 2-year old Whirlpool, chrome front with ice-maker and water filter. We’re a family of four (three at home) so it’s plenty big for us, but a very large family might find the freezer space tight. The shelves can be moved up and down easily if you need to fit in tall items, and I’ve handled two Christmases and Thanksgiving with no problem.
What I really like is the temperature control - you can select different temps for different bins, which is great for greens, as they don’t get frozen while you’re trying to keep your meats the proper temp. I also like the large side compartments that go all the way down the side doors. It really does hold a lot of food.</p>
<p>I have a side by side Kitchenaid built in refrigerator. I also love the refrigerator side but don’t love the freezer. I don’t hate it but I am glad that I have our old one which is a top freezer/bottom fridge. I think it depends on what you keep in your freezer. I find that the Costco size boxes of things don’t fit well in the side by side.</p>
<p>We have a side-by-side and a bottom freezer because of the side-by-side. I live with 4 people, and 5 eat at my house quite often. So the freezer part is really small and doesn’t have enough space, since we end up buying frozen food or freezing leftovers, thus why the purchase of a 2nd freezer. The ice also tends to jam a lot for the ice/water dispenser on the front door. This is a pretty big fridge, but bigger than our first one (and black so it hides marks! :p).</p>
<p>GE Monogram built in, love it and it was $3,000 less than a Sub-zero</p>
<p>I have a Gibson side-by-side, about 28 years old. Storage is sufficient if you don’t do things like freeze veggies and berries, buy meat and bread on sale and store, etc. When I married, we bought a separate freezer for those things. The freezer section has leaked for several years now, but since the refrigerator still works great, we just keep a towel under it and put up with it.</p>
<p>I think it may be easier to find things in a side-by-side, since less fits on each shelf.</p>
<p>We hated our side-by-side so much we actually replaced it before it broke! I found it very annoying that you can’t fit anything BIG in them. (We had a big one - at least for the time - it was bought 15 years ago.) So, if you are having a party no large platter fits in. The turkey - forget it. Now it’s in the basement happily accomodating beer, wine and coke. (And some spiders.)</p>
<p>Replaced it with a plain old BIG refrigerator - freezer on top. It’s fine. </p>
<p>A lot of my friend have the freezer on the bottom kind. They break!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts! Still not sure what I’m going to purchase. H loves the idea of ice and water through the door and it seems like that feature is found more on side by sides. I do have a stand alone freezer already so I’m not that worried about the freezer storage aspect, more the refrigerator side. My current refrigerator seems to have a black hole where items get lost and are only found when they start to really smell. I have a feeling a new refrigerator may have this same condition.</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>To add in, I love my GE Profile side-by-side. The thing to watch for is size. Many of the side-by-sides have too narrow of a freezer to fit many of the large boxes. Ours is larger width and it works fine.</p>
<p>I have an extra large capacity side-by-side Frigidaire Gallery. The only problem I’ve had in the 10 years I’ve owned it is that the water line to the ice/water machine has gotten caught against the motor in the rear for the fridge, which melted a small hole into it, requiring the hose to be replaced (bought the hose at hardware store and ran it ourselves).</p>
<p>The freezer is large and the shelves and baskets slide out like drawers, making things easy to find. The shelves in the refrigerator portion also slide out like drawers, which I have found really helpful. Becuase I have the extra large one, the shelves on the door are super large (more than 2 gallons of milk can fit side by side in them). </p>
<p>It makes my kitchen looks smaller because it is so large and sticks out beyond the counter. When it breaks, I will get a smaller one. If anything, I need less refrigerator space but don’t want to compromise on freezer space - so bottom freezer and a separate freezer chest is what I will do next time.</p>
<p>Not very large Jennair side-by-side with water and ice dispenser (and in-line filter). Husband fell in love with it because the shelves can be cranked up and down while stuff is on them–so you can adjust on the fly, as it were. Very nifty. Husband is nutty about gadgets. Much cheaper than the SubZero that I wanted. The filtered water also tastes excellent.</p>
<p>We also have a small-ish upright freezer and a 60-bottle wine refrigerator.</p>
<p>I, too, have been shopping for a new 'frige. The narrowness of the freezers bothers me, but… I found one called “Wide-By-Side” (Maytag? Can’t remember now…) Looks like it tries to solve the problem by making the top wider on the refrigerator side, then it cuts in on the bottom half, making the freezer wider. I didn’t explain that very well, but if you’re out shopping, keep your eyes open for it.</p>
<p>I like my Whirlpool- about 3 yrs old now. I still don’t like the filtered water anymore than tap. I do have a garage refrigerator/freezer for extra room.I have found consumer reports rather accurate with repair history. I had a GE that was terrible-replaced it in 2 yrs- that was when GE had a bad repair record. GE is now rated better. </p>
<p>I do need a new washer-it leaks & it isn’t a hose. The son will be home for Thanksgiving and will be bringing laundry.</p>
<p>Have an Amana side by side. It is okay and works well. The big plus is that it is connected to our water so we get ice and crushed ice directly from the door along with water. Big downside, it seems smaller than it is because it is hard to fit large items. If we had it to do over again we would look for a refridgerator over freezer model. More room for big items.</p>
<p>GE Profile, and it’s great. Unfortunately, hard to get in-door ice/H20 dispensers on top-down models. Wife always disliked the side-by-side, but she really likes it now. But, gotta get a large size (26) to obtain enuf horizontal shelf space in freezer.</p>
<p>fwiw: home guy in local paper did a article of his purchase last year, and went with the GE Profile.</p>
<p>what is it about college era parents buying frig’s. H and I are in the market, son moved out in August. I keep looking around the house realizing we pretty much bought everything 12-15 years ago. Why am I driving a minivan with only one S in the home…lots of changes on the horizon. Making notes on all your suggestions…</p>
<p>Personally, I like my freezer on bottom, and I have a separate freezer. Unfortunately, everyone I cooked and stored and bought in bulk is now gone. Hurrricanes can do that</p>
<p>In the dorm room??? #!!#?</p>
<p>I like the refrigerator and the water/ice dispenser on our side by side but the freezer is way too small. We had it about 6 months and I convinced my husband to buy a small upright freezer for the basement.</p>