Is the refrigerator going to be in such a heavy use traffic pattern that someone would Need to get by when the door is open? Is it an issue where they can just wait a few seconds until you close the door? I am not trying to be smart, I want to know if the large door is Really in the way.

French Door refrigerators solve a space issue by allowing a wide refrigerator to open fully in a space where the inter-counter space is tight.

Remember that fridges also need some space on the hinge side for door swing adjacent to a wall or corner. French doors may need extra clearance on both sides.

I think that french door refrigerators definitely solve some space issues, but if a conventional single door fridge would work I would go with that. French door fridges are now being made in some sizes that don't respond so much to the need for function as much as they do a fad.

Hi palimpsest! Good question--normally, yes, my husband or I can wait as the other one is using the fridge. He does all the cooking and I usually stay out of his way when he's in the kitchen. However, we have a 2.5 year old and a baby on the way. The 2.5 year old pushes hard against our current fridge door when it's open to get past it, even though it often means shoving me into the fridge shelves. I imagine it will only get worse as she gets stronger and her sibling eventually joins in with her. ;)

On an unrelated note, I just surfed over to the Costco website and noticed a Whirlpool French Door for only $1399 (including delivery, installation kits and the Costco guarantee/return policy). I hadn't even considered Whirlpool but the Coscto return policy is a huge bonus as they allow returns at any time with their satisfaction guaranteed policy. Their single door bottom freezer is $100 more and smaller cf (21.9) but it has a water dispenser (which we don't need). Thus, if we go w/Costco, I'd get the french door in the 24.8 cf size.

Anyone have experience or any knowledge of Whirlpool fridges? I'm off to research!

We have had a Whirlpool french door fridge (icemaker, but no interior or exterior dispensers) for about six months. So far, so good. My one comment is that the refrigerator doors need to be closed "positively". One can't rely on gravity or just give them an idle swing.

We've had a Kenmore (Amana) French door bottom freezer since December 2005. We love it! We have a non-walk-through galley style kitchen, and the French doors allow much easier loading and unloading to the counter top across from the fridge. We worried about the freezer being a pull out door, that one of our terriers might get caught in it, but it has never happened. Overall, we prefer the French doors to the side by sides and top mount freezers we've had.

We went last night to Costco, Lowe's, and a smaller local appliance store (not big box). Costco didn't have the Whirlpool models on site, but we played with a lot of fridges at the other 2 places. I think we're going to go with French door, as the single door models we saw didn't have the freezer configuration my husband prefers. We both like the solid plastic baskets as opposed to open wire baskets. He also liked the Samsung's "auto-open" tray that pulls open with the freezer drawer so you don't have to pull it open yourself.

The one thing we noticed, which chipshot points out, is that many of the French door models don't close well when you close the right door first and then the left door. The Samsung, the Maytag, and some higher end ($2000+) models had some built-in feature that barely "popped" the right door so it shut again, as opposed to staying open when you closed the left door second. Still, I think I'm neurotic enough to either check every time or always close the left side first.

Hald: I think you make an excellent point about food loading/unloading that we didn't realize until last night while standing in front of both a french door and a single door model. The single door model completely blocks off using the island as a loading/unloading spot, since the angle of the door and where I'd be standing means I can only use the counter next to the fridge.

Thanks again everyone! I think now we're thinking it's either the Samsung French Door or Whirlpool French Door given the Costco return policy.

I'll go out on a limb and say that in my opinion the Samsung is a better fridge.

And I like the layout of their bottom freezer single door models better than any other.

i have the Kenmore french doors with water and ice on left side. Freezer on bottom, love it. i also have an upright freezer in garage. but the bottom freezer is quite large. i just use the upright when i go to the butcher and get large quantities of meat to store. it also has an alarm when the door is not closed all the way, (grandchildren) never seem to close all the way.

Smiles...I happen to have a similar post going on the kitchen forum. See link.

The doors on french door frigs not closing all the way seems to be an issue so some frigs have the option of an alarm that goes off if the door is left open. If I get a french door, I want this option bc I'm sure my kids (currently 2.75 yr and 6 months) will be leaving the doors open for years to come.

My husband likes the Samsung frigs so that might be what we get.

I was surprised to learn that many of Kenmore's french door frigs are no longer energy star compliant. So, it might cost a few more $ per year to operate that an energy star frig.

Congrats on the baby! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen forum link