I have a single-door (with pullout bottom freezer). I really love it. It's easy to get things in & out of... don't have to remember which side to open :)

My kitchen is U-shaped with no island, so I don't have any space issues. However, my parents have a galley kitchen, and the side-by-side (smack dab in the middle of the kitchen)functions light years better in that space than the single-door we had growing up.

It depends on the kitchen: FD makes sense for narrow clearances, but isnt really necessary IMO for a kitchen that can handle a full doorswing.

There is no clear "set down" side on a FD fridge, there is always a door in the way, if that bothers you.

For simplicity's sake I prefer a single door if it fits and makes sense but will choose a FD if the clearance is an issue.

i went from a 42" side by side in my other house to a 36" single door with bottom freezer in our new remodel. I absolutely love the refrigerator. It is much more spacious than I originally thought it would be. very deep shelves on the door and very functional. Now for the freezer... if I didn't have a backup freezer in the basement, I would be in trouble. HTH

I currently have a 36'' single-door refrigerator with 2 freezer drawers below. I love it. I have an island opposite the refrigerator, but the refrigerator is at one end of the kitchen and I don't have trouble with the configuration.

I previously owned a french door style refrigerator with one bottom freezer drawer. I hated that refrigerator. It was poorly designed and had two interior crisper pull-outs that ran the entire length of the refrigerator. If you wanted to get to those drawers, you had to fully open both doors...so annoying! If you are considering that style of refrigerator, I'd check the interior and make sure the pull-outs are split so you only have to open one side to get what you want.

I much prefer a single door with bottom freezer to french door. I like the simplicity. I just know I would constantly be opening both doors to find things with a FD. I would not like having to get around the open door to get to counter. And I do not at all get the wide 'party tray' drawer in a FD - having to fully open both doors to get into it. Ugh.

Best FD application is probably with landing opposite in an island setup. So long as the landing space and the work runs are to the opening side of the single door, it works really well.

For those who do love theirs, which ones do you have? (We're looking at 36" CD single door/bottom freezers, of which there don't seem to be too many...so I'm curious to hear which yours are that you like a lot!)

I had an Amana single door with pull out freezer on the bottom, had it for 6 years, and I loved it! But it was white, so I gave it to my DS and got a black one for the remodel. It is a Samsung 26 cu ft French door, pull out freezer, I've had it since July, and I still miss the single door! You HAVE to open both doors in order to open the deli-cheese drawer because it goes across the whole fridge, but even for the other drawers and for the doors, I forget what is where, especially the vegetable/fruit drawers. And, with two doors, you lose door storage space where the center opens. But I wanted a freezer on the bottom, pull out not opening freezer door, and no water/ice in the door. I couldn't get all that in a single door.

I never found the single door obtrusive. My son has it in an even narrower clearance space than I did and it's still not a problem.

I have a side by side at the ranch. When it needs replacing, it will be with a freezer on the bottom - don't like side by sides.

I love my Samsung single door, bottom freezer. It has three drawers behind the freezer door which I really like as it keeps everything very organized. FD wasn't needed in my kitchen & I didn't want to pay extra for something that I didn't need.

We have a Kenmore from Sears that we bought 8 years ago. It is single door with freezer as a drawer at the bottom. We love it----I would never have another style of refrigerator again!

we have a built in kitchen aid 36" single door with bottom freezer

Amanda, three of them. The first in my last house, now one on each level here.

We had one before and were very happy with it. Unfortunately the compressor died after 5 years - 1 month after warranty expired (Kenmore blt by Amana). We replaced it with a side-by-side - I hate side-by-sides now. I would definately buy the single door with bottom freezer again, but I've got nothing against french doors either.

We bought our Samsung FD bottom freezer this summer. I needed a FD because the fridge will be in a main path in the new kitchen (our old fridge died before we were ready for the new one). Personally I prefer a single door. When you take out multiple things there is a counter RIGHT next to the opening. It's a bit more maneuvering with a FD. That being said I do like our Samsung and spent a lot of time researching it, looking at layouts, etc. It appears the Samsung and GE are almost identical.

Nope. There just isn't enough freezer space. UGH!! With the pull-out basket, you really lose a lot of space as compared to the old, freezer-on-top, shelf but no pull-out style. Granted, you have to have a pull-out with a bottom freezer (a shelf wouldn't work well), but, it's such a waste of space.

If I had a separate freezer elsewhere in the house, I wouldn't mind so much, but as it is, I feel *very* limited in how much freezer space I have -- and that's for just one or two people. If I had to feed a whole family with such a small freezer, I'd really find it difficult -- unless we ate out a whole heck of a lot (actually, I'd just HAVE to put in at least a small chest freezer somewhere in the house!). <:>Um, yes, I *do* like to cook. And buy stuff on sale. Hence the need for a decent-sized freezer. ;P

So you might want to consider whether the freezer space will be sufficient for you. I didn't realize how much less space I would have, even though I chose the largest fridge/freezer I could -- *and*, it's larger than my old freezer-on-top, yet holds less frozen food. Sigh.

Artemis, we have the SubZero 736TC. We got that primarily because of the full integration with cabinetry panels. If I were going for a SS model, I may have gone with the built-in GE Monogram, although I have no experience with it personally.

Ok, I'm definitely getting the single door. Now, for my next question. Does anyone have one that you can reverse the door swing on and if so who is it made by?? In its current location I need it to hinge on the left, but if I go with the remodel plan I'm leaning towards I'll need it to hinge on the right. The appliance guy told me that you could on most all but had no example to show me. I've learned that they aren't always as knowledgeable as they pretend to be!!

I have a LG FD refrigerator with two drawers on the bottom. I had a side by side for many years. I like the FD, however it did take some getting used to. My only complaint would be with my particular model I had to reconfigure the shelves to accomodate a 2 liter bottle. I don't mind the fact that I have to open both doors to access the one large crisper drawer which runs the full width of the fridge. It also has three small crisper drawers. I did a lot of research before I finally settled on this fridge. I think we made a good choice. Good luck to you.

Can anyone recommend or comment on a single door, bottom freezer that is counter-depth?

I've had two single door bottom freezer fridges.

The Amana I got about 10 or 11 years ago was full depth, 33" wide, 20 cubic feet total. The freezer door opened like the fridge door did, and you pulled out baskets to get stuff. It was easy for things to get lost in there, but there was in-door storage that was great.

I now have a Jenn-Air CD 36" single door bottom freezer fridge. Supposedly about 20 cubic ft as well, but seems much smaller than the Amana did. The freezer especially. The Jenn-aire has a pull-out freezer, so no door storage. Some of the difference is that I had no ice-maker in the Amana, and now have one that takes up about a fifth of the freezer. These problems would be the same for a CD FD model.

Some of your choice about what style fridge to get needs to be based on where you landing space is. My only one is to the left of my fridge; there is none behind me. Therefore, a single door fridge was required. Anything else, including a side-by-side, would be inconvenient.

Random fridge musings....

I wanted a single door (left swing) bottom freezer fridge this time around,
but DH wanted the french door, so that was one thing that I gave in on.

I like the layout a lot - with the deli drawer, but you do have to open both doors to fully access it,
and to me it kind of seems to be a novelty right now. (Like a new toy.)
Love the GE FD, but IMHO on a day to day basis - I would personally have preferred the single door for a better kitchen flow.
(It kind of boiled down to form over function for us, because we have plenty of room
for a full door to swing, but that was my concession to him, and not a huge one, but one nonetheless....)
I got some other cool things instead - no big - it's just another issue of give and take in a relationship. ;-)

Ours is a 25 cu. ft. full depth and if we'd gone to the single door would have stayed with the full depth.

We seem to utilize every sq. inch too, even though there are just the two of us now.
It's a pleasure to fix up a platter that can easily slide
onto a shelf without jockeying everything around.

I have a link going about changing the layout of my kitchen as I hate the cooktop in the island. That said, I have a side-by-side now. In its current location you must stand to where the only place to put things down is on the cooktop. I'm thinking that perhaps all I need is a single door hinged on the left. Then I have the counter to the right of the fridge to put things. Here's the current layout:
{{!gwi}}

Sorry for the extra white space. It wouldn't crop out for some reason!

Anyway, what do you think about the fridge idea? That would save me alot of money on the remodel!

I would go with the 36" single door hinged on the left as you suggested whether or not you do a major renovation. IMO the FD is for kitchens with limited space, not a first choice. I'm going from a 48" side by side SZ (which I loved) to a 36" SZ in my new house b/c I don't have the space for a big SZ and I don't want to compromise my fridge width. The 36" side by sides are just too narrow.