We need a new fridge. DH is insistent on getting a side-by-side and I want a French door.
Which do you have and why (or why not) do you like it?
ETA: DH's main reason he wants a side by side because he's (really) tall and doesn't want to bend down all the way to get to the freezer. I want a fridge wide enough to put wide food (baking trays, pizza boxes, etc) in.
54 votes
pear / 1974 posts
I got a french door when we moved into our house last year, and i honestly wasn't a big fan so we switched back to side by side this year! I found it kind of annoying to have to open both doors for certain things, and i didn't like bending down a lot for freezer items. But it does give you a lot of room - but since we are only a family of 2 we weren't using any of the room it provided.
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
We have a french door. It really boils down to how much do you use the fridge vs. the freezer? We don't get into the freezer NEAR as often as the fridge section, so a side by side would be a PITA for me
kiwi / 640 posts
i have a french door and my big concerns were large, wide items like you mentioned: baking sheets, frozen pizzas, etc. i love the set up!
i hear what he's saying about bending down to get in the freezer, but the fact that it pulls out (vs the old fashioned ones where you had to reach in) really makes it not much of an issue. And ours has a top drawer that we put frequently accessed items on like ice cream, frozen waffles, etc.
GOLD / papaya / 10206 posts
Side by side is the biggest pain in the fridge in the world. When you think about usable space, it's using depth as opposed to width. So even though he won't have to bend down for the pizza box, he might have to bend down for the milk, which could be all the way at the bottom behind a zillion things. My sister and IL's both have SBS fridge and vow to never ever do that again. They both loosed stuff at the back that rots way more often then with other fridges.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
A French door is sooo much better than a side by side. The freezer compartment of a side by side Sucks. You can barely fit a turkey in one.
French doors are awesome because the shelves are adjustable. I can switch mine around to accommodate double shelves of pitchers or wide enough for a sheet cake.
I know some hate the pull out freezer drawer but mine has a top shelf freezer drawer then the main freezer is two compartments.
We also have another pull out fridge drawer that works awesome right now as bottle slash drink storage. But when LO is older I plan for that to be the kids drawer so they can grab their own drinks and snacks.
wonderful kiwi / 23653 posts
@blackbird: I agree w/ you. We have a bottom pull out freezer, but I don't go into it multiple times (sometimes not even in a day or two), so I like that we don't have to bend down for any regular fridge items!
pomegranate / 3113 posts
We have a side-by-side that came with our house and I hate it. I'd love to get a French door but can't justify getting a new fridge while this one is working perfectly fine, especially since the French door ones are so pricey. But I'm kind of looking forward to the day it dies...
admin / wonderful grape / 20724 posts
We had a fridge where the freezer drawer was on the bottom, and the kids opened it all the time! We moved and now the kids can only open the fridge portion (which is on the bottom of the new fridge)... not ideal, but at least we don't have to worry about the kids defrosting all of our frozen food!
honeydew / 7444 posts
My parents have a side-by-side and it's the worst. You can barely fit or SEE anything in the fridge. I like having space for my food.
We have a bottom pull out freezer, and i don't really mind having to bend over.
grapefruit / 4278 posts
I hate my parent's side by side fridge. There's never enough room to put things into the fridge side and stuff ends up stacked on top of other things, or slightly tilted to make it fit. We're definitely going for a french door fridge when we buy a new one in the next year or so.
bananas / 9899 posts
We have a french door fridge and I like it. It has so much space.
I really dislike bottom freezers. They never seem to get as cold and I hated having to move stuff to get at stuff underneath.
watermelon / 14467 posts
I love my fridge. It's not french-door, but it's a fridge on top model and I would have a hard time going back.
squash / 13208 posts
I guess we have a French door? The top is 2 doors and the frig and the bottom is the freezer.
I love it! Its so spacious and you can adjust the shelves to fit practically anything!!!! The freezer portion has a pull put drawer on top (where I keep waffles and chic nuggets and stuff for the kids) and then the bottom is huge!!
My mom has a side by side and her freezer side is soooo tiny - everything falls out when she opens it!
nectarine / 2878 posts
I love our French door! It has a ton of room in the freezer for larger items and I had plenty of room for my freezer stash.
persimmon / 1361 posts
We have a side by side and I hate it! No room in the refrigerator at all! And you definitely have trouble fitting any wide/large items on either side. We bought a second refrigerator to put in our garage because it is such a hassle.
bananas / 9118 posts
Great timing- us too!
I've been researching like crazy and am leaning towards a side by side. The easy storage for frozen milk just looks so awesome! A friend of mine has one and hasn't had any problems fitting stuff inside her side by side. Her biggest advice was to get ice inside the door instead of in the actual freezer side.
pear / 1699 posts
I love the fridge on my French door set up but hate the pull out freezer. Luckily we have a second fridge/freezer (1 door fridge, top freezer) and a deep freeze in the rec room. Not sure what I'd do if I had to do it again, I love my moms side by side.
pomelo / 5228 posts
We had a side by side when we bought the house, and I hated it! It was hard fitting larger things in, and the freezer was really hard to organize. When we remodeled we bought a french door and I love it.
persimmon / 1085 posts
We hated our side by side. As others said, it isn't wide enough for many things. When we bought a new one a few years ago, we opted for the bottom freezer. I love it. Since I hardly use the freezer, I don't mind bending down to use it. At least all the fridge stuff is up higher which is primarily what I use most of the day.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
@BabyBoecksMom: love our French door fridge for exactly this reason! Also you can move the shelves around if you have something super huge. The freezer is also wider than if you had a side by side. We have the 2 freezer drawers which I like bc I don't have to dig around too far to find stuff since it's two shallower shelves rather than one big freezer drawer
bananas / 9357 posts
I love our French door ! So much space in the fridge. I like that I don't have to bend to get anything out of the fridge. The freezer seems small but we have a deep freeze. I feel like the freezers with side by sides seem even smaller.
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
I don't like the french door ones. Or at least the one my parents have. The doors get "stuck" open sometimes, even though they look like they are closed. Maybe it's just their fridge but I'd pick side by side.
pomegranate / 3521 posts
French. We use the fridge much more often than the freezer. We also have an additional freezer in the basement for holidays/ larger things/bodies. Ok. Just checking who was still reading.
blogger / coconut / 8306 posts
French. It's so awesome. We don't use the freezer quite as often , but it's still spacious. It has a shelf and a pull out drawer, along with door storage. We fit a lot of food in there!
I love that our fridge has adjustable shelves & adjustable door shelves. It's so nice and organized!
grapefruit / 4089 posts
@Reese: Dun dun dun....
@BabyBoecksMom:I would never buy a side by side. They always, always seem to be lacking in space. We have a french door (fridge on top, pull-out freezer on the bottom) and I LOVE it. So much room, organization is easy peasy, and the pull out freezer is not a pain in the slightest.
bananas / 9973 posts
Another vote for French door! It's awesome how much stuff we can fit without now - a whole pizza box, the dutch oven, a pot of soup...
I'm kind of opposite of your DH though, I like that the freezer drawers are low. I can dig around looking down, as opposed to reach up and tiptoe looking in the depth of a side by side. We have 2 freezer drawers, and I really like the split of it.
pomegranate / 3350 posts
I hate side-by-side. We had them growing up and my mom still has one. I feel like we had better use of space with our old apartment size refrigerator.
I didn't vote for French door though because my preference would just be for top refrigerator/bottom freezer. All the ones I see in the store that are French door seem like a pain to open and close. I feel like it would accidentally get left open all the time. I do like the looks of the French door best out of all the options.
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