hvtech42 - I'm looking at refrigerators now and agree with you. My situation is my almost 20 year old KA side by side is still working fine (has some very minor cosmetic issues). But I'm replacing my kitchen floor. So - if I ever want to replace the KA before it dies - now's the time to do it. When I look at the build quality of refrigerators (at least the stuff I can see and handle - drawers - shelves and the like) - the current SZs seem to have the build quality of my old KA. The new KAs are a lot worse. Some models of some brands like Samsung and LG seem to have better build quality than KA. So I am confused at this point. Also - when I got price quotes - the cheapest SZ quote was $7400 for a 36" side by side. Is that reasonable? I find it kind of maddening that getting price quotes on these things is like pulling teeth. Nothing on line or over the phone. I don't have problems getting price quotes on $75k cars or $1000/night hotel rooms. I think the notion that if you have to ask what something costs you can't afford it is ridiculous. Most people who wind up having money to spend didn't get there by being cost-oblivious. I live in a somewhat higher end house - but don't give a hoot about resale. I'm in my late 60's - and figure my next stop is a nursing home.or grave. My primary concern is build quality that leads directly to reliability. In the end - a refrigerator isn't a design statement. It's a utility stream. I have never had a refrigerator fail. Not even the low end harvest gold one in my first condo. That I gave to my late mother in the mid-1970's when I remodeled my kitchen (it was still humming when that house was sold in 2005). Or the super cheap ($175) bare bones absolute bottom of the line 20 year old one from Montgomery Ward that we use in our garage to store things like beer and water. Have needed some repairs on ice makers over the decades - but that seems to be par for the course with any brand. Refrigerators that fail seems to be a new phenomenon in recent years. Is my perception wrong? Finally - when I moved where I live now (almost 20 years ago) - there was no outfit that serviced high end appliances in terms of warranty work. Now there is. And it's the same outfit that will do the warranty work not only on your $10k SZ - but someone else's $800 Whirlpool. First come - first served. This alone would give me pause about a SZ (the repair outfit in question isn't the worst in town - but it's far from the best either - the best today IMO doesn't do any warranty work at all now). It's kind of like paying for concierge medical care - and having to wait a long time in waiting rooms to see doctors who are also seeing lots of Medicaid patients. Perhaps this sounds snobby. But - if I paid such a large amount of money for an appliance - I would expect not only a superior product - but superior service as well on the hopefully few and far between occasions when I needed it. Robyn

Yes, I think it's worth it. We've had "all" SZ units for 20 years, in two houses, and think they offer the most bang for the money. In our new house, we opted for a second 36" refrigerator with glass front instead of a (undercounter) beverage center, and this has proved so practical: it gets people out of the main part of the kitchen, we can store food safely, & we have extra space for party trays, brining the turkey, or other big projects that require refrigerator space. An old 48" SZ SxS came with our lakehouse, & both sections are skinny. It is a wonderful luxury to have nicely organized refrigerator & freezer space rather than having to stuff & unpack all the time. We waste very little food because it doesn't get lost.

"I don't understand the french door thing. Why have to open two doors? It has an application in kitchens with small aisles, I guess, but I dunno - I'd rather have the aisle spaced correctly. The ones with the big trays across the bottom are the worst to me." LOL - side by side fridges are basically French Door fridges - it's just the freezer is one side and the fridge is another - get an old school fridge with the freezer on top or bottom with one door the entire width of the fridge and I don't care how big your kitchen is, you will be desiring side by side or french door for the half-width doors. Also, if you prefer a side by side, why would you have to open both doors on a french door fridge? Your already used to accessing the fridge through a narrow door anyway :o) The side by side fridge I have came with my house - otherwise I would never own one. You can't put in odd-ball sized stuff, and normal stuff doesn't even fit well. It has allot less drawer space than the Samsung freezer on the bottom I had in my town house, and my Samsung was the smaller 18 cubic foot and my side by side is 25.5! To me, a side by side is like a 1500 square foot two story house vs. a 1500 square foot ranch. Theoretically they are the same square footage, but in the two story you loose space to stairs and hallways - not nearly as much actual usual space. I too have an extra chest freezer, but as others stated I would have one anyway. I have a foodsaver and I'm not afraid to use it. I buy things in bulk, on sale, and freeze them routinely. I wish I could find a fridge with a single height freezer drawer for quick access to the stuff I use regularly and the rest dedicated to fridge space. That would be ideal. Indeed, if I ever remodel my kitchen I'm seriously considering putting a fridge only in where my side by side is and a single freezer drawer (if they make such a thing? Surely someone does) in my island. I'd gladly sacrifice a little cabinet space for some more fridge space. I guess if you don't cook at home often, or eat that many fresh fruits or vegetables it's less important, but I never seem to have enough fridge space.

I love my old garage fridge and separate freezer. DH hunts and fishes and we do a lot of berry picking/freezing, and blanching/freezing veggies. I also freeze fresh spinach, kale, collards, romaine and such for smoothies. And I do a fair amount of doubling a recipe to freezer half for a later dinner. Between all that, both freezers are needed. The fridge section is great for when we entertain for getting serving trays of food ready early in the day or the day before. I don't have to wait until the last minute to get ready. And there are some things that I like to make a day before because I like them better if flavors have had time to meld together like potato/rice/pasta salads, for example. It's especially nice to not have it in the kitchen fridge while melding if I'm making a big batch for a gathering. We also keep things like cheese sticks and other snack-sized items that should be refrigerated in there so we can grab it and pop it into our packs and go when going on a hike or bike trip. If we kept them in the kitchen fridge, we'd munch on them instead of just cutting a piece of cheese and since they're more expensive to buy in individual packs, I like keeping them separated. I make DH salads in a jar to take to work for lunch, quart-size canning jars, so they go in the garage fridge so they don't take up space in the kitchen fridge and he can grab one when leaving each morning. I thaw turkeys, large roasts, and hams in it. And, of course, the beer for when we're working in the yard on a hot day. I don't think I could live without it. In fact, I've created a beverage center in my laundry/pantry room with a small, undercounter fridge. I keep the coffee beans in the freezer, milk for lattes (we rarely drink milk as a beverage) and such in there. And we feed our dog in that room. She eats a raw food diet with meats, veggies, supplements mixed together. I can mix up several days at a time and store it in there without the big container taking up space in my kitchen fridge. I know I pay more to run all these but we live in an area with low electric rates and don't live where it's hot, rooms stay cool without AC year-round, and the extra expense is very worth it to me. I respectfully disagree with Fori that a kitchen isn't well-planned if it doesn't allow for a big enough fridge for all of the ways I use a fridge. I like my smaller fridge in the kitchen which isn't filled with all this excess stuff that really doesn't need to be in the kitchen. If I had a huge kitchen fridge with room for all of this in it, it would drive me crazy and I would be sure to lose stuff stored behind other things only to find a science experiment later. And this way some things are stored at point-of-use while other things are stored out of the way until needed and this just works much better for me. And my kitchen wouldn't look as nice as there would be no room for a bigger fridge in my kitchen without it blocking window views.