If you have room and need the capacity then go for it.... We had that setup when we first moved in.. Had to get rid of it thou cause we couldn't fit it into the new kitchen..

I have Miele 30 all fridge and all freezer in my kitchen, and my old upright freezer in my garage. Works great.

The thing about having a single use unit is that the works can concentrate on doing that one thing right, you don't need a thermal wall between the two sections, you don't have to have either dual compressors or shared (smell) air/compromise temperatures, and you don't sacrifice a particular area to another purpose. The reason they're cheaper is that each only has one system.

An upright freezer doesn't hold as well as a full chest for long term storage, but if you keep it organized it does make for quicker open and close. Just keep the children out of it while they're too young to understand about not letting all the cold out.

As your kids get older you might find you want that second, basement fridge.

We have the frigidaire "twins" and while they're not yet installed in our kitchen-in-progress, we have had them hooked up in the garage. Once our kitchen is done, they will come in and the current fridge will go to the garage. I love having separate units because we have a very large family, and this is the only we we can store what we need for our meals each week. It also allows us to be able to stock up on inexpensive frozen foods. I very often buy 20-30 pounds of ground beef when I can get it inexpensively! Eventually, I'd like to get a chest freezer, too, but we have lots more cold storage than we used to.

If you have the space, I think it's a good way to go.

My dream was to have enough space in my new kitchen for an all-fridge and an all-freezer for the reasons everyone mentioned (well, except the large family part), but no luck. If you have space and the need, do it! And be sure to show the finished pics so I can drool!

worldmom---I'm just reading the reviews on your 'twins' and they look really good. I thought they would be quite a bit more $$$ then the Kenmore ones (which got iffy reviews) and they aren't! DH is rather excited by the prospect.

We have the Whirlpool 30" fridge and freezer set and have been using them in our garage for 3 years while we wait for our reno. I am so grateful we could fit them in the new plan. It is awesome. You can put a full pizza box or sheet cake in the fridge with no issues. I love mine and hope you can go that route too....

I am putting a subzero all fridge in my kitchen and freezer drawers in my pantry. The main reason was that the cabinet front for the freezer drawers is proportioned differently than my d/w drawers, and I didnt like the lack of symmetry (they are along the same wall). We have a full fridge and full freezer in the basement too,

We dont use a freezer much. We drink spring water from the fridge and dont drink soda at all so only need ice for parties. We dont eat frozen foods except for waffles (and the less of those the better) and if we buy ice cream it is single servings only (I have weight issues and see no reason to inventory things that should be occasional treats). I think it will be overall for us, a minor inconvenience.

BRILLIANT!
I wish I had a full frige in no freezer in my kitchen.
Seriously!
I have a full frig in the basement rec room that houses
lots of Teenager freezer foods like frozen pizza, mozzeralla
sticks, corn dogs, fries...
And another freezer that houses our cow. I sound so cruel,
but every year we buy 1/2 a cow from 4H students in the
area. The meat is organic, killed without cruelty (Well,
less cruelty) and far cheaper than buying weekly from the
grocery.

My kitchen freezer ends up being useless. Sometimes there
are frozen veggies, yogurt, a steak but mostly everything
is stored in the other freezers. I could sure use the space
for more juice, cheeses, fresh veggies and Pinot Grigio.
I wish I had done that.
~boxer

mikomum, i add my vote to this idea. Excellent one. It's been done before so don't fear being too new.

boxerpups--we sometimes share 4H beef with my brother and his family too. I think our family business(ag implement dealers) have bought a heifer almost every year for the past 40! I remember my Mom cleaning out the freezer for the yearly re-stocking.

Well you are all definitely making me feel like it's not a crazy idea which I had feared it was at first.

It would certainly help with our problem of the fridge/freezer being left open by little people (the chest downstairs is locked)

I have had a full fridge with a chest freezer in laundry room since 2005 and we love the arrangement. Have fun with your remodel!

Too funny -- I was just about to pipe in about both my arrangement and sabjimata's but she's already been here! I love you sabjimata xo. We have the Thermador 30" fridge and freezer columns and then fridge drawers and I know this sounds insane (& like something only a privileged person from the developed world would say) but I do not know how we lived before, all that storage space makes a WORLD of (happy) difference. LOVE it. Love love love it.

mikomum - when the Frigidaire ones first came out, the reviews weren't very good. People had problems with them not maintaining temperatures, being noisy, and with the units getting quite warm (I think that was mainly with the freezer). They also weren't energy star rated.

The newer ones have much more positive reviews, and they are energy star rated. As I said, we have had ours running in our garage, and as we live in Montana, we have pretty extreme temperature variations. Even in summer, the food stays frozen/cold, and in the winter, our fridge stuff doesn't get frozen. We've already really put ours through the paces and have been pleased with the performance.

With the trim kits (you can trim them out side-by-side with the duo trim kit, or individually, like we're doing), they give a nice built-in look for much less money than other options. My only major complaint about them is that the interiors are pretty basic. My current side-by-side has lots of nice customization options for the shelving and bins, but the twins are nothing fancy inside.

Rhome410 has the Electrolux Icon all-fridge (two of them) and all-freezer, and they are much nicer looking, inside and out, while still being less expensive than the other options out there. If you have a little wiggle room in your budget, they're definitely worth a look.

I have 2 large freezers (1 in the laundry/mudroom, one on the bard) which are full from freezing garden produce and the locally meat we purchase. As soon as I can justify the expense I will bag the bottom freezer Amana I have in the kitchen for an all fridge unit, probably the Frigidare.

We eat lots of garden veggies and I never have enough room for produce in the fridge now.

We're pretty much limited to what we can buy at Sears as they are the only ones in my rural area who will service their own products (even if it is 3rd party). My SIL bought a Sub-Zero and waited 4 months to have it serviced (under warranty) because they waited until they had enough work in the area to 'justify' sending a repairman 5.5 hours away. That was several years ago but I'm still a little gun shy buying anything that isn't 'the norm' for our area. We're in north-west Alberta, 5.5 hours north from the nearest major center.

Worldmom answered for me! :-) Trailrunner also has the Twins. I think Kenmore are made by Elux and I'm not sure whether they're more like the Frig Twins or the Elux Icons.
I think when I looked, the Twins had wire shelves or less sturdy looking drawers, so I wasn't going there with how our family uses (and spills in) a fridge. But when I saw the Electrolux Icons with their glass shelves, etc., they sang to me. ;-) I was planning 2 fridges for my kitchen and a freezer in our outside storage, which would mean going across the driveway. Having the full freezer inside is a MUCH better alternative! When we have a lot of produce, or consider getting part of a beef or something, I wish I had more room, but most of the time, it's plenty.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Kitchen photos

We are doing the ELX full fridge and freezer in our current build. They will look built in with trim kit. I also pushed for fridge drawers. We alway kept coke,dp, sprite, water etc in the garage fridge. Now I will for sure have plenty of room

build won't be complete till the end of February so I can't speak about how well this set up works

I also have a full fridge and separate freezer. Both are the 15 cu. ft. Sub-Zero 700 models with drawers. It's one of the best things I did, and I highly recommend it. Because the freezer space was so important to me, I also opted for a separate ice-maker (mine's Kitchen Aid with the little square cubes) for more freezer space. (Purified water connects to an RO system in my basement on a Franke Tri-Flow faucet to move all that away from refrigeration/freezer.) I've never needed another freezer, and am very happy with this arrangement.

Thread jack:
Does anyone know of a full-fridge that can switch door handle?

I have the Kenmore Elite Twins and because of my new layout, I need the fridge to swing clock-wise instead. But I know you can't switch the door handle (or door) of the Twins.
I'm thinking I'll live with it like this for now, but when the fridge dies, I'll replace it w/ something else that opens clock-wise. But I want to make sure that the new layout will be able to FIT the future fridge.

I do love my KE Twins. They fit everything. Hardly any fingerprints - I wipe them down once a month!!!
But they are not Energystar, and the freezer seems to run more often.
And I've grown to live w/ the scratches and dents that my kids/husband have put in them (the freezer is located in an awful place, just begging to be scratched). Oh well.

thanks for your help,
Amanda