Top freezer or bottom freezer?
charlikin
15 years ago
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ccoombs1
15 years agojanran
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Bottom Freezers...Do You Have a 2nd Fridge or Freezer?
Comments (9)If you read the specs the s x s do have more freezer space. I was set on buying CD FD until I started to do the research. I love how the FD refs. look but, for us, the s x s seems to make more sense. Guess it depends on your family. We are 2 seniors so don't need freezer space to fit pizza boxes (we make our own pizza). We shop for fresh fruits and vegs. several times a week. So we don't need the bigger space of the fresh food part of the ref. When we both worked we shopped once a week. When we were first married had a top freezer ref. and I hated trying to find things up there. FD is same, just freezer on bottom instead of top. So my advice is to take a look at your family composition, your shopping habits, and then get what you feel works best for your family. Like I said, I think the FD is better looking but s x s works best for us! Good luck!!...See MoreBottom mount freezer: where to put stuff?!
Comments (3)My neighbor just had the same question and she decided to buy a few wire baskets to store her frozen things in. I'm not sure it's worth all the work but she likes it. She carefully measured the dimensions and then found baskets that would best fit her space. Each basket contains similar items and she has 2 rows- the bottom ones contain larger items like roasts, chickens etc. And the upper ones have smaller packages of vegetables, ice cream, rolls, pastries etc. And one basket is carefully arranged with her ice cube trays - she makes sure that one is level so the water doesn't spill before it's frozen and she lined the inside with plastic just in case. My Mother simply labeled everything with colored markers and added the date so that she would be sure to use the older items. She used freezer tape to write what the item was and the date. Items were color coded - red meant beef, yellow was chicken etc. Then she lined them up along the bottom of the freezer almost like a row of books with the spines facing up - so that you could read what it was and the date. She did her best to keep it arranged. However that also meant if she bought several steaks or chicken breasts she had to rearrange things to keep related foods together. One top of the meats she put the ice cream, vegetables etc. Here is a link that might be useful: loading a bottom freezer...See MoreBottom Freezers...Do You Have a 2nd Fridge or Freezer?
Comments (28)"I don't understand the french door thing. Why have to open two doors? It has an application in kitchens with small aisles, I guess, but I dunno - I'd rather have the aisle spaced correctly. The ones with the big trays across the bottom are the worst to me." LOL - side by side fridges are basically French Door fridges - it's just the freezer is one side and the fridge is another - get an old school fridge with the freezer on top or bottom with one door the entire width of the fridge and I don't care how big your kitchen is, you will be desiring side by side or french door for the half-width doors. Also, if you prefer a side by side, why would you have to open both doors on a french door fridge? Your already used to accessing the fridge through a narrow door anyway :o) The side by side fridge I have came with my house - otherwise I would never own one. You can't put in odd-ball sized stuff, and normal stuff doesn't even fit well. It has allot less drawer space than the Samsung freezer on the bottom I had in my town house, and my Samsung was the smaller 18 cubic foot and my side by side is 25.5! To me, a side by side is like a 1500 square foot two story house vs. a 1500 square foot ranch. Theoretically they are the same square footage, but in the two story you loose space to stairs and hallways - not nearly as much actual usual space. I too have an extra chest freezer, but as others stated I would have one anyway. I have a foodsaver and I'm not afraid to use it. I buy things in bulk, on sale, and freeze them routinely. I wish I could find a fridge with a single height freezer drawer for quick access to the stuff I use regularly and the rest dedicated to fridge space. That would be ideal. Indeed, if I ever remodel my kitchen I'm seriously considering putting a fridge only in where my side by side is and a single freezer drawer (if they make such a thing? Surely someone does) in my island. I'd gladly sacrifice a little cabinet space for some more fridge space. I guess if you don't cook at home often, or eat that many fresh fruits or vegetables it's less important, but I never seem to have enough fridge space....See MoreLayout help: Kitchen/DR/'porch'
Comments (15)I like this better than your initial plans because I think this suits your needs and wishes well. But it can use tweaking. Several of the aisles are tight, IMO. If you have 40" for the aisle between clean-up sink and island and 42" for the aisle between R/F (assuming these are built-ins about 27" deep with doors), you have room for a 29" wide island. You could shrink the R/F aisle to 40" but that doesn't really net you much gain. I like bmore's suggestions of moving the clean-up to the bottom wall, moving the range to the top wall (nicer view from DR) and moving the R/F to the side wall. This also helps with aisle clearances. 138" (11.5') -25.5 for sink wall cabs & counter (depth of 24" deep cabs with standard 1.5" counter overhang) -30" island (27" deep cabs with standard 1.5" overhang all around) ----- 82.5" remaining for aisles or 41.25" each for aisles. NKBA recommends 42" for one-cook kitchens, 48" for two-cook kitchens. Rhome410, one of the lay-out gurus here, has a 36" aisle between range top and island and it works well for her (despite 8 kids and various animals) but it's a range top, not a range - no oven door opening beneath it. I personally prefer more aisle in front of oven doors so that when it's open, there is room to maneuver. I would add a prep sink to the island so that you have a nice work triangle between range, R/F and prep area. The pantries are a bit far from the action but given your long, narrow-ish space, your options are limited. Here's an idea: you could add an 18" pantry cab on the R/F wall relocated to side wall and still have 24" of counter frontage before the corner and sink wall run. That would give you pantry storage for oft-used items within the working zone of the kitchen. Whoa, I just saw that the architect gave you a 12' island. That's not an island, that's a continent. ;-) How do you intend to use that much counter? If you're still considering a 2nd oven, you could add one below the counter here. I also just noticed the 3' section at the end is designated for seating. You can seat 2 people facing each other but that's only gives you the bare minimum for knee room (NKBA recommends at least 15" overhang and 24" width per person for 36" high counters). Given your husband's height, I think he'd prefer more knee space. You could seat one at the end but you'd need to lengthen the overhang by 3" - 6" to accommodate that arrangement. I am curious, though, why you're adding island seating and a cafe table if it's just the two of you. I'd be tempted to choose island seating and add another easy chair with coffee table placed between the two for a tete-a-tete space for you two. If you want table height seating, lower that end of the island to table height. Just be sure to take the NKBA minimums for 30" high counters (18" knee space and 30" width) into consideration. I'd also be tempted to make the pantry at the far right end - the one opposite the island - 18" deep, not 24" deep, to give you 48" between pantry and island, especially if this is a frequently used path. You'll appreciate the additional clearance. Do you really need 140 sq ft (assuming cabs are 84" tall) of pantry storage? That's a lot. If not, I'd make that whole run of pantry cabs 18" deep, which still nets you 105 sq ft of storage. You could also consider swapping out the center section with base and upper cabs and counter to give you a handy place to set pantry goods down (it would make unloading groceries bags more convenient). Have you tallied up how much storage you really need? If not, do so, and then configure your pantry cabs to match your needs. Here's what I'm talking about: I added windows in the little alcove across from the island to give you a nice view and to make up for the loss of a window above the range. Your DR clearances are also a bit lean. If your table is 42" wide, you only have 39" clearance around the table. If your table is 48" wide, you have 36" - that's tight. NKBA recommends 44" behind seating for walk behind space and 36" for squeeze behind space. I have 40" between kitchen table and island and it works for us but that's not the same as having only 40" between table and wall. I can crowd the island and have my arms extend over the island counter to get by but I can't do that between table and wall (I'm not sure what that unit is along the upper wall - buffet or floor to ceiling cabinet). It's a visual thing, too. That same amount of space feels much tighter in my DR because of the walls. Also, if those posts between DR and LR cut into the clearance space, as they appear to do based on the drawing, you have even less clearance. Unless you are really desperate for storage, I'd lose the cabinet along the upper DR wall and stick with storage on the left wall, provided you have sufficient length for your table, that is. (I didn't remove it from the above drawing.) How long is your table when fully extended? Make sure you have sufficient clearances then, too - especially for the hallway aisle so that no one feels as though they are sitting in a hallway. Thanks, LL!...See Moreci_lantro
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