As far as counter depth, it depends where your frig sits in the kitchen. I like counter depth because it doesnt intrude into the walkway, but it all depends on your space.

I thought I wanted French door but then I spent more time looking at them. I felt they put everything too high up. My children are young and it will be many years before they are adult height. I liked thatbin a side by side they could reach items more easily. Even for me (I'm 5'5") I feel like items are easier to reach and see in a side by side than a french door. Granted, we are getting a 48" frig because we use all the room.

I'd say to get what you want and what works for your family. I had a sxs and I liked it just fine, other than the occasional large platter that didn't fit. I'd have no problem getting another one.

We have a french door now and I like that fine too, except the freezer seems a bit heavy to me when opening but I'd have no problem getting another one.

What we are getting in our next kitchen is a CD, full refrigerator with freezer drawers next to it. The only reason is that the kitchen is the main throughway for the house, and I didn't want a full depth sticking out into the room. I found the CD fridge/freezers too small cu. ft. wise for how we live and shop. Someone on here reminded me once that it's good to have a fridge 'hole' that'll take a standard size fridge if you ever sell the house and take your appliances with you, though. I think it was in a discussion about 24" wide fridges. Anyway, good luck and get what works for you, to heck with the 'musts'.

I agree with deedles - get what works for you. What things do you normally keep in your fridge? When we went looking, we took a Costco pizza box and an empty gallon water jug with us to the store. Several people were startled, but then laughed and remarked was a good idea that was. Both CD and SxS can be narrow in one dimension. If your stuff fits, fine. If it doesn't really, then keep looking. If you look at french doors, be sure to check that there is enough room for whatever milk and juice bottles you normally keep. This is a bigger issue in a 33" fridge than in larger sizes. In our case we ended up with a bottom freezer model because that is what best accommodated our usual stuff in a fridge that could only be 33" wide. I don't mind that a fridge "sticks out in the aisle," probably because every fridge I've ever lived with is like that - it seems normal. Those extra couple of inches have never been in my way, but given a real choice would I choose otherwise? I don't know. For sure I'd be trying out the pizza box and maybe the large yellow Tupperware bowl. If they didn't fit, I'd be moving down the line to look at the next thing.

I have been researching fridges and found an LG French Door Counter depth with water-ice in the door that is actually bigger than some of the standard depth fridges.

Since my pet peeve is things getting lost in the back of the fridge, I think I will have to buy this fridge.

There's also a Samsung CD that is slightly smaller that would also work.

My last refrigerator was a sxs and I did not like it at all. I feel I could get more stuff into my current tiny fridge and arrange it better than into that sxs.

There's not a lot of bending to get into the bottom freezer because most of your frozen food will be on the upper tray. I keep bread and buns in the bottom bins, so I don't go there every day. I don't have a hard time opening my freezer, but I don't freeze very much meat. We have the Perfect Temp drawer in the Electrolux, which we set just above freezing, and it keeps meat fresh for a few days longer than a regular fridge. Produce too. Cilantro lasts a week whereas it used to be soggy in three days.

Aren't the produce bins located on the bottom of a SxS? You probably go into the freezer once or twice a day, but many times into the produce. I would think you'd bend more with a SxS.

May flowers has it right about the bending with the S x S. I have a SZ 42" one now and it has been great but when I replace it I am getting a FD with a freezer on the bottom. I don't want to bend down for my fruits and vegetables anymore.

We are going with CD after we laid out the footprint and the standard depth is too deep into the room. We are sticking with side by side with water through the door.

We don't like the French door because the freezer is useless if you really store food and the ice maker takes up too much space.

We are going to live with storing less food than our standard refrigerator, and getting use to a lot less while we are under construction.

I now have the best of both worlds.

we bought a cd sxs this week. I had a full depth french door. the french door moved back into the mudroom(10ft away) and the new counterdepth one is in the kitchen. For us, a cd was a must - it was a very tight walkway in which the fridge placement was a pinch point.

I am LOVING the side by side. I go into my freezer a lot with cooking (toast up some nuts, fruit for smoothies, toss in the bread heel for future bread crumbs, leftover veggies for stock... etc. etc...) WHen I made the switch this week, I was amazed at all the food I found in the freezer that I forgot about (& I had even had extra organizational bins I put in the bottom part).

Both sides of my fridge are MUCH better organized now. I am VERY happy with this decision.

But it does come with a caveat: there is no way my cd sxs would be big enough for my family of 6. therefore what most people dislike - not enough room - isn't even a concern for me... I just put some of the extra stuff in the mudroom fridge that is now sharing space with all of dh's homebrewing stuff.

(** and I have an upright freezer in the garage as well... right now, I have too much fridge/freezer storage between the 3, but as everyone knows, that can be quickly gone with a trip to the grocery! **)

I've had both SxS and FD. I loved the FD, hubby loathed it. Said he had to stand on his head and dig around to find anything in the freezer drawer. So in new house, I gave in and went back to SxS. I like that I have bigger, deeper drawers for fruits and veggies since I always have a boat-load of these on hand. In our last 2 homes we had regular depth fridges with niches built to accommodate so they looked built in. We also have a regular freezer and an extra fridge just a few steps away. The fridge is the old fashioned kind, with freezer on top. It's great for overflow, and for those large items like big birthday cakes, platters, etc.

Went to the appliance store with my favorite serving dishes in tow.
Went down the line on SS and FD
No, No, No, No, No, No, No, YES - they fit!

Elux FD Counter depth - no water through door and lovely LED lighting!

Price a bit higher than planned but got a great rebate!

2+ years and love it!!

botton freezer with single upper door would be my first choice followed by the french door, I would not buy a side by side ever again. I would also not ever have anything but a counter depth again. I really hated the way the bigger fridge stuck out in my kitchen taking up so much space in my kitchen. I have a small second fridge in the basement for beer and drinks bags of ice. I find I have as much space in the counter depth as in the side by side because it is wider and there is that big drawer for wide trays etc. I love it. I never used the space to the back of my fridge because I would forget it was there. I was so happy to get rid of the side by side I never used the bottom portion of it and it was so annoying that wide things didn't fit in it. The French door is not perfect but I like it so much better. I did NOT get the water and ice in the door because that just takes up too much room inside the fridge. We never sued it anyway.

Love my Kenmore elite badged Samsung CD SxS. Wasn't sure I was going to like CD, but needed it for walkway clearances. Checked out Samsung, LG, Whirlpool. We preferred the interior layout of the Samsung the best with LG second. All are also available as Kenmore brands. We liked the handle style on the Kenmore version better, so Kenmore it was. After having lived with it for 9 months, I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a SxS CD fridge.

We are a family of 4 who really likes to eat & cook. Plenty of space in the fridge and the freezer. The 2 wire racks in the Samsung help too--sodas, juice, cylindrical items all can go there. If your kids like frozen pizza, there's even plenty of space for those too! We have an overflow fridge in the garage, but we really only store extra gallons of milk and restaurant leftovers in there.

Hope this helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kenmore Elite Badged Samsung SxS CD Fridge

We had a full size sxs before, replaced it with a counter depth french door, and couldn't be happier with it. Aesthetically, I like the fact that the fridge doesn't jut out. Functionally, I know that it is smaller, but appreciate the fact that things aren't getting shoved into the back and forgotten about. The crisper drawers keep my veggies much better than my old fridge did. My husband loves it because his frozen pizzas fit in the freezer (they didn't fit well in our old s x s). Organizationally, I feel like the freezer drawer is a vast improvement with the sliding top compartment and drawers on the bottom. Overall I can say that we would likely not get a s x s again.

With all of that being said, here are the cons. We are only a family of two so obviously don't have the storage needs of many people. The large items that we store on a regular basis are a gallon of milk (in the door), and pitcher of tea on one of the shelves. I can see that if you have a lot of "big" items, they just wouldn't fit. There is much less door space for condiments. I am a cooker and like to prepare most things fresh, but I love love love my condiments and find I struggle to fit them all in. I like mostly fresh veggies, and after my weekly grocery shopping trips, I have trouble fitting my purchases into the two crisper drawers (and yes, this is for 2 people) but after a meal or two, the space opens up. This could obviously be remedied by me just buying my fresh veggies on a more frequent basis, but I get by.

FYI - I got a Samsung French Door Counter Depth (http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RFG238AARS/XAA). Even with the cons, I like it very much.

We have a small kitchen and are going with a counter-depth. The refrigerator we have now sticks out so far I could not reach the microwave next to it in the corner when I was pregnant. It also blocks much of the light from the window beside it.

We are looking at bottom freezer, single top door. I have lived in a house with the french door and didn't really care for it - we always ended up opening both doors to find anything. SxS for us does not work. A frozen pizza will not fit in the freezer. I bake a lot and, for some recipes, must chill half sheets of cookie dough. I could not do that in a SxS.

I have a 1 year old CD SXS and I love the CD. I am moving and am leaving it behind.

I am definitely getting CD in the new house and am still debating between FD and SXS but leaning heavily towards SXS. I open the freezer almost as much as the refrigerator and think I will get tired of bending down in the FD. I also love the water and ice in the door but know you can get that with a lot of FD models now.

I'd never get another SxS again. I hate reaching in that narrow space. I'd get a regular door fridge with the freezer on the bottom.

I'd don't bend down a lot -- the bottom third is two drawers, so I slide them open and grab what I need. I still don't like that cramped space of a SxS, though.

I love my ice maker of course, but not the ice in the door. If the power goes out, the ice melts, runs out the dispenser and all over the floor. Fortunately I've always been home for prolonged blackouts -- so far. I also don't like the drip marks on the door from the ice dispenser.