Refrigerators with freezer drawers below - pros and cons?

[ELaurie]

:lurk5:

[Stacie]

I haven't found any cons yet, and I've had mine three years. :001_smile: Love it!

[OnTheBrink]

I haven't found any cons yet, and I've had mine three years. :001_smile: Love it!

 

:iagree:

[PeterPan]

Well if you want to know, the way I chose my frig was to go to Sears with all the stuff from my frig (I kid you not!) and load them in. After loading each one, I took a digital picture. That way your memory doesn't get fuzzy. They each load totally differently. I had thought a side-by-side would be great, but it didn't work for us at all, not with what we store. The french doors were terrible too. I guess I could have made it work, and I WANTED to make it work to get the split drawer bottom freezers that were only available with french door at the time. I ended up going with a kenmore elite with a regular door, bottom freezer, and that's just perfect for us. But it really depends on what you store, kwim? I'd NEVER go back to a top freezer, no, no, no. I've done the bottom freezer while prego, and it wasn't a problem at all. Like I said, I wish I could have had those split drawers. At that time they were brand new and only came in stainless, which didn't work for our kitchen. Now then probably come lots of ways.

 

So I say take your stuff to the store and try those babies out! It's the only way to know for SURE what will work for YOU. :)

[Jayne J]

Love love love mine. I will never have a different style if I can help it. The ONLY draw back I can see (it isn't a drawback for us, but may be for some) is that small kids can't get their own juice/snack/ whatever until they are a certain height. I see it as a built in security system for snackables, but if you like yours to get their own, be sure that they can reach the lower shelves.

 

By the way, I really love mine. Really.

[usetoschool]

I have a double door top, single bottom freezer Samsung that I absolutely love. It is 26 cu. ft., no ice/water through the door - the water is a little spout inside the refrigerator. It cost a lot less that way and is just as useful.

 

The only problem I have ever had is the freezer has a separate flat top drawer that slides in and out separately from the main drawer and it has the ice maker in it. The ice maker was full and when I slid the drawer out it broke parts off the ice maker, which is above the drawer. Because it is on the bottom of the top section, facing downward, we can't really get to it to try to fix it and don't want to call a repairman and pay the cost. So our ice just comes out in big chunks.

[ElizabethB]

Ours leaks and our 4 year old cannot get his own milk glass out of the fridge and I'm very allergic, I have to wash my hands after I touch it. My 7 year old usually gets the milk for me, but she's getting tired of it! The doors also don't close well, but it usually bings and reminds you--although today it was open for 30 minutes without binging before we noticed. It's a Kenmore elite and about 1 year old according to our landlords.

[abbeyej]

I have one (Liebherr) that I love. The only con I can think of is younger children unable to reach basics (like the milk a PP mentioned). My dd is 7.5 and very small, so she can't get the milk out when it's more than half full because she has to reach so high up. We have to be careful to keep anything else she might need to get for herself in the very bottom of the fridge part. But truly, that's the only complaint I have, and I consider it very minor. (Especially if you don't have very small children!)

[LaxMom]

I haven't found any cons yet, and I've had mine three years. :001_smile: Love it!

:iagree:

 

My kids get their own drinks/snacks. Even when the boys were 3, they'd just pull over the step stool. ;)

 

(we have an LG armoire one)

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

We had a Subzero in our condo with a bottom drawer freezer and we had to leave it as part of the deal when we sold the condo. Now we have a side-by-side and I don't like it at all. I really miss the bottom freezer. So much easier. And I liked having everything in the fridge in plain view.

[Harriet Vane]

I love mine. Love it. Both dh and I are tall. When the freezer is on top, we have to bend over to look in the frig. When the freezer is on the bottom, that puts the frig at the right height for us to look in comfortably.

[kalanamak]

I haven't found any cons yet, and I've had mine three years. :001_smile: Love it!

 

Had it for 10 years. No cons.

[PeterPan]

We keep our milk and juice in the door of the frig. That's another reason to try them out before you decide. The door storage is limited (at least for our needs) on the french door models. With a single door, we can store a TON of stuff. Gallons of milk, 2 L juice pitchers, oil, all sorts of stuff.

[Laurie4b]

To me, it makes so much more sense to have the freezer below because you don't get things out of the freezer as often as you do the refrigerator, so it is much less bending over. I love to be able to see at eye level what's in my fridge ; I think it saves money from having fewer things spoil because they went unseen. Cleaning hydrators is much nicer when I'm not kneeling on the floor.

 

Ours has pull-out drawers in the freezer which makes it easier to see/find everything down there as well.

 

It's also supposedly more energy efficient.

 

I love mine and would never go back!

[BridgeTea]

2 year old Maytag with single fridge door on top and freezer on the bottom. The veggies and milk are up there in my face, and the ice cream is hidden down by my shins. I love it!

[mrscopterdoc]

I guess I have to be totally different and say that I *hate* mine. We are renting our house and it came with the house so I had no choice. I like the fridge on top part, it is nice having that on eye level. We have a teenager so there are no issues like those with little ones. What I hate most is bending over to get stuff out of the freeezer, and it is a drawer, so stuff gets buried. Same reason I would never, ever have a chest type deep freeze. I really miss my side-by-side. I could fit SO much in there.

[Closeacademy]

I have one.

 

What I like:

 

There is a little shelf to put things on when I get things out of the fridge.

It is easier to see every thing in the fridge.

It is easier to put things away in the fridge.

 

What I don't like:

The drawer for the freezer can be difficult and comes off the track easily.

It is hard to see everything in there.

Things get lost in the freezer.

You almost have to sit on the floor to dig in the freezer.

 

I love the fridge on top but I hate the freezer on the bottom. It is really one of those love/hate situations.:001_smile:

[Renthead Mommy]

This house came with a GE Profile.

 

I was thrilled when we chose this house, because I wanted a freezer bottom fridge. HOWEVER, I was then really disappointed. It just doesn't work well for us. I just can't get it set up to really work well and hold things the way I need it to. Same problem with the freezer.

 

I thought it was just how they were and was really glad we got to 'try it out' in a rental before buying a new fridge and not liking it. Then I saw how my SIL and gf's were. Same thing, bottom freezer, but the space in them seems so much more efficient than ours. That's when i found out that even though freezer bottom fridges all seem the same, the inside can be set up so much different.

 

I know I still want a freezer bottom if we need to buy one for the next house. I also know I DO NOT want the GE Profile. My suggestion is REALLY look at the layout of the inside and start trying to metally put your regular stuff in there. Make sure the one you get fits your food lifestyle.

[LibraryLover]

Love them. Don't have one. Plan on buying one soon. they make sense!

[i.love.lucy]

I guess I have to be totally different and say that I *hate* mine. We are renting our house and it came with the house so I had no choice. I like the fridge on top part, it is nice having that on eye level. We have a teenager so there are no issues like those with little ones. What I hate most is bending over to get stuff out of the freeezer, and it is a drawer, so stuff gets buried. Same reason I would never, ever have a chest type deep freeze. I really miss my side-by-side. I could fit SO much in there.

This is what I thought. I keep thinking that it seems like the freezer would be a big jumble, kinda like my junk drawer. How do you stack frozen dinners and casseroles so that you can see what you are looking for?

 

I have a Kenmore old-school freezer on top that will. not. die. Part of me doesn't want it to so I can use it in the garage, but I want a new fridge SO BADLY!

[ELaurie]

thanks for all of the helpful replies everyone!

[abbeyej]

This is what I thought. I keep thinking that it seems like the freezer would be a big jumble, kinda like my junk drawer. How do you stack frozen dinners and casseroles so that you can see what you are looking for?

 

My freezer-on-the-bottom has a door and four clear plastic drawers. Two side-by-side on the top (the one on the left is the ice maker), and two full-width ones below that. It's pretty easy to see what's in the drawers and pull out the ones that I want.

 

I suppose one big drawer might be challenging, just like a deep freeze would be...

 

On the other hand, I don't think I could fit a very large frozen turkey or goose in there... (What with the holidays coming up, this is on my mind, lol...)

[Ginevra]

I have the French door type freezer on the bottom. One thing that bugs me is that the ice compartment is inside the freezer and whenever I pull out the freezer drawer, any extra ice falls down to the floor of the fridge. There's a whole collection of stray ice cubes that have fallen down there in the year we've had the fridge.

[mrscopterdoc]

This is what I thought. I keep thinking that it seems like the freezer would be a big jumble, kinda like my junk drawer. How do you stack frozen dinners and casseroles so that you can see what you are looking for?

 

 

My bottom freezer has 2 drawers. The one on top, half of it is taken up by the ice maker. We only keep "light" stuff there like burger buns, popsicles and pie crusts. The bottom big drawer actually is where I keep all my fish [hubby got a lot of salmon this year] and junk food and snacks. We have a big [upright] deep freeze where all my meat, TV dinners and everything else goes in, organized. :lol:

[OnTheBrink]

My bottom freezer has 2 drawers. The one on top, half of it is taken up by the ice maker. We only keep "light" stuff there like burger buns, popsicles and pie crusts. The bottom big drawer actually is where I keep all my fish [hubby got a lot of salmon this year] and junk food and snacks. We have a big [upright] deep freeze where all my meat, TV dinners and everything else goes in, organized. :lol:

 

Yeah, my freezer drawer has two drawers inside, too. I don't lose anything in there at all. I put heavy stuff on bottom, lighter or more frequently used things on top. I LOVE my fridge!

[Rhonda in TX]

We have no interest in the ice in the door. (BTDT, with bad results) And I'm not going to be the ice gopher. :)

 

Oh, and DH drinks lots of iced tea, so the ice issue would be a big one.

 

A friend has one that has no bottom and that has created a problem at times. I'd check on that for sure before buying one.

[KathyBC]

I was researching fridges this summer. Two reasons I found that might potentially stop me from purchasing one with a freezer on the bottom:

 

1. If you have, er, active climbers for children they might climb on the bottom door to get into the top. (Blessedly, mine are pretty much past this, but it still gave me pause for thought.)

2. The models I looked at actually had less fridge space and more freezer space in that design. I have a chest freezer and just need a little space in the house for convenient things, and prefer more room in the fridge section.

[MaMa2005]

We have the Maytag French door/bottom freezer and LOVE IT! We don't have the ice maker issues that some have mentioned. We do have the ice and water in the door (a must have for DH) and the ice maker is in the refrigerator part of the appliance. Takes away space from the top, but gives me more space in the freezer.

 

Ours has a slide out drawer in the bottom of the refrigerator. It is perfect for snacks for DS. Just the right height and he knows that if it is in his part of the drawer, he may have it anytime.

 

Ours is two years old and we haven't had the first problem with it.

[PeterPan]

My boy is a serious climber, but I don't see how (or why) you could/would climb the freezer drawer to get into the frig. They'd have to pull out the big freezer drawer, then pull out the inner sliding shelf, which would still be low and squicshy. After all that, they could have just pulled up the very nice kitchen stool I keep 2 feet away. ;)

 

For the people with ice falling, does yours have a hi/low switch? Ours does, so you can regulate how much it makes (hi/lo/off). We have no problems with that.

 

And yes, you need to look at them and compare them side by side. Some have more amenities and niceties than others. Had a GE in the old house, and I would never do that again. Read reviews. When I was buying, the LG's were having so many issues, I steered clear. They may be fine now, don't know. I went with a Whirlpool-built Kenmore. It has a smooth finish, not the pebbly of the regular black.

 

Aren't appliances fun! :)

[newbie]

Con /bending and there are no shelves, so everything is mushed.

[sleepymommy]

We don't have one but my IL's do and I really dislike it. My kids are always opening it searching for popsicles.

[Seeker]

I like my bottom freezer very much and I do not like side-by-sides at all. When we first got ours, I was having back pain. It was much easier to get something out of the refrigerator and the freezer is used much less. My daughter uses a stool and can reach everything she needs. The only thing I would like to be different is for it to be a double door for the refrigerator and a drawer/pull out bottom, but what I have is quite sufficient with single doors. :001_smile:

[ELaurie]

This is very helpful - thank you!

[AngieW in Texas]

My fil has one and it's awful.

 

The refrigerator on top has two doors. You have to close them in the correct sequence or it won't seal. It has a water spigot, but it's by the hinge of the left door, so you have to open the fridge all the way (because that's the door that has to open last and close first) and stand inside it to get water.

 

The ice maker is in the top drawer of the freezer. Ice falls out every time it's opened. The freezer doesn't hold much at all. I've had freezer tops before and they hold a lot more than this does.

 

He's planning on selling it with his house. He's been looking at houses for a few months.

[Melmc]

We have a Jenn-Aire French door one. I love it. I have had a few ice cubes pop out of the top drawer, but that's it. We have the water dispenser on the inside of the fridge because I wanted smooth front. If we need ice, we just go into the freezer to get it. I do lots of freezer meals using the book Fix Freeze Feast, and I've had no problem with size issue or losing things. I would never go back to another type.

 

I also have my side-by-side in the garage which we brought with us from our other house and I hate that one. I have since the day we brought it home and I loaded it up.