Mark, I would look at some of the refrigerator reviews before deciding on this unit.

I do like the idea (for those that "Must have") completely isolated Fridge/Freezer zones (A La Miele, SZ and Liebherr)
that this fridge uses separate evaporators yet only one compressor--so "Should be" more efficient and reliable.

However, unfortunately I can not draw the above conclusions based upon user reviews I've seen for this Fridge'

I suggest you read them yourself, I will post one site on the link below, but there are many other sources of reviews!

Should you decide to "Byte The Bullet" and buy it anyway, first make sure you have local service for it, and a place that stocks the parts that are more likely to fail, (Compressor and the circuit board for the compressor)---or at least get a "Best Estimate" on how long it would take to get these parts!

Good luck on your decision, I was really rooting for this Fridge, cause of the "Efficient Design".

Anyway, read the reviews, and draw your OWN CONCLUSION!

Gary

Here is a link that might be useful: Samsung Fridge Reviews

We are a family of 8. I purchased this the Samsung 3 door with no water in the door. That water in the door takes up a ton of room. I've been mostly happy so far. It didn't come with a dent, but it took about 2 weeks before we got one on the side of one of the french doors. It's noisier than I would like as well. I'm nervous that it will break and there won't be anyone to fix it. We do have a back up frig and freezer, though, so it should be ok if there is a problem. The door handles tend to accumulate gunk from the kids. My Maytag FD was not like this for some reason. I did get the stainless platinum and I like that it doesn't seem to show the fingerprints as much as I thought it would.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Frig

Hi Mark, I have the RFG2997AARS. I can't give a review of its long term reliability because we've only had it since just before Christmas. Like you, I have four young children, ages 6-11. We had a side by side for 14 years and I never liked the design. I did quite a bit of research on the mid-range fridges and decided that I liked the layout of the Samsung the best. In terms of features, I definitely wanted water on the door. I would have preferred not having an exterior ice machine, in order to get water on the door I had to have the ice too. My kids drink mainly water, so the exterior water was important to me - I didn't want my fridge being constantly opened so that they could get a drink of water. One thing to mention about the water dispenser (and I'd read this in reviews b/f buying). It is fine for filling glasses, but it can be tricky with water bottles. Regular size water bottles are okay, but you have to make sure you get the mouth of the bottle under the spout. Taller water bottles that don't fit into that space on the door won't really work b/c they won't fit properly under the spout. This has not really been an issue with me, despite having four active sports-playing kids and needing to constantly fill bottles. I only have a few that don't fit so I just fill a cup then pour into the water bottle. (Again, not an issue with regular sized bottles, just oversize/tall bottles).

I personally do not think the water/ice dispenser takes up too much room. I was concerned initially while researching, but I was gaining so much space moving up to this fridge from my SxS that I haven't noticed the ice maker being a space hog at all! In fact, I have TONS of room in my fridge. I thought at first that I might be annoyed by lack of storage space on the doors for condiments and such, but I still have plenty of room. They have even fitted shelving around the dispenser on the left door - I can fit smaller items on those shelves and it works.

The drawers are plenty big for fruits and veggies.

The Cool Select pantry I love - we have a variety of cheese that I keep on one side, then I use the other side for meats like turkey, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon. This drawer has helped keep my fridge so much better organized than my last fridge.

Some complain about losing things in the freezer drawer. I have not had that issue. I can actually find things more easily than in my old SxS which was so narrow I was constantly having to move things around to fit them. I keep the things we use the most (frozen waffles, frozen bread, etc) in the top basket and then store lesser used things like frozen meats on the bottom compartment. There is a nice narrow compartment on top just inside the door that I use to store smaller things like freezer packs for my kids lunches, butter, etc.

Someone mentioned noise. My fridge is EXTREMELY quiet. The only noise I ever hear, and it's infrequent, is the ice dropping when a new tray is made. That is loud and can be quite jarring if you are sitting around in a quiet house (not often here with four kids!). Made my dog jump the first time he heard it, but it doesn't happen frequently. The fridge itself makes no noise - my old fridge hummed when it was running. I didn't notice it while it was running as I'd grown accustomed to it, but when it stopped I'd notice the quiet! This one is not like that!

Other comments: I wondered if having to sometimes open TWO doors instead of one to access the fridge would bother me. I think this is personal preference. It doesn't bother me at all. I tend to know where things are that I use frequently and can just open the door on the side where it is located. Occasionally I do have to open both doors to look for something, but I don't find that a pain. This morning I had both hands full and had to open both doors b/c the things I was putting away were on opposite side of the fridge - wasn't an inconvenience even with full hands.

IN HINDSIGHT: I might possibly have gone with the second exterior drawer. I contemplated it, it was more expensive, but wasn't sure it was worth the expense. In hindsight, perhaps it was. I access the deli drawer frequently and you do have to open both fridge doors in order to open the pantry door. Not a big deal and I can easily live with it, but it might have been nicer to just have it be an exterior drawer. The produce drawers do not have to have both doors open in order to access though, just the pantry door b/c it's wide and cannot be pulled out unless both doors are open.

Overall, I LOVE this fridge. Again, I can't speak for its reliability since we haven't had it long, but in terms of features/functions, it has been great for our family of six.

If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer!

fourkids4us,

Thanks for the lengthy reply, love it.

I'm feeling better after reading your post, in fact even if money is not an issue, at any cost I don't think there exists a frnech door fridge that provides this much usable interior space.

I am going to go four the four door, the kids will love it.

Now I'm just a little worried about placing this thing in between cabinets, I have a standard 36" enclosure for a fridge with cabinets on one side and the fridge cabinet enclosure on the other side with a doorway right there.

Since this will be my first non counter deph fridge, I'm scared about how it will look sticking out.

I can't give you much advice on the sticking out part. We have a standard depth cabinet on one side and a partial wall on the other so it does stick out. It's in the corner of our kitchen so not as obvious. However, eventually, we are tearing down the wall (there is a pantry on the other side) and will add cabinetry/counter to the other side. I too wonder if then the fridge will "stand out" more by not having the wall on one side. OTOH, I needed the space that this fridge could provide that I wouldn't have been able to get from a CD fridge. At this stage, function is more important than form for us.

Is the fridge going to stick out in front of the doorway?