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Side-by-side vs. French door

15 years ago

If you have the French door style fridge, do you like it or do you like the side-by-side better? We have always had side-by-side and don't know if we'd like the French door as much. I think the fridge part would be great but we worry about the freezer. It seems like stuff would get lost in it. Plus, you are bending over every time you need to get something out of it. I really like the look of the French door and think it would be nice to have the wide space to put stuff in. The freezer is the only concern. Would the novelty wear off quickly and have us longing for the side-by-side?

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Comments (4)

mommyniki
Original Author
15 years ago
Never mind. I just found the thread to the big discussion on it.
massive8
15 years ago
Heres just a few quick things that it would be good to hear:

French doors are more energy efficient than sxs. most people use the frig alot more than freezer, so frig is more convenient and bigger, and wider. the freezer is big enough for a turkey, the frig for pizzas and orderv trays. you say that you dont like to bend down to get into the freezer, well, you have to do that anyway on a sxs if the food is near the bottom.
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Have you thought of a single door? I'm leaning that direction for the very reasons you mention. My ice & water were the first to go on my Amana. French doors also have the problem of having to open both doors to access the meat drawer. Everyone I know that uses the single door loves them. No water on the door, but water dispenser is right inside. FYI, my kids, when they were really little, made quite a mess with the ice/water on the door!
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I'm pondering the same question: SxS vs FD. Despite the narrow issue, the following keeps pulling me towards the SxS. First: the FD reminds me of the chest freezer we used to have. Stuff just kind of finds it's way to the bottom, no matter how hard you try, and it gets lost. True, they have them with 2 drawers now, but the bottom one is still deep enough for this to occur. Second: my SIL bought my MIL a bottom freezer. Then she injured her back and couldn't get ANYTHING out of the freezer -- my husband has a back issue and I need him to get his own waffles for as long as possible. I've measured the widest items in our freezer and frig, and take a measuring tape with me when I look at appliances. So far the sxs seem to fit what I typically have. TYPICALLY. Brining the thanksgiving 14 lb bird could be an issue, though. I think we'll end up with a s by s with a little upright chest freezer in the garage. The thanksgiving bird may end up in the cooler with ice packs.
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I have a LG CD FD (how's that for alphabet soup?) and so far have been very happy with it, although I learned (on this forum, after I bought it) that LG has a bad customer service reputation. I paid $1800 at Best Buy after watching sales for a few weeks. GE Profile, Maytag, and Jennaire were the other CD FDs available to me. I hated the SxSs available in the 1980s-1990s and am so glad that the FDs are now available. Mine has doors that can store a gallon of milk and room enough for a big pizza or two. The freezer space is decent.
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I have had a through the door dispenser for at least 21 years (yes, old fridge). I have several friends who do not have dispensers. Watching people with "clean" hands paw through the ice is less than appetizing. You may want to rethink your no dispenser decision.
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zoenipp
15 years ago
Just wanted to share that we recently bought a Samsung FD floor model to replace our SxS at our beach place and we love it! I thought it would be nice to have the FD fridge layout at the beach but, like you, wondered how the freezer setup would work. I have found out that I like the freezer space much better than my SxS. The clever design with sliding drawers makes it easy to find/reach anything in the freezer - nothing "disappears" in the bottom. It seems to me to hold as much as my SxS freezer.

My only complaint is the smallish icemaker which doesn't make/hold much ice. It is not an issue if you have a second icemaker but it might be one if you are counting on this for all your ice or use a lot of ice. When we have guests for dinner in addition to our family of five, we use the SxS now serving as a drink fridge in our storeroom for additional ice so it's not an issue for us.
massive8
15 years ago
About the ice issue. Most of the FD's with ice makers in the door have feature like: Ice plus, or others i cant think of the names on the top of my head; that increase the speed of ice production by around %20 by "spraying" the water line with air from the freezer. You can use this feature, then put the ice when it fills up in the freezer which usually has an ice tray or box, which you can store the ice in. problem solved.

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