JudoMom Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Dh is considering buying a new fridge. What kind to I want? Since we've been married, I've had two side by sides. I like this, but in our home now one of the doors opens into the wall, so if I want to pull out the drawers and really scrub the fridge out, I've got to pull the fridge out and away from the wall, so I don't think I want to do a side by side again. So, do I want freezer on top or freezer on bottom? I like the looks of the double door with the freezer on the bottom, but again, I'm worried about the door opening into the wall. Anyway, if you have a fridge you love, please tell me what it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeFe Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We have a french door, freezer on bottom by Whirlpool and we love it. But you might still have the door issue like you said. One tip, if you decide to go that route - many of the french door types have a large deli pull out drawer. It's the width of the fridge and it looks really useful but it takes up so much space in the fridge. I'm thankful that the sales person pointed that out to us. We opted to get one without that special drawer and I feel like I have plenty of room in the fridge and enough drawer space with the 2 regular crisper drawers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheBrink Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 I have an Amana with the bottom freezer and I love it. I like having the refrigerator part on top so I can see directly in without having to stoop. I also like the freezer drawer with the two baskets, because it makes it easy to organize. As for the door, you can have it open in either direction. Just tell whoever installs it to move the hinges to the other side, if it doesn't come with the door opening the way you want it to. It's an easy fix. :001_smile: eta: I don't have the French doors, just one door for the fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Freezer on the bottom. I don't care whether the upper has french doors or one door; I just want the freezer on the bottom. We bought a bottom-freezer Amana over 10 years ago, and I'll never go back to freezer on the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 As for the door, you can have it open in either direction. Just tell whoever installs it to move the hinges to the other side, if it doesn't come with the door opening the way you want it to. It's an easy fix. :001_smile: Although this is true, it's better to have the door open to the wall, as it will work better with the flow of the kitchen, KWIM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We have a Samsung, freezer on the bottom, double doors on top. When you pull open the large freezer, which is basically one big drawer, there is a smaller drawer on top that slides out. In our case it holds the bin for the ice maker (which we banged into something and broke and can't get at to fix because it hangs from the bottom of the top section). It was much cheaper and just as convenient for us to get the ice maker in the freezer instead of through the door. Inside the top double doors there is a full width pull out drawer, which I actually like. We store all of the cheese and lunch meat and bacon etc. in there. It holds quite a bit. Our water is a nifty little spout inside the refrigerator on the side wall with a rubber push button. Cold, filtered water without the extra couple hundred dollars for through the door. Lots of bins in the doors, two vegetable bins, adjustable glass shelves (all 1/2 and 1/2 so it is adjustable to fit just about anything I could try to fit in). I had never bought a Samsung appliance before but we have had it for 3 years or so, and though that isn't very long, we are happy with it so far and haven't had any trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We have a Samsung fridge with the french doors on the top and the freezer on the bottom. I LOVE it!!! I love not having to stoop down to look at everything in the fridge. I rarely go into the freezer so it's nice having that out of the way on the bottom. Our left french door opens into a wall but that hasn't been a problem. The right french door opens wide enough that it is really easy to clean even if the left one cannot swing past the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Oh my... I Love, love, love my fridge!!!! I have a french door Kenmore with the pull-out freezer underneath. When you open both fridge doors, there's a pull-out tray under the produce drawers that allows you to store large trays of food, leftover pizza boxes, etc. I don't know what I'd do without this feature! I love that I can only open one door if I need something from one side, or I can open both for larger items. My freezer is large, and it has drawers that pull out so I don't have to dig through things or reach far back. My sister is amazed at all I can fit in it (she has a side-by-side she hates). I would by another french-door fridge in a heartbeat! I cannot tell you how much I love my fridge! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We recently bought a Whirlpool with french doors and freezer on the bottom. We opted to have the deli drawer (which as Fefe noted does extend the width of the icebox); however, I find that drawer very useful as we buy hams and lunch meats in bulk then freeze most of them. However, with 4 kiddos, we find that our deli drawer is full most of the time with different meats, cheeses, etc as apparently it is an unwritten rule in my house that no child can have the same sandwich as his/her sibling. <sigh> Anyway, I find that for my family the deli drawer is heavily utilized. And I also find it fairly easy to spot clean the shelves (not remove them, though) even if one of the doors isn't open. I LOVE, LOVE having the freezer on the bottom. I will never have a side by side again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnTheBrink Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Although this is true, it's better to have the door open to the wall, as it will work better with the flow of the kitchen, KWIM? I guess that does make sense. I haven't had a refrigerator next to a wall in 15 years, so I'd forgotten about that issue. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 (edited) We have an Amana, freezer on the bottom with a pull out drawer. French doors would be a plus as the door on top is big for the future. Not stooping is a plus for me too and the deep door holds lots of big items, like gallons of anything and big jars, even a 2litre bottle can stand up in it. We also have a chest freezer and I don't stuff the drawer on our refrigerator. The baskets get heavy and stooping to dig isn't great on the back. If I didn't have an extra freezer, I might consider a traditional side by side. Edited December 27, 2009 by Tammyla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 One tip, if you decide to go that route - many of the french door types have a large deli pull out drawer. It's the width of the fridge and it looks really useful but it takes up so much space in the fridge. I'm thankful that the sales person pointed that out to us. We opted to get one without that special drawer and I feel like I have plenty of room in the fridge and enough drawer space with the 2 regular crisper drawers. We have that large drawer and it does take a lot of space. I wound up having to take out one of the half shelves to make enough room. Ours is GE and the other two things I don't like is there is no egg holder and I don't have enough room for the tall bottles (like ketchup) anywhere. My biggest complaint about the bottom freezer is that it's large baskets that pull out and with three kids we always seem to have ice cubes dropping to the floor. The french door models with ice in the door were another $1000 and we couldn't afford that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We love our bottom freezer! We have one with the big deli drawer in the bottom of the fridge, and we love that too. I keep all the kids' snacks in it....so the snacks don't get lost all over the fridge, and the kids can just open up the fridge, open the drawer and get a healthy snack. The double drawer on the bottom is very nice. My husband, who is very energy efficient pointed out that some of the bottom freezers have just baskets that you pull out of the freezer, not drawers, and you would lose a lot of energy because the freezer would have to work harder to cool itself down after it lost its coldness. I would not get the ice and water in the door because it comes out the refrigerator part, and it would not give me enough room in the refrigerator if we had it. Just the ice maker in the freezer is great for us. We will never go back to a top freezer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeFe Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We recently bought a Whirlpool with french doors and freezer on the bottom. We opted to have the deli drawer (which as Fefe noted does extend the width of the icebox); however, I find that drawer very useful as we buy hams and lunch meats in bulk then freeze most of them. However, with 4 kiddos, we find that our deli drawer is full most of the time with different meats, cheeses, etc as apparently it is an unwritten rule in my house that no child can have the same sandwich as his/her sibling. <sigh> Anyway, I find that for my family the deli drawer is heavily utilized. And I also find it fairly easy to spot clean the shelves (not remove them, though) even if one of the doors isn't open. I LOVE, LOVE having the freezer on the bottom. I will never have a side by side again. I forgot to note that we have an ice maker in the fridge that takes up a lot of space too. We tend to have a couple of gallons of milk (which fit in the door) a carton of orange juice, gallon of tea and a gallon of kool-aid. That is why we chose not to have the extra drawer though I'm sure we'd use it if we had it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa in Jax Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 But, being tall (5'9") I wouldn't want a bottom freezer, even though I love the french door concept, b/c I'd have to squat/stoop to get into the bottom. We have an upright freezer just outside the kitchen, so I'd really like to have an "all fridge" in the kitchen. When this hideous side-by-side finally dies (it's 15 yrs old), hopefully, I'll get my all fridge. ;-) Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 :lol: I thought you were going to ask about the condition of my fridge or maybe what is in it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We're going to be purchasing a fridge in January for our new house. Here are the 11/09 Consumer Reviews picks: French-Door Bottom Freezer Kenmore Elite 7759 Whirlpool Gold GX5FHTXV Samsung RF266AB Amana AFD2535DE Regular Bottom Freezer Amana ABB2221FE Kenmore Elite 7625 Amana ABB1921DE Top Freezer GE Profile PTS22LHS Whirlpool ETIFTEXV GE GTH18KBX I did not write down the side-by-side picks since that's not something we would buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 It was much cheaper and just as convenient for us to get the ice maker in the freezer instead of through the door. I have also read that these through the door thingies are the most likely part to malfunction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 ...we have a side-by-side that I HATE. It was given to us by friends who bought a house with appliances included, so they gave us theirs. Well, I'd rather have my old one back. The refrigerator section of the side-by-side is too small. We have a big (25 cu.ft. chest freezer) just around the corner in the storage room, so the only thing I use the refrigerator's freezer for is ice. The ice maker on the front is a great convenience, but I told dh that what I'd really like is a refrigerator ONLY -- NO freezer compartment, just an ice maker on front. I don't even know if they make those, but that's what I'd prefer instead of what I have now. We looked at refrigerators a couple of months ago at Sears, and the ones I liked best were the French door style refrigerators with the freezer on the bottom. There was a Whirlpool that I liked and also an LG. I think it was the LG that I liked best of all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigitte Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Although this is true, it's better to have the door open to the wall, as it will work better with the flow of the kitchen, KWIM? :iagree: One of my biggest pet peeves is when the door opens towards the counter space. While it might make access to the bottom drawer more difficult, having the door open towards the wall is much to be preferred to having to reach around the door to put things on the counter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 :iagree: One of my biggest pet peeves is when the door opens towards the counter space. While it might make access to the bottom drawer more difficult, having the door open towards the wall is much to be preferred to having to reach around the door to put things on the counter. Doors on some models are reversible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Single door - freezer on bottom. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 :lol: I thought you were going to ask about the condition of my fridge or maybe what is in it... What? You don't want to fess up about the placentae you're harboring? :D I have a bottom freezer, too, and like it. I would prefer to have the drawer kind, rather than the door (those weren't sold yet when we bought ours), for the same hits-the-wall-when-opened reason. But. What I really want, to match my 1950 Frigidaire range is this: http://bigchillfridge.com/site/fridges Aren't they beauties? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tricia Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 We have 2 side by side each other in our kitchen and I hate it. But with our large family we need them. I am so hoping to one day (soon) to get one of those "all fridges" that don't have a freezer, just a fridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted December 30, 2009 Author Share Posted December 30, 2009 I posted this before I left for church on Sunday, and my wonderful dh took me fridge shopping before I could read your replies :lol:. We ended up going with a Kenmore french door. It has the water in the door, but not the ice, so the ice maker doesn't take up room in the fridge, and just a bit of space in the freezer. It'll be delivered on Saturday, and I can't wait! I'm glad the Hive agrees with what we bought :lol:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanne in ABQ Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 many of the french door types have a large deli pull out drawer. It's the width of the fridge and it looks really useful but it takes up so much space in the fridge. FWIW, that full-width deli drawer is one of my favorite aspects of my french-door, bottom-freezer GE Profile. I LOOOOOVE that drawer! No more digging around. No more rotten meat or dried out cheese at the bottom of the regular-width drawer. My 4yo can reach her string cheese with ease. Dh can find his turkey and cheese in the wee hours of the morning when he makes his lunch. I love it! (did I mention that?) ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnado Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 We love our side-by-side GE Profile Performance. It has cold water, whole and ice chips on the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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