French door refridgerators?

[mom2jjka]

We need a new fridge.  Our current one, an old-fashioned freezer on top model, came with our house. 

We have had it for 13+ years now, and who knows how long the owners before us had it. 

It is huge - which I love - but it sucks energy/money, it is super LOUD, (something is off with the fan,) and the icemaker is constantly breaking.

 

So I went to look at new fridges tonight and I almost died of sticker shock!  Aside from that, I just could not find one that I liked.

The French-door models are a little more appealing to me than the side by sides, but they all seem so much smaller on the inside than what I currently have, and I don't like that that most store the milk on the door.  Also, I like the idea of the water/ice maker on the door, but then they have even less room inside for food storage.

 

And what brands are good?   Our current fridge is an Amana, but I don't think they even make those anymore.

There were a few models I liked tonight (LG, Whirlpool, Samsung) but I was so overwhelmed with the various options (ice & water on the door, a 4th drawer in between the fridge and freezer, filtering systems, etc) I told the salesperson I needed to do more research.

 

Any pointers?  Pros & cons of certain models?  Brands to avoid?

Thanks in advance for advice.

 

 

 

[tammyw]

We have a Samsung one and really like it.

[gardenmom5]

one thing to look for in a french door is that you can open the half-width drawers if only one door is open. 

 

I downsized from a very large SxS, and got the counter depth. I do like that fact things can't hide in the back anymore - and that is doesn't stick so far out past the counters.  (I've seen new construction where they make the fridge comparment setback so the fridge doesn't stick out so far.)  I'm happy with it - though we also have a fridge in the garage.  it is also only four of us at home now.  dh complains.  1dd hates french door (her bfff's and ours), and got a regular with no water in the door for her house.

[Isabella]

We have a Sharp (not sure if you have that brand in the US), and are very happy with it.  I wouldn't mind it bigger, but I'm not sure anyone ever thinks their fridge is big enough.  I think it's very well organised.  Love the big door storage.

 

[mom@shiloh]

I have a huge side by side with the water and ice in the door -- very nice when you have lots of littles running around.  But now that my kids are getting older and can reach their own water, I really want the one with the French doors and the freezer drawer.  A friend of mine just got one and it looks great.  I also really, really want the counter depth one so that it doesn't stick out so far.  We're putting in a new kitchen and those few extra inches would be great!

 

[Cindy in FL.]

I like French door refrigerators. I do not like my Kenmore Elite model. The doors won't close on their own; hard to regulate the temp on the side with the in door ice maker; have had to replace the ice maker and the main control panel more than three times each (while not under warranty).

[In The Great White North]

 

 

The French-door models are a little more appealing to me than the side by sides, 

 

What's the difference between "french door" and "side by side"?

[Tmhearn]

We remodeled our kitchen last summer and needed a new fridge. We went with the Samsung side-by-side counter-depth. I like it a lot. It has ice and water on the door. It is pretty roomy inside. We do have our old fridge in the garage for storing things like beer and soda, though.

[Miss Tick]

Have you looked at Consumer Reports? That's where I started when we bought ours.

[PrincessMommy]

We have a Samsung French door model and really like it.  The only thing I don't like is the ice dispenser.  But, that's been true of any other fridge we've had with a dispenser.    I like having an auto ice *maker* but the dispensers always seem to be the first thing to malfunction. 

[Danestress]

I bought a french door Whirlpool floor model on the cheap. A new model was coming out, but I have been very happy with this one. I don't store the milk in the door, though I could.

I have a smallish kitchen with a butcher block a bit closer to the fridge than ideal. The french door are perfect for us because they come half as far out.

Lowes gave me the same warranty for the floor model as any other fridge, and I got this for $800 less than it had been selling for.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

When our side by side fridge died, I bought a French Door one, and even though it is a little smaller, I love it so much more than the side by side.  I hated not being able to put a party tray or a large pizza in the side by side.  And the freezer on the bottom works out so much better for me.

[zoobie]

The French door models typically hold so much more than a side-by-side. Look at the comparable cu ft of the two kinds. The one problem that I've found with a French door is that stuff tends to get lost in the back. Costco sometimes has a set of clear refrigerator bins (also on amazon and at the Container Store) that are fantastic for keeping like things together. The bins have helped with the kids' and DH's ability to find things on their/his own too.

I think ours is an LG? It has three produce drawers and a deli drawer inside with ice and water in the door. It does have the milk in the door. The newer fridges are so well insulated and air-circulated that I think the old door advice is outdated. We have not noticed any difference in milk or egg quality or lasting. I think ours has 31 cu ft of storage? Up from 19 with the old SxS. The ice/water space is efficient in the front and not a problem. It has shallow depth shelves on that door that perfectly fit our half and half, etc.

[Scarlett]

I have had two French doors. Loved them both. My newest one is improved because you can open either door on its own.

If it were up to me we wouldn't have water/ice in the door. I prefer an ice maker in the btm freezer....and you have more room in the frig up top that way.

[Scarlett]

The one I wanted was a single door up top btm freezer drawer. It was whirlpool and it was only 1250. I think it was 22 cube though, so that may be too small for you. He one dh talked me into ($1899) has French doors, water ice in door. It has an alarm which has proven invaluable because the water ice side doesn't self close.

[Mom-ninja.]

French door has the two door fridge section on top and a bottom freezer drawer. Correct?

[Okra]

We have an Amana french door fridge, that I love.  I will tell you a few things that I like about it.

 

First, it does not have water and ice in the door.  This takes up too much room in the actual refrigerator.  We need more refrigerator space than freezer space.  We have an ice maker in the freezer, we just open up the freezer get the ice.  No problems. IMHO it's not worth the water in the door option.

 

Second, the freezer portion has more than just a "basket" on the bottom.  Some freezers have  a "basket" that is part you pull out. Our freezer is like a compartment that you pull out, not a basket with holes in it.  I've heard people complain that if they get the "basket" type, with holes in the bottom, ice will fall out easily onto the kitchen floor.  I know this seems like such a little thing!  But I'm happy with what we have.

 

Third, we have this tiny drawer (it's in the fridge, not seperate) below our produce drawers.  I thought I would hate it.  But, I really love this thing.  We put all kinds of snacks in there for the kids to grab and eat, yogurt, different cheeses, ect.  We also like it for all those small things that can get lost in the fridge like small sour creams, dips, cream cheese, etc.

 

Also, we have a milk in the door fridge.  But, we have never put milk in there.  That space is used for condiments, salad dressings, etc.  We put the milk in the actual fridge part.  So, I wouldn't worry too much about the whole milk in the door thing you don't like.

[Hypatia.]

We just got rid of our old side-by-side and got a French door one (assuming that's the kind with 2 doors on top and the freezer on the bottom) last fall, I really like it.  It's also much bigger than our old one, but the freezer is much more usable on the bottom.  I do like being able to put a pizza box in the top, have plenty of room for fruits and veggies.  The ice maker is in the door so the capacity is lower than the old ice maker, but that's my only complaint and it's not that big of a deal.  Ours is a Whirlpool.  The price tag did make me fall over, but we really needed a bigger fridge.

[snowbeltmom]

We have a Samsung one and really like it.

 

:iagree: I love my Samsung as well.
 

[Jenn in FL]

Even more opinions from fairly recently.  :)

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/503691-fridge-opinions-do-you-love-yours/#entry5466074

 

I waxed poetically about our french door refrig somewhere in this thread.

 

Good luck!

[Ali in OR]

We have had our Samsung French door fridge since September and are happy with it. It took awhile to figure out what features we wanted, but we ended up with the one without the extra drawer (lower rating on Consumer Reports, drawer divider poorly designed), water and ice in the door, not counter depth but not the deepest model either. It's this one from Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Samsung-28-1-cu-ft-French-Door-Refrigerator-in-Stainless-Steel-RF28HFEDBSR/204729876?keyword=rfg297hdrs

 

In looking at various models, I wanted the ice maker in the fridge itself and not in the door as the door is the warmest place and I was worried about ice melting then refreezing. This eliminated all LG/Kenmore models (Samsung was also priced much better--more for the money). We keep the milk on the top shelf instead of the door also--shelves are adjustable. We went from a 22 cubic foot side-by-side to 28 cubic feet--it just seems huge to us, even with an ice maker inside and the milk taking a full shelf (we stock a lot of milk). I was worried about having enough ice and we seriously looked at the model that had a second ice maker in the freezer, but that model was 2" deeper and we didn't want it sticking out any further than our old fridge--we have a dd in a wheelchair that needs to be able to get by. And it turns out that we have plenty of ice. 

 

The freezer holds much more than our old side-by-side. We have a freezer in the garage too that was absolutely necessary. Now I find that a lot of things that I use to store in the garage I can now fit in the kitchen freezer just fine.

 

We bought ours during the Labor Day sale and were able to get it for around $1800--I think it was even slightly less at the Veteran's Day sale. If I was shopping now, I would try to hold out for the Memorial Day sale and see if the price goes down a bit more.

 

[mom2jjka]

Thank you everyone for all of your replies!

 

We bought a new friddge yesterday!  We decided NOT to get a French door model after all, because the ones that had a larger capacity, (which we need,) were just too wide for our opening, and the narrower versions were just too small on the inside.  So we went with a Maytag freezer-on-the-bottom model that has excellent reviews online, and also did well in Consumer Reports. 

 

Thanks again for all of your help!