If I had the choice, I would always buy a french door. It is easier to pack, easier to see what is where, I like having the roll out freezer drawers, nothing gets lost, large pans fit easily without bending over to move everything, it is easier to clean the glass shelves (I don't have to get down on my knees to really clean shelves) - we have a tall family, and we feel that it is easier all around. We also like having dedicated "sides" for drinks on the doors - we have a food issue in the house, and that is definitely a plus, having two doors.

I agree with everything Hestia Flames said. I had a side by side before and hated it. Everything was hard to get to. I would only buy french doors from now on.

I can't say much about a french door because we are waiting to get ours. But I can say how much I dislike my side by side. It is a juggling act to get anything to fit in the freezer. I don't have an issue with the fridge part too often, but we have an old top mount in the garage that we have to use for large or wide items. Can't wait to get my french door!

love to

I have a JA CD french door fridge 3 yrs now - Love it - I can see everything - No more throwing food out!, easy to clean, looks nice inside & out, water inside door (no drips outside), it is QUIET - no complaints

good luck

I've had my Jenn-Air FD for 1 whole day! I love every single thing about it! It's great to see everything at a glance, and yes, I am sure furry-greens are going to be a thing of the past. :)

I've had my FD fridge for about a month now, after having a side by side for about 4-5 years and I couldn't be happier with it. I love how I can see everything that in it and agree with pretty much everything hestia_flames said in her post.

What about the freezer section? Since it is low, is it a pain to find your stuff in there and take it out?

Personally, I hate the look of French door fridges. Fridges are monstrosities at the best of times and a FD fridge amplifies that image of er, less-than-delicate-ness ;-) (in my opinion). Everything posted above is correct relative to SxS fridges. However, all those attributes also apply to the single door fridge above, freezer below - the best, perhaps, configuration and the easiest on the eyes.

The only material drawback to the single door fridge configuration might be that the door being twice the width of a SxS or a FD needs that much more clearance. If clearance isn't a problem, then this isn't a drawback to you, either.

I don't have my FD yet but I can't wait. Our house had a SxS when we bought it and I couldn't stand it. I could never find anything in it and found it to have less room than I was used to (I had a freezer on the bottom, single door in my previous house and loved it).

I use the refrigerator more than the freezer so having that portion of the unit at eye-level works better for me. The freezer door pulls out and access to items in the freezer is fine. Some units come with an upper and lower basket in the freezer so you can organize by size of item and/or frequency of use.

I've only had sxs, and haven't had major issues with any except my new one. I hate it! It's just not big enough for my family. I agree with mindstorm about frigs being monstrosities and I just didn't want a huge fridge dominating the look of my kitchen nor did I want to spend a ton of money on it. We have another full fridge in the LL, so I thought I'd be fine with a KA sxs w/ a panel on it, but it's currently my biggest regret of the build. Easy to say now (because I'm not freaking out about the budget :)), but I wish I had gone with a larger french door frig.

I used a FD fridge at work and decided not to get one for home after that. Everyone always opened both doors to find stuff.

The real problem was the freezer section. If you stack things too high in the large bin, they would hang up on the sliding drawer and pop out when you closed it. You'd have to rearrange and try to close again. It never seemed worth all the digging around to find stuff.

I have a full size freezer in the garage so the side by side works for me.

If you don't need to have the french door for clearances, you really dont gain much over a single door refrigerator with bottom mount freezer drawers. You just have a single door vs two. (People seem to have forgotten they make them--its not just a choice between french door and side by side)

I would say in households with children I have had some feed back about the french door refrigerators being left slightly open. They are not as straight forward to open and close...one friend says she comes home to the fridge alarm beeping all the time, and she has teenagers/college age kids, not tykes.

I don't see the point of a french door fridge UNLESS you don't have clearance OR you are very organized and know which side you put stuff in. Otherwise you are opening two doors all the time instead of one. My back problems dictated no bottom fridges, so I have a counter depth SxS. It works for us because we don't freeze much (CD SxS have very little freezer space!), and never chill wide platters, whole pizzas, etc. Whatever I need is at eye level. We have a UC for the kids soda, juice, water bottles.

I've had a FD fridge with bottom freezer for 15 months. I bought it at the start of my reno after having a single door/bottom freezer. Though I liked the single door, both in function and style, I like the FD too, maybe more. I was going to buy a new single door but chose the FD because I got a great deal on it during a sale and I liked the look of it! I like the aesthetics of both and I have always preferred a bottom freezer.

But I do have to clarify that we are only 2 adults so my fridge needs might vary from the average family with tots and/or teens. I tend to keep things in such a way that I find that I am usually only opening one door at a time since I know which side things are in. I like the interior layout of the FD which seems just as roomy as my old single door. I don't have a water/ice dispenser in the door (never have) as I just don't like them. My freezer has a top rolling drawer in it so its like having 2 drawers, making it easy to organize. The things I can't find are the things I hide on myself, like ice cream! :)

I do like the look of my new FD, very much... !

I love mine...I had an old top/bottom and clearance issues with the fridge blocking main access to the kitchen. With the GE profile FD, water in door, double drawer freezer...I have found that I love,

1. More space at 25.1 cf...compared to 19 cf
2. Love not having to bend to get to veggies in the fridge.
3. Love water in the door, but no icemaker taking up space in my fridge (ice is in the freezer).
4. Even though my FD is not Counter Depth (couldn't see spending more money for less space), it has dramatically improved traffic flow.
5. Went with the double freezer drawer model because my husband hated the look of the big single door on the freezer.

Few drawbacks:

1. Young kids can't reach the selves....not that big of a deal since they are growing like weeds and we have a bev fridge outside.

2. It's taken a little while to get used to where everything should go...very different configuration that an bottom fridge model.

3. Have to open both drawers to get to the deli tray....but I love how big the deli tray is...

Hope that helps....I definitely love my fridge...now if I can just get the kitchen to go with it!

I love my FD. Don't think I would ever have anything else, unless I had enough space for a gianormous freezer/fridge combo. But I don't and probably never will. Since having my FD, I have converted my sisters, mom and friends to FD and they also love it. HTH

I love my French Door Refrigerator since the doors open and since need less clearance, I no longer have to move the kitchen chair out of the way. I love having a bottom freezer whcih I now never have anything that goes bad and gets lost in the back since I am height challeged.

I do regret not getting the bigger sized 36" wide LG French Door and going with the smaller 33" wide French Door with only water on the outside. I am a single woman but I like to stock up when I go food shopping so I would have loved the bigger Freezer and having the Deli Drawer. BUT, I do love the look, the use I get out of my refrigerator and that wonderful freezer. I also like to only open the right door when I need milk in the morning for coffee and cereal.

We've had a 36" wide 72" tall KA CD FD BF (can you decipher all those initials?) since February and I LOVE it! Hubby would have gone for a sxs because that's all he's had but I convinced him to go with a FD BF. Yeah for me - and he likes it now, too.

The reasons why I like it have already been stated for the most part but here's one no one's mentioned. I do not, nor will I ever want, ice or water in the door. I don't want the mess, no one would use it (not even me, the water drinker in the family) and it's the feature most prone to repairs. Try buying a sxs without ice and water in the door. It can't be done, not if you want an ice maker, which we did want.

I really like the freezer set-up. The ice bin is separate, not part of the top bin. There's a shallow bin below that is perfect for frozen pizzas. Below that is the bottom bin with a solid bottom. At first I worried that the additional compartments might limit what I could store but that hasn't been an issue. Instead, I find it very easy to see everything in my freezer, no pulling things out to see what's below. It's a little smaller than our old sxs freezer section (we didn't have ice and water dispenser taking up space) but I have a separate freezer in the garage so it's not an issue. When we do a minor update to our laundry room, we're moving the freezer from the garage to the laundry room, just a few steps away from the kitchen.

I hope I'm as pleased with the rest of my kitchen decisions.

We have the Samsung FD. I really liked the fact that the ice maker is in the top of the fridge, but doesn't take up a ton of space. Also, the doors do have a little chiming alarm, which goes off you leave the door open.

I can access the front of the deli tray with one door open by merely lifting the top lid. I can then slide cheese in, or whatever else I keep right at the opening.

It's got a rack in the freezer that can hold a pizza and then some, and even a smaller sliding rack that fits in to the top rack where I keep frozen snacks for the kids. It has several organizing things to help also. It has taken some getting used to organizing it, but it's handy and I wouldn't go back to a sxs. We don't have a lot of clearance, plus we have traffic on both sides of the fridge, so the French door is a great option for us.

We moved our old sxs out to the garage -- it replaced an older regular fridge that I had to stock up with our 'overflow' food. I hardly need to put anything in it anymore. If it weren't for entertainig or stocking up on milk, I wouldn't need it.

We had a French Door fridge for about a year and a half. Didn't like it too much. The doors require attention to ensure that they are closed.

I didn't like having to get down on my hands and knees to get things out of the back of the freezer.

This time we bought a side by side.

I agree with all the negatives about side by side which is what I have at the ranch. Here in town I have a single door top, freezer on the bottom. I love it! You'll lose some door storage space with french doors. My freezer is a pull-out. The bottom drawer pulls out when I pull out the door; the top drawer I reach in to pull out, which is easy to do. I have no trouble finding things in the freezer. I don't think I'd like a swing open freezer door.

Thanks for all the responses. Can you all clarify...

Can you have water/ice in a French Door or fridge/freezer with freezer on bottom? Are they just on the "inside"?

You can get water/ice in the door of a french door now, but I intentionally choose to get one with water inside, and ice inside the freezer. I don't like the looks of having it on the door, or kids scattering ice cubes everywhere, etc. Easy to wipe down the doors, too, without that contraption there.

It's a good thing there are choices!

I have the Maytag french door and love it. i do have the water and ice on outside. The freezer has four bins and no problem with that. I would get another.

I presently have a 15 YO Maytag SXS ice on the door which has served us well over the years (not one repair). It is frustrating at times to find things in it and it's tough to store anything like a lasagne, large pizza, etc. The thing is an ark and I can't stand how far it juts into the kitchen and into 'the' major walkway.

I want a CD fridge for this remodel. I love the FD, I'm drawn to them like a moth to flame but the price is crazy!! I figure about 1k higher than a non CD fridge. I like GE and Samsung and right now Samsung has an ice on the door, 23cu SXS CD fridge for about 2k... for me, it's tough to justify that extra 1k for a CD that's going to be smaller at 21cu.

I just read that this month, Samsung is introducing a new CD FD fridge with water/ice on the door and I believe it's 23cu. I don't know what it will price at though. I'm hoping lower than 3k.

I am in the minority with no french door. For my new kitchen I really wanted a french door with a water/ice dispenser on the door. I thought it would be great to have a wider refrigerator and I convinced myself that it did not matter that I would be on the floor digging in the freezer. Then I went to experience them first hand. I am getting a counter depth frig. and when you see the interior space in a cd fd it is very small. After my husband pried me away from the fd I looked around and came back to a sxs. It has 4.1 cubic feet more than any cd fd that i saw. It will be delivered in a few weeks and I think I will be extremely pleased when I can fit more and my 7 year old can reach things.

My last 4 refrigerators :

1. Old school (puke green) S/S- ice in Freezer

Review: Hated it, but free

2. Amana(white) BM freezer w/door.

Review: Liked a LOT, 1st gen. of newer BM freezer- looking back price was ridiculous ($2100ñ,if I recall), my DM still uses it daily, Not a fan of freezer door, shins bruise easily- also see below *.

3. GE Profile Door over Drawer (stainless)

Review; liked it a lot, wasn't bothered by single door-fridge layout seemed better than FD, smallest of Profile series, freezer space limited, wire shelves in freezer didn't slide,loved drawer- see below**

4. (Most recent) GE Profile (stainless) FD, BM freezer Drawer w/ filtered water on Door, Ice in Drawer

Review; ! Behemoth !, had 2 rearrange my small kit. 3X's so it wasn't the only thing seen in the room, Got a great deal, Not so bad- space is a little awkward (for me)- too many shelves- taken out one may lose another. Love size and style of large drawer, Like the water on door very unabtrusive - absolutely loathe the look of 'the Black Hole' aka Ice/water dispenser. I live by myself and unintentionally leave the FD cracked or not completely closed fairly often- I am blaming it on being acclimated to Blumotion soft/self close hinges!, Chose this over liebherr (30"single, no ice)for price concession -I think I paid 1200. For this one, see below ***

All things being equal-which we all know they never are!

*,**,*** I would say that of all I prefer the FD bottom drawer layout the most for one sole reason;

I don't come home with the door standing wide open and my Great Dane sitting in front of it as though its entertainment to peruse the contents. He needs a hobby! I'm sure it's learned behavior, but I can't imagine where he ever picked it up.(LOL).

With the configuration of the doors & drawer, he isn't able to open either one on his own. --It's paid for itself in my opinion--.

That said, if I didn't have a gargantuan door opening dog, I would be pleased as punch with the single door, drawer on the bottom. It suited me just fine.
Lots of good feedback. Good luck in your decision.

-September

I have had a side by side for the past 12 years and looking forward to my new GE french door fridge. It's a little smaller but there are only 2 of us now and we have another fridge in the garage (single door).

We have a GE French Door fridge, we've had it for several months now. I have a 7, 5, and 3 year old and all except the 3 can easily get into the fridge and pull out things they need on the lower level. They don't always close it properly, but there is a beep, and they've learned to close it when they hear it. The drawer freezer is fine, easy to find things in, and despite needing lots of freezer space, I'm able to close the drawer easily. I usually have a chest freezer up and running as well, but haven't needed to plug it in yet. We do have water and ice in the door, but haven't hooked it up yet. I think it's great they give the different options, you can have more space if you'd like or cool filtered water and ice on demand. We obviously opted for the later.

We had a side by side for 5 years, I hated it. It's just so narrow- I do lots of freezing of things and entertaining and the sxs just did not work for that on either side. I grew up with freezer on the bottom fridges and always liked them. I didn't want a freezer on top model because I hated having the fruit and veggie drawers on the bottom. I've been very happy with my choice of the FD, but if we had the space for a bottom freezer model, I would have been just as happy with that.

As for the negatives of the FD, I'm not sure why opening both doors is an issue. If you had a single door, you'd be opening the same surface area every time you opened the door, and the same could be said for the side by side. So, energy-wise it's the same loss of energy. I don't think that actually having to open two doors is any sort of hardship, I've had my hands full and have opened both with no issues. I also don't find myself opening both doors all the time, so you could argue that you potentially could be saving more energy this way.

As you can tell though, many people prefer different things. Sounds like you are doing a good job with researching what's best for you- Good luck!

From late-2008

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Do you love your french door fridge?

We have a Thermador FD and I absolutely love it. I love having the freezer on the bottom most of all, so you could have the same thing with a single door on top. I'll never have a top freezer again. I love that I can look down into the freezer and see what is in there, and can easily move things around, to see what is on the bottom without a frozen steak falling out on my foot. The Thermador also has a top drawer in the freezer that that slides out and that is where I keep things I use most frequently. That is also where the ice maker is. I love that also because it is so easly to scoope ice out and my kids can reach it easily and get their own ice.

I had a side by side when we moved into this house and I despised it. Never again.

As for the french door vs. single door on top -- I like the FD. We would have clearance issues with a big door opening into a fairly narrow aisle so the FD works better. And I have the fridge paneled with cabinetry. I think the FD has more of a furniture look than a single door.

The Thermador is also fully integrated. It is totally flush and doesn't stick out at all, and I love that. But the shelves in the fridge are pretty high up, and if you are short, it might be an issue. And my kids can't really reach into the fridge yet, although they will soon. And I do mostly open both doors every time I open the fridge, but it is more a habit than a necessity, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest.

When we bought our FD fridge, we went for the largest capacity available. Then, when we framed the kitchen, we framed the wall behind the fridge differently so that we could get a few more inches to push the fridge back into. It doesn't stick out quite as far into the room, and we still got a bunch of fridge space, cheaper than a counter depth or an integrated fridge.

I like that my littlest kids can't help themselves to much in the fridge...

We have had our FD fridge for 2 weeks now, and I love it so far. For the past 10 years we have had a bottom-freezer single door white Amana, and it has served us very well. We decided to go with a white french door because hubby really wanted water and ice on the door, and I decided against stainless, but really didn't like the big white box look of the Amana we already had. Now that we have the FD, even though it is the same width as our old fridge (33"), it just doesn't look like a big white box. It is actually quite pretty. It has a smooth finish and long white metal handles, so it looks a little more stylish.

The ice and water is all housed in the door, so we don't lose space inside the fridge, but we do lose shelf space on the left door. That is OK, because we have put the Amana in our basement in our mini kitchen, so we will always have that for Costco runs and such, along with an older upright freezer we "inherited" from my parent's former home.

The freezer in our new FD holds the same amount as our Amana, though has a pullout/tiltout drawer, which I really like, instead of the door.

Is "CD" cabinet depth?

It seems most people prefer having freezer on bottom, one that opens like a drawer(s). I know I do.

As to FD vs. single door, I went with former for better aisle clearance. But I have to say I find it more visually appealing than the uninterrupted slab of a single door. I recently ordered a 36" wide, 22" tall range hood in stainless steel. Like most people who order this hood, I went for a trim package that consists of vertical SS bands that serve no other purpose than to break that wide expanse of metal. The french door handles do the same thing for me. (Love the the look of those FD ovens, too).

I do agree that the FD does a lousier job of closing by itself than a single door.

One other thought: for anyone who might be remodeling in the not-too-distant future, french doors mean you can put the fridge in any position your new (as yet unknown) layout may require.

Ridiculous. No wonder millennial and under 30's have no money. Seriously do you really need a fridge the size of a wardrobe that cannot cost over $5000 when a standard fridge can suffice. Isn't it true that the average Australian family throws away more than half of the food they buy, most of it coming from your way too large fridge. Get real , buy a standard fridge and spend your hard earned cash on something more useful. ...instead of wanting the biggest and best of everything straight away. We baby bookers are always criticised but when we were under 30, we had to make do with affordable fridges often second hand ....and not waste money on a wardrobe fridge!!!!

I meant that can cost over $5000.....yep blame these arthritic

@Szusza Ihasz - you resurrected a 12-year-old thread to wag your finger at people. Who made you in charge to say how people should spend their money? They can spend it however they want, not however you want.

Wow @Szusza Ihasz how bizarre. I got a notification of this comment in my email because I commented on this thread 12 years ago about my refrigerator which I still have. What's funny is that the fridge was expensive but not because we wanted the biggest or the best. Ours is actually on the small side. We live in a very old house that has a kitchen that was not designed for things like refrigerators and we had to fit a fridge in a tight space with a small aisle and wouldn't have been able to open the door on a regular style fridge and had no room for it to sick out. We had pretty much no choice about what fridge to buy because there was basically one that would fit the small space. I'd have been thrilled to buy a cheaper fridge, believe me. Why so judgmental when you know nothing about the reasons everyone purchased what they purchased? And the thread is 12 years old!! My kid who couldn't reach the top shelf is in college now. You might want to spend your time on something more productive

I had one of the first Kenmore trios FD fridge in my area and it lasted 20+ years and was replaced with another FD fridge last year. We regularly have at least 9 people at a time in my house and I preferred the space of the FD when we are all together, no problem fitting a lot of big trays, pots, casseroles in it. I know what side I need to go in to, most of the time. Freezer is organized at all times and never had to get on my knees to find what I need.