Refrigerator...Side by Side VS French door

[tvguy]

A 12" is an average size for frozen pizza.

So that would fit also in a side by side.

 

[AgentMama]

We're also in the minority it seems. We had a french door and went to a side-by-side. I hated that we couldn't see what was in the freezer and it seemed our freezer space was nothing. I haven't had an issue with not being able to get what I need into the fridge or freezer side.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have a side by side and I like it just fine. We also have a chest freezer, so I do put things like frozen pizzas in there because they are a little awkward to stuff in the side by side freezer.

 

[CarlyMur09]

We have both. Inherited the side-by-side when we moved in, and bought the french door/drawers not long after. Side-by-side is at least 30 years old, if not older, based on all the plastic and such that's in there, and it doesn't chill as well, but it's working. I believe it's an apartment size. Has the ice/water dispenser in the freezer, so a lot of space is lost with that. When that goes, we will probably swap with another side by side with water/ice dispenser.

We got a big french door fridge after moving in. Pretty sure it's a 36" wide and counter depth, so it's massive, but we did need to keep food on hand for 8+ people in the house. We did struggle a bit with the freezer, but now we have a big upright freezer next to the fridge, so that's helping with food storage.

 

[Judique]

If you are defrosting your ice maker with a hairdryer, you need to join the Samsung ice maker Facebook group. It has thousands of members. All dealing with the defective ice maker issue. I followed their instructions and ended up getting 60% of my purpose price back after owning the Samsung for 4.5 years. And it was relatively easy!

Last August I replaced my Whirlpool Gold side by side with a Samsung french door refrigerator. It has all the features. First of all, it is 28 cubic feet so will hold plenty. It has door in door and the pantry door, plus cubed and crushed ice and water in the door.

My side by side started freezing up and when we went to replace it we discovered the pandemic supply chain issue. It took a month to get it replaced so every few days I had to pull the plug on my old one to let it melt and then plug it back in while keeping my stuff in a cooler. Fortunately we also have a 5 cubic feet freezer, so that was no problem for frozen stuff.

Prior to purchase I read hundreds of reviews. So I knew/know about the possible ice maker problem. And I also knew that in my years owning 5 or 6 refrigerators, I've constantly replaced ice makers because they just don't last the full life of many refrigerators. Doesn't mean Samsung shouldn't strive to make a more trouble free product or diminish the problem when you spend thousands for a new refrigerator and get problems in a short time.

Anyway, overall the reviews were positive and were in line with the LG models and others. I couldn't afford a Sub Zero or even a KitchenAid and it would be overkill anyway. So, remembering and reading about the LG compressor problems, I decided I'd rather have an ice maker issue to deal with than a compressor issue. Plus, I lucked into a Costco online sale where the model I chose was significantly less expensive. It quickly jumped back up $700 after I ordered it, and was selling for over $1K more than my order at Lowes and HD. I was convinced I was getting a lemon.

Just 1 year later all is fine and I love it. I love the door in door feature. My coffee cream and other items I eat early are in there and there is no hunt or wide open door to let the cool out. Very convenient! And my Coke Zero girl uses the drawer plus we put kids drinks and snacks in the drawer for the grand children visits. They know how to get their snack without letting all the cold out and can reach it easily.

I did have an ice maker scare about 6 months in. Ice stopped coming out and I freaked out. I had that sense of doom because I didn't expect any problems so quickly. I didn't even know how or that the box could be pulled out to check it. At first I thought it was a sealed unit. Finally googled and learned how to open it. This was after several days with no ice. A single ice cube had managed to get 'stuck'. Just picked it out of the way, it wasn't frozen in place or anything like that, it just created a little wedge that stopped anything else from falling and if they don't fall, no more get produced to fill the box.

Anyway, within a short time of moving the ice cube, we were back in business and no further jams or problems. My fingers are crossed however, as I still don't fully trust the ice maker as too many people have had issues. I do have 4 years of warranty, 3 remaining, using Costco Visa. So I will get someone to check out the Facebook page to keep informed just in case or when things go South.

And, for those buying water filters through Samsung, I had signed up for their program where they will send one every 6 months. Got the notice it's on it's way just yesterday. They are $37.09 through the program, versus $49.99 plus tax from the big box, HD or Lowes.

As for pizza, we occasionally buy frozen and they've fit in all my refrigerators. I am fortunate to have a kitchen with a large built in space for my unit with one end open so almost anything will fit. My old kitchen in this same house only fit a 30 inch wide so I can understand dislikes based on size and awkward spaces.

 

[unrequited23]

I'm team freezer on the bottom. I've had a freezer on top, side by side and a french door refrigerator. The side by side was my least favorite. Nothing seems to fit and I was always taking stuff out to make room/find things. It was a pain for holidays/birthdays/parties. I think a lot depends on what you personally store in the fridge and how you shop (frequently or stock up on sales).

 

[tvguy]

I'm team freezer on the bottom. I've had a freezer on top, side by side and a french door refrigerator. The side by side was my least favorite. Nothing seems to fit and I was always taking stuff out to make room/find things. It was a pain for holidays/birthdays/parties. I think a lot depends on what you personally store in the fridge and how you shop (frequently or stock up on sales).

LOL A lot depends on how flexible you are. Like I posted, I just my mom remember my mom in her 80's having to get on the floor and pull everything out to find anything in her bottom freezer fridge.

 

[maxaroni]

When I was a kid, my parents remodeled the kitchen and my mom wanted the bottom freezer. Her thinking was that she went into the freezer less often so that was fine on the bottom. If have freezer on the top, still bending to get things of the bottom shelf. When we got married, didn’t give much thought to it and top freezers were more popular, if I recall. Again, it was a non issue for us, we didn’t care either way. We bought our second house and brought our freezer on top fridge with us. At about the same time, my mom was so tired of her side by side that was fairly new, opting to go back to bottom freezer. However, they weren’t all that popular and the only one she could find was Sub zero, so went with it. My parents gave us the virtually brand new side by side, which we had in the kitchen and put our top freezer in the laundry room as the drink fridge and extra freezer items. When we redid our kitchen, we got all brand new appliances and bought a new side by side. Our DS moved out and got the french door, freezer on the bottom and I liked it. DS & DIL love it, they both grew up with side by side. Our side by side crapped out and we went with the french door, bottom freezer and love it. I won’t go back to a side by side. The layout of our is so much better than the side by side. I just find it easier for the fridge and as my mom said many years ago, we are in the freezer much less and have had no problem finding what we need.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[DisneyHardin]

LOL A lot depends on how flexible you are. Like I posted, I just my mom remember my mom in her 80's having to get on the floor and pull everything out to find anything in her bottom freezer fridge.

The old ones from the 80s that were freezer on the bottom, still had an actual door for the freezer, so it was most likely harder to get the stuff out. The newer ones with freezers on the bottom have a drawer, so it is much easier to survey all that it in your freezer at once.

 

[DisLiss]

The only way I'd personally go for a french door is if the freezer section had 2 doors as well. Otherwise it reminds me of an old chest freezer in that you have to dig for stuff, made worse by it being practically on the ground.

I feel like side by sides tend to be too small on the fridge side, though I do like them on the freezer side, as they offer the easiest way for me to organize my freezer items.

But ultimately, I really just prefer your old fashioned fridge set-up. Freezer on top, one door for both freezer & fridge. I always put large, easy to see items on the bottom shelf of the fridge, making it easy to know what's there and to grab them. And I don't experience the issues I don't like in the other fridge types. I also prefer a counter depth fridge by about 150%.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

I prefer a side by side. If you get an ice/water dispenser in a french door you lose way to much fridge space, plus the shelves don’t seem to leave room for tall items. I have a 36.5 in side by side that can handle laying frozen pizza down in it as well as large pizza boxes and platters on the fridge side.

 

[tobikaye]

We just replaced our fridge a couple of months back. We had the french doors and switched back to the side by side. We did not like the freezer section on the bottom of the fridge as it made it difficult to reach some items, especially if you were having issues with bending. Plus the seal the last few years just would not hold well and we had to de-ice almost every 3 months.

So far, I do miss the wider fridge section occasionally, but for the most part I like the side by side better.

 

[mrodgers]

LOL A lot depends on how flexible you are. Like I posted, I just my mom remember my mom in her 80's having to get on the floor and pull everything out to find anything in her bottom freezer fridge.

Were they different and a door freezer just on the bottom back then? Today's freezer on the bottom are drawers.

It would be fantastic to be able to find smaller fridge with freezer on the bottom. Lately I am only seeing starting at 23" and that's too big for my space. Thus, the alternate is taking up even more space but somewhere else with a separate freezer and the fridge part on the fridge being on the bottom which is what I don't like, having to get down to get stuff off the bottom shelf of the fridge.

 

[nolatravelgirl]

I don't think that there is a right answer on this one and hence why there are so many options. I personally am team french door from now on. I loved the space of my Samsung 32 cu ft. I loved being able to open up the fridge and see everything at eye level and put in big items. During the pandemic I redid the kitchen and put in a 48 inch sub-zero (at an absolute ridiculous cost) and while I love the way it looks from an aesthetics POV it is not the most practical, even at 48inches. The Sub-Zero freezer is just very inefficient with freezer storage. I still find my old French door to be more space sensible. I moved the French door to the laundry room and appreciate the big wide freezer where I can lay a cookie sheet in the freezer drawer and lay out things flat to freeze then I file the flat items like books on a shelf so you can see them all.

 

[zackiedawg]

I hadn't been thinking about the fact that different people have different sized refrigerators, so some designs may not be as good when dealing with a smaller fridge vs a larger one. Some mentions of side-by-sides having very thin freezers didn't make sense until I saw mentions of 22 cu ft units. My side-by-side is 36 inches wide, and has a volume rating of 28.4 cu ft. Space is pretty good for me at least on both fridge and freezer sides, both in width and total space...and I do like being able to store more frequently used things in the top shelves of the freezer, and less used at the bottom. Same for the fridge side - all the door shelves are deep gallon-sized, and the shelves inside were adjustable so I have a larger lower middle shelf that can hold gallon containers and big turkeys and such. My fridge's layout:



I also have a second older fridge in my garage - it's an old freezer-on-top unit...and that holds mostly sodas, waters, and beers, and the freezer holds large Costco-type boxes of things we might buy on occasion. Also, the garage fridge can be used for holiday items like the 26Lb turkey and a ham, so I don't have to move things around the kitchen fridge to accommodate them.

 

[tvguy]

Were they different and a door freezer just on the bottom back then? Today's freezer on the bottom are drawers.

It would be fantastic to be able to find smaller fridge with freezer on the bottom. Lately I am only seeing starting at 23" and that's too big for my space. Thus, the alternate is taking up even more space but somewhere else with a separate freezer and the fridge part on the fridge being on the bottom which is what I don't like, having to get down to get stuff off the bottom shelf of the fridge.

No drawers on the one she had, so yes, that would have helped. It made sense for her to have the bottom freezer though, because she rarely went in the freezer. Until she was 88 she walked a mile each way to the store almost everyday ......for exercise and to pick up something for dinner. If it was raining and she couldn't walk to the store, she would just grab something canned out of the pantry, tuna, salmon, or something like soup. People who grew up during the depression relied more on canned food than frozen food. Also didn't hurt that my dad worked at a cannery for many years. Having canned food instead of frozen is a habit my wife and I picked up........as did a lot of folks during the pandemic.

 

[tvguy]

I hadn't been thinking about the fact that different people have different sized refrigerators, so some designs may not be as good when dealing with a smaller fridge vs a larger one. Some mentions of side-by-sides having very thin freezers didn't make sense until I saw mentions of 22 cu ft units. My side-by-side is 36 inches wide, and has a volume rating of 28.4 cu ft. Space is pretty good for me at least on both fridge and freezer sides, both in width and total space...and I do like being able to store more frequently used things in the top shelves of the freezer, and less used at the bottom. Same for the fridge side - all the door shelves are deep gallon-sized, and the shelves inside were adjustable so I have a larger lower middle shelf that can hold gallon containers and big turkeys and such. My fridge's layout:

View attachment 599407

I also have a second older fridge in my garage - it's an old freezer-on-top unit...and that holds mostly sodas, waters, and beers, and the freezer holds large Costco-type boxes of things we might buy on occasion. Also, the garage fridge can be used for holiday items like the 26Lb turkey and a ham, so I don't have to move things around the kitchen fridge to accommodate them.

Yeah, we bought a Kenmore 27 cubic foot side by side 11 years ago. It is made by LG and they had it on the display floor at Sears right next to the identical LG version. Except the Kenmore was $300 cheaper! Both our kids were still at home, so it was a good size for a family. Just my wife and I at home now, and it is largely empty on the refrigerator side. Lots of Schwans frozen food in the freezer though. When it is time to replace it, not sure we need anything that big.

 

[DVCjj]

The very best design of a refrigerator is definitely French Door, bottom freezer. Brilliant. Love it and will never, ever switch back to double doors.

Had double doors for many years and it was insane for pizzas, cookie sheets needing to be frozen for a while, etc. etc. etc. Drove me crazy. Unless you have a million dollar house that can handle space for a huge double door, the best choice is what I and many others listed: French doors, bottom freezer.

 

[tvguy]

The very best design of a refrigerator is definitely French Door, bottom freezer. Brilliant. Love it and will never, ever switch back to double doors.

Had double doors for many years and it was insane for pizzas, cookie sheets needing to be frozen for a while, etc. etc. etc. Drove me crazy. Unless you have a million dollar house that can handle space for a huge double door, the best choice is what I and many others listed: French doors, bottom freezer.

LOL. Well, no million dollar house here but our 27 cubic foot side by side fits in a standard sized cabinet space for a refrigerator. The biggest cookie sheet we have is 13" x 18" and it fits in their just fine, and not on it's side, flat. I just checked. Same with a frozen pizza.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

We also have side by side and I love the looks of french door and really want that but after months of looking at all the fridges I don't think a french door is the best for us.

We have a ton of condiments and sauce type stuff, I feel the door space is a lot better in the side by side for that. I also hate "digging" in our chest freezer so I didn't want to dig in the freezer on the french door. I like the side by side so I have different shelves for things. Like one shelf is frozen fruit, the other micro meals, the other ice cream, etc.

Our side by side has a sliding shelf in the fridge section so part of it slides under itself to create a really tall opening if you ever have something too tall. Also in the freezer there is a shelf that has a hinge so half it could fold up and then it'd allow you to fit a frozen pizza.