My 6 year old side by side Samsung refrigerator needs to be replaced after a failed repair. I had intended to stick with the side by side model, but after was surprised by how popular the French door model has become. One appliance store I visited had mainly French door models on the floor.
I was wondering if anyone had regrets buying this new style and wished they had bought the side by side? Is it a pain to bend over and search for items in the freezer? Are you always opening both refrigerator doors to find items?
Love this model. Nice to have full shelves on top. Would have to bend to get to the bottom of the sides anyway. Prefer to bend to get to freezer which I access less than fridge.
We had one with freezer at the bottom and a single door on top. We really liked it because we didn’t need to take things out of the freezer as much as the regular fridge. Like gardenstategal, we prefer to bend to get to freezer because it was less frequent.
I have a subzero side by side now. It is a regular size fridge and sometimes I felt the freezer was not wide enough.
Is this the only fridge you will have? If so, for me I couldn’t get buy without some full shelves because they are so handy for entertaining, baking, holidays - to fit a tray, sheet pan, or other large container of food.
I also barely use my freezer.
So, think about how you use your freezer/fridge space currently.
My old fridge also had freezer on the bottom, so I have been use to leaning down to retrieve objects. I really like the full shelves when I have trays to store.
I keep waiting for this thread to be moved to the Cafe.
We have French doors, with freezer on bottom, mostly because our fridge opens onto a busy traffic area of kitchen and we didn’t want a single big door blocking the space. We usually open only one side of the french doors at a time, though like the convenience of the super wide single shelves inside for when we have big platters etc – then we open both doors. Freezer on the bottom works for us, but we don’t store a lot of frozen meats etc. there.
Our Amana has (knock on wood) been going smoothly for 15 years.
I looked at side by sides when we were shopping 20 years ago and decided that there was more room in the single-door models. I wanted bottom freezer in the worst way but I was ahead of my time and you could only get them in super-expensive boutique models.
I maintain that single door fridges give you the most square footage or inches or whatever measurement they use. And stuff is easier to get to and easier to shift around to fit more in.
Bottom freezer is still on my wish list, as my 20-year-old fridge hasn’t died yet
I had a side by side for about 10 years and loathed it for about 9 1/2. We replaced it with a counter depth LG french door model 6 months ago and I’m happy with it every day. Even with an “extra” standard refrigerator in the basement I missed having wide shelves in both the refrigerator and the freezer. I also love having the freezer at the bottom with the sliding shelves/drawers; it makes it so much easier to keep organized and find things. I’ll never go back.
@kiddie - doesn’t your husband have to bend down to get veggie, fruit or whatever you put in the bottom drawers of your fridge now? What to consider is what do you do more often.
We have side by side, because when our last single-door model died, that was the best value one that the scratch and dent store had available. We cared about whether it would fit our kitchen’s space, sq ft capacity, price, energy efficiency. This fridge has a long gouge on the side that is up against our counters so it is totally hidden. It was only $560 - which is like a third of what comparable perfect models would have cost. It is big enough to hold our long baking sheets - I often stack them, and big enough to hold the extra large pizza box.
Since we became empty nesters, there is a lot more room in the fridge. And the food we put in tends to last a lot longer.
We have never had either of these types of doors, only the fridges with one big door for the fridge and one big door for the freezer (on top of the fridge). It has worked for us.
I have a single door-freezer on the bottom SubZero. It’s nice to have the wide space for defrosting a turkey, putting in party platters and other wide things.
Everyone (including reviews) points to the space for party platters. I’ve had my French for 2 years and only twice had such a wide platter or container. I’m able to use smaller ones or other hacks.
I don’t like the bottom freezer. It’s basically a drawer with two bins. The bottom one is divided into two, the upper is 3/4 size, after the ice maker. Ugh. It so often seems what I’m looking for is under everything else. Or, to find it, I have to remove so much else.
I had a side by side before. If Ihad to replace this one, what would I choose- another French.
I switched from a side-by-side that I had for most of my adult life to a French door model last year. It is awesome and I cannot say enough good things about it. I can FINALLY fit a frozen pizza in my freezer until I want to eat it (with my side-by-side it went in the refrigerator and thawed). I can actually fit more frozen things in my freezer now. Plus, mine has a little pull-out drawer where I store ice cream and some frozen fruit for smoothies within easy reach.
In previous house, we replaced the side by side fridge with a French door Kitchen Aid. I am not a fan of French doors because on many cheapo models, when one door is open, the other pops ajar. Very annoying. This was not the case with the fridge we got. So do check for this in the showroom.
We currently have an ancient hulk of a side by side Subzero. I intend to replace it with same size Miele or Subzero when this one kicks the bucket. Hope not in the nearest future (runs off to knock on wood). If the space were smaller, I would have chosen a bottom freezer configuration like the one @oldfort has. I don’t open the freezer as often as the fridge portion.
There was a side-by-side Subzero when we moved here. I Ioathed it. No shelf was wide enough. It seemed made for people who ate nothing but take-out and meals frozen in individual boxes. We replaced it with a bottom-freezer (French doors were not yet available.). Had to be counter depth because of the kitchen configuration, and so it is smaller than I would like, but it is infinitely better than a side-by-side. I yearn to replace it with a nice big French door model if I can ever reconfigure the kitchen. Sigh.
One key thing for me: I wouldn’t get ice and water through the door. It takes up too much room inside. An icemaker in the freezer is just fine.
I grew up with a fridge on top, freezer on bottom which was unusual back in the day. When I first got married we had the standard Freezer on top, Fridge on bottom. We eventually moved to side by side for many years. About 7 years ago I switched to a French door, freezer drawer on bottom. The ice machine crapped out within 3 years and Electrolux no longer made parts for repair. So I have been sans ice/water for many years because everything else seemed to work fine, no reason to replace it on the whole (maybe I am just cheap). My old side by side which is in my laundry room we still use it.
Without a doubt, 100%, when I buy a new fridge next, it will be a large side by side. It will not be Electrolux or Samsung.
I’d like to know why growing up we owned exactly 2 refrigerators in 24 years. In the past 10 years I have owned 4 refrigerators because they have either broken down completely or the ice/water system has died. And why on earth does a refrigerator cost $3k plus?
