French doors all the way. Ours has a door in door feature that gives you easy access to things you grab frequently, like milk, juice, soda, butter, or cream cheese, without having to open the fridge. Others have a middle section above the freezer that’s perfect for platters, if that’s your thing.
By the way, waiting for an existing unit to fail on you might not be the best move. You might be throwing away $ every month due to having a less energy-efficient unit. Plus you might be giving up the opportunity to buy a new unit on your own terms (leisurely purchase after plenty of research and sale monitoring). Oh, and then there’s the part about living with a fridge you hate instead of one you love.
For any type of appliance, make sure to check clearances needed when the door is fully open. A family member needs to replace their side by side. They hate it. It is located about 2" away from an adjacent side wall, so the freezer door can only open 90 degrees. The pocket storage on the back side of the freezer doors are always in the way, and shelves are extremely difficult to remove without the door being able to open further. It is even more difficult to place larger items inside (which like all side-by sides is already limited due to size). Anyone else have a French door model that opens close to a side wall? All the models I’ve seen in stores appear that shelves can be removed from the side of the opposite open door, but not the bins, unless the door can be open greater than 90 degrees.
“By the way, waiting for an existing unit to fail on you might not be the best move. You might be throwing away $ every month due to having a less energy-efficient unit. Plus you might be giving up the opportunity to buy a new unit on your own terms (leisurely purchase after plenty of research and sale monitoring). Oh, and then there’s the part about living with a fridge you hate instead of one you love.”
If you are addressing my post, I:
a) love my current fridge;
B) believe that sending a working appliance (that maybe a tad less efficient than a new one) to a junkyard is worse for the environment than keeping it;
3) have never seen a smashing deal on the models I intend to buy; and
IV) we have beverage fridges that can keep produce just fine if this fridge croaks, so no fridgeless agony here.
We switched to side-by-side when we moved and a kitchen island made a wide door too tight. That would be my concern with the freezer drawer … can I really access the entire space?
We have LG with French doors. Freezer is not very convenient to use, still seems to have plenty of room but you have to bend, it’s just a big box and things tend to get lost in there. But the fridge is vastly more convenient, and not only for big platters. So it really depends on how much you use the freezer. One thing that’s a bit annoying, maybe just in this model, is that you need to pay attention to actually close the doors all the way, otherwise they don’t and the fridge starts beeping to remind you to go back and close the doors.
Yes, the beep. And I find myself checking the doors before leaving the kitchen.
@BunsenBurner Wasn’t addressing anyone in particular. Obviously my advice wouldn’t be applicable to someone who loves their current appliance. It was really just food for thought (pun intended), for anyone who might be denying themselves whatever pleasures a new appliance might bring. As an aside, aren’t there opportunities to donate a working unit to keep it out of a landfill and into the hands of someone in need?
Why would you ever send a working refrigerator to a junkyard? I donated mine to a local charity who came to my house to pick it up. They were thrilled to have it and I got a tax deduction. The only reason to send any working appliance to a landfill is if you are too lazy to find someone to take it. There are always options.
Here, can’t donate a refrigrator older than ten years.
When I checked around, Habitat wouldn’t take a fridge over 10 years. i continued to check and found another charity (Community Forklift) in this area who did. At the very least, you could give it away on freecycle or sell it for $20 on Craigslist, but if you make an effort there is always a church or other charity who is happy to have a working refrigerator.
Never liked side by side. Replaced regular fridge (freezer on top) with French door model (Maytag) 10 yrs ago when we redid the kitchen. Love it and it’s still going strong.
Our utility company took our old refrigerator and paid us $50. We had it in the garage for a few years but weren’t using it, so jumped st the chance to get rid of it.
I have a couple of friends who got french door fridges. Both of them have had problems with the fridge doors not remaining properly closed after a couple of years. both of them have had repair people out a couple of times to fix them. I can’t stand french door fridges. The freezers are too small. No thanks! But you should get what works best for your family and your situation.
“Here, can’t donate a refrigrator older than ten years.”
Ditto.
I like the configuration of my French door fridge for the most part…although I will never get a through the door icemaker and water thing again…ever. The gasket on the french doors is already broken…and is taped together with packing tape. The fridge is 5 years old.
I figure I only have to own it for two more years…they aren’t built to last.
While I like the french door better, my husband hates it. Very likely we will go back to a side by side. Honestly I don’t care. I only have to use it for seven years…
This time i didnt get the water and ice thru the door. Ice is in a bin in freezer. Inside the fridge there is a button to pour water.
I love my french door fridge. This is our 2nd one.
However, our last one was an LG and that was a piece of junk. The shelving broke down immediately, the ice maker dumped ice all over the floor constantly, the light broke, and eventually it almost lit our house on fire (long story - there was a known issue). Our current one is a Whirlpool and that’s been great.
Had a 25 cubic ft top freezer in the old house. Liked being able to get things from freezer at eye level, hated bending down to get things from the bottom. Researched bottom freezer French door models but was lucky that one lasted until we moved.
Moved here where I inherited a side by side refrigerator. Never liked them. Still needed to reach down for refrigerator plus terrible space for freezer storage. Got rid of it when I could (after renovations, caught big sales). They are also least energy efficient.
How well you like any refrigerator depends on the details- cheaper versus higher quality. I got a Samsung 28 cu ft French door one with. Love it. Easy to get stuff from the freezer. The bins are at a good level. usually only opening one side.
Some notes on my search.
Do not get any with wire racks- stuff falls through (the side by side) to the bottom. Disliked that on the bottom freezer ones that came with wire freezer racks I saw in stores.
I only considered Samsung and LG because they were the two (btw- did not want high end like some of you do, hopelessly middle class) that had the freezer door handle that lifted when pulled- more ergonomic (check that out in the store). Also like having a bin on the freezer door for opened bags.
Organization matters for ease in finding things. Putting most things often used on the same side means usually only opening that side. Likewise for freezer. Note- still have the 5 cu ft chest freezer that is old and has great basket/divider storage.
I chose the wide drawer inside instead of it being a separate door. We only open both sides when accessing this- perhaps a separate door would work better- didn’t spend the extra or research energy costs for that.
Did not need the double door since we are not a family constantly getting milk out and not worth the extra cost. If I were to get that feature I liked the Samsung version much better than the LG one.
Icemaker matters. Here in Tampa it was important to have the water in the door feature (tap water 70’s, not 55 like up north). We can fill a pitcher easily. Different brands make more/less ice per time frame. Consider that. Dislike the tiny shelves in front of the icemaker but happy it takes up refrigerator and not freezer space.
Energy efficiency and noise matter. Old refrigerators use so much more energy- it doesn’t matter if they are secondary and don’t always stay full, that electricity is still used.
You need to go to appliance stores and imagine where you would put stuff. Open/close doors.
You may think our refrigerator is too big but that gave good shelving and room for the leftovers we usually have (also found potatoes and onions do best cold in this climate).
Also consider foldable, sliding shelves so you can put more tall items when you wish in a side by side. Mine has great flexibility.
re that water inside the refrigerator- keeping the door open that long that many times a day would not be energy efficient for us.
Just cleaned it. So easy to do so for this one.
We have the bottom freezer drawer and upper french doors. I love it. I tend to know which side things are on so don’t open both doors unless it is a large item. I’d rather bend to search in a freezer drawer (rare) than bend to look in a vegetable drawer. And the freezer section has four different compartments and an ice maker so there is very little need for rummaging.
Wow…thanks everyone for all your advice:) Sorry @bookworm for not posting in the parent cafe. I noticed that mistake one minute after I finished. My husband and I went to Lowe’s, Home Depot and Best Buy today. After a couple of hours, we ended up liking the Samsung flex model which is a French style unit, but has two separate side-by-side compartments on the bottom.
One of the lower compartments has temperature controls that allow you to decide between using it as refrigerator space or freezer based on your current need. I thought this flex feature was pretty cool. My husband, of course, was attracted to a built in tablet.
After shopping he made one more repair to the refrigerator. A couple of days ago he replaced 2 computer boards recommended by the appliance repairman and now he pulled out an LED that had a burn mark. We are hoping the burnt LED was shorting out electrical system making it shut down on occasion for a few seconds.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed, especially since my fridge looks almost new since I cleaned it out and it’s sparsely populated. Unfortunately, while my husband was moving the refrigerator around today after putting it back together, he dinged it right on the front next to my water dispenser. I’m not thrilled about having a small dent, but I’m feeling hopeful about not spending all that money right now.
Oh well…at least I know what model we would like to purchase should the need arise in the next couple of months. Thanks for all the input everyone!