I know french door fridges are all the rage, but I really prefer side-by-side, if they are spacious and well-designed. With the french door there is too much potential (for me) for things to get lost and shoved to the back. I like to be able to organize what I have by shelf for easy access.

French door is just like the cheap top-freezer models, but reversed. I really don't get the appeal.

I assume the appeal of various refrigerator styles depends mostly on how you use it.

The appeal of a french door model to me is because I probably access the refrigerator section ten or more times for every time I open the freezer section. So 90% of the time, what I want is at waist level or above, so less bending over.

Add to that, the full width shelfs that can be found in french door versions. I've spent weeks with the in-laws who have side-by-side models, and they felt confined width-wise for some items. Not that I couldn't figure out how to make most things fit in the side-by, but took more planning.

BTW- Our new french door refrigerator will be delivered in a few weeks (along with all the other appliances). We have been using a "cheap" top freezer model for 26 years. Did they even make french door models back then? Bending over to get the lettuce (or what ever else is on the bottom) has become a pain in the back after all these years.

I agree that side by sides are good for people that have a lot of frozen food. Bottom freezers (French door or otherwise) maximize the refrigerator usefulness at the expense of the freezer, which is just fine with me. I actually don't understand the point of the person above about things getting lost at the back. Both shelves are just as deep, but BF has wider shelves at optimal height. Finding things at the back of lower shelves is the problem for me with non-BF refrigerators. The freezer section has drawers, so that isn't a problem.

I've had a French Door for about 3 years and would NEVER go back to a side by side. Things are much easier to access in a french door and as someone else said you are liable to lose a lot more in the back of the lower shelves of a side by side than on the eye level easy to see shelving in a fr door. And I scratched the stainless steel this time too and went back to black. Life is too short to clean fingerprints constantly. New dishwasher is also black and I'm waiting for the double ovens to go to get rid of that ss also.

Jak: you're dreaming. Get the Samsung in white if you don't like fingerprints. Else everyone in the house is going to have to wear gloves.

The FD will not give you as much door storage as a SxS, depending on the drawer sizes in the SxS. The Sammie CD SxS has hardly any door storage because the drawers take up the space on the doors for shelf pockets. The GE does better at this.

As stated, if you used your freezer a lot, you will lose things in a FD freezer drawer. A SxS is easier to organize with vertical visibility.

If you use your fridge part a lot, then a FD gives you more shelf space and the doors don't get in the way in the kitchen. It also puts everything at eye-level.

Wpdoit, I found the broucure from my SxS KitchenAid 24 years ago. French door Frig. Model KFRF19MT was also pictured. But the freezer had a swing door instead of like most that now have a roll out freezer door. I know, I could not believe it too. But there it was.

All very good points made so far. I'll add one more. The ice maker. No issues in a SxS except if the bin is on the door is small. The ice makers are a drawback in FD frigs. The ones in the bottom take up valueable freezer space that is already small enough. Then the ones in the frig. cavity have problems like amount of ice production, to if you have a power failure & the ice melts out onto the floor. 3 have already had 3 power failures this year.

We end up with FD (27.6 cu. ft.) with the ice maker in the frig. door when our KA SxS (24.5 cu. ft.) of 23 years died. In hindsight, I would have picked the one with the ice maker in the bottom. We also have a freezer in the basement to make up for the small freezer. We still love the French door & plan to store a bushel of apples for the fall.

KitchenAid makes a 4 door fridge. The black ones are totally awesome! Will be getting one for the new house.
The pullout pantry is huge! That is what the 4 door is. Still lots of room in the refrigerator section and it has a 10 year warranty on the compressor. Looks like quality is making a comeback.

We will be getting a french door for the same reason we currently have a side-by-side: the narrower door swing. Don't know if a french door is better as far as food storage, but I hate my side-by-side. Hard to store things, hard to find things.

I have a GE profile side by side counter depth at the beach cottage. It was originally a matter of space. I do not like it. The shelves are too narrow and we do not need that much freezer space. A pan with a roast chicken does not fit on a shelf. A pizza or a pan of lasagna does not fit either. Very constricting- luckily it is a summer and weekend kitchen!

We are looking forward to a remodel at home. Have picked out a French Door Counter Depth refrigerator. The main reason- we cater occasionally and will be able to put platters in for events as well as for family parties and holidays, etc. Not to mention the pizza for the grandchildren will fit inside without being cut in half.

try packing bulky things inside small spaces. Then you see why a FD fridge is better than a SxS. (each shelf is wider than the shelves of a SxS).

The new Samsung side by side is really very nice. I have three refrigerators. One in our basement kitchen one outside in the garage and two freezers in the garage. I don't need freezer space in the house so I went with another side by side. I love the looks of the French doors but just don't see all that room on the doors for storage. Also the ice maker in most takes up so much space unless it is in the bottom of the freezer. Also there is only one French door fridge that allows one to open only one door and get to the pullout drawers. Almost all French door fridges have to have both doors open to retrieve any of the stuff from the pull out drawers. Something to think about. We did find one model that actually did have easy access to one the drawers while only opening one side of the Fr. door fridge. If I had only one fridge I would be more concerned but we have three so I really don't need that French door space for frozen food. I love my older GE side by side and it has seven great shelves on the doors that hold oodles. The new fridges just don't do that.
Look at the new Samsung Side by Side it is quite huge. I do agree that side by sides do not hold those pizzas etc. We really don't eat box pizza very often so I don't need that type of storage.

We went back to the store ...more than once and we switched to the largest Samsung French door./4 door- 28 cubic ft...Hubby is very tall and loves not having to bend over to see what is hidden in the bottom drawers of the side by side. He loves this fridge and mostly the extra door. It goes from a fridge drawer to a freezer drawer with just the touch of a button..really awesome. I still like the 30 cu. ft. side by side but hubby convinced me to try something new and different so why not! We purchased the newest one that Samsung just came out with. Salesperson said that it will be available on the floor in a few days. They don't even have one stocked yet. It is similar in looks to the RF4287,but the computer stuff is on the front is quite cool. It will be nice to put up the pictures of the grandkids on the screen. Now, hopefully we have this all done...Jenn Air down draft , Kitchen Aid dishwasher, Grohe faucet, and Samsung Fridge. WAC lighting and Kitchler...seems about ready to go....it has been a long summer.

Wow Jakzof3, that sounds great! When we reno'd our kitchen, we kept our previous SxS fridge, and I do not like its narrow-ness. It sounds like you made a cool choice.

We did get a new DW with our reno, and like you, we chose a Kitchenaid. We like it. Seems to have more room than the other DWs we saw. Make sure to read the Forum threads on the recent changes in dishwasher detergents so that you get a detergent that will work well (i.e. don't blame the DW if the dishes aren't clean). After some trial and error, we use Method Smarty tablets, unscented. Great stuff.

(So sorry though, I am not a fan of downdrafts. I suppose if it's your only choice and you must...)

We have had a Jenn Air for 30 years..love it. Hope the new one is as good, but have heard that they are not made like they used to be ...but what is?
Gotta have the grill part and did not want to spend 6000.00 for a range. We are retired and really don't cook like we used to...less and less. I even got rid of my built in ovens and just did a slide in. Hope I like all of these changes. I have always had built ins..double ovens and cook tops. Thanks for the tip on the detergents for the dishwasher. We live in the country and have lots of water via a natural spring but some dishwashing soaps just don't work in our water.

I just ordered for our remodel a side by side (Electrolux Icon). Even though I use the fridge part lots more than the freezer, what I don't like about the french door style is having the frozen food all piled up at the bottom (like they're in a shopping bag on the floor). And as little as I use the freezer, I can see myself pulling things out in order to get at things on the bottom.

Also, the freezer door in the FD style are made mostly open, with wires, and any crumbs, ice crystals, etc. would fall on the kitchen floor when pulling the drawer out, and stuff will fall on the kit. floor, and ALSO stuff would fall inside on floor of the fride, inside, which looks like it would be impossible to get at to clean.

Also, I noticed while looking that the freezer drawer on the FDs are NOISY! ...I think the look of the FD is very pretty, but I just don't get it otherwise.

Actually, the older style of having the freezer on the top, makes much more sense! .. you can reach things without taking other things totally out. ... I don't know why that style has been almost abandoned! If there was a well made one, I would buy it in a minute.