Check the appliances forum, as this question comes up repeatedly. IMO the advantages of a FD fridge are: less door clearance needed if opening on to narrow aisle; easy to open some models/brands on one side, with one hand (check to make sure that your model/brand is one of them); as a corollary, I believe more energy efficiency because you're only opening half as big a door (I haven't seen any studies, I'm just surmising here). In my house, we're definitely ending up with some "territory" -- kid side, Mom side. HTH.

Yep, the advantage of a FD is clearance. I couldn't have had a kitchen table if I had not gotten a CD FD. If I want fruit, I can open the left door; veggies, I can open the right door. The milk is in one door, the mustard in the other. But often, I open both doors. That's fine, too.

we probably open only one of the doors about half the time. but we got ours for clearance as well, as it allowed us to set the island a bit closer to the fridge and gave us that much more island space.

we had a single door bottom mount in our last kitchen and i much prefer the french door.

I'm thinking that you probably lose some in-the-door storage space with a FD because the moulding supporting the shelves has two more vertical components with two doors vs a single door.

If aisle clearance isn't an issue, my thinking is that the single door works best if the frig is located at the end of a run. FD looks best and works better, IMO, if the frig is mid run.

We just ordered a single door. I really thought having to open two doors would drive me crazy. With one door I tend to open it a little, grab what I want and shut it right away. If I had a landing space or island in front of a french door it might have worked better. But now I only have counter to the right of it.

Never had a FD but wanted it-- especially for the narrower doors as the fridge opens across our traffic aisle to the island. Chose single instead because, given our arrangement, a single positioned food access better for placing stuff on the island, and even more because carpenters left space tight and I didn't want to give up any very needed right-of-fridge cabinet inches to allow for door swing on that side.

Forgot--Yet another reason was that one of the FDs would have opened with its back to the coffee/MW bar just a foot-plus away on that side of it. Not a killer issue like the cabinet inches but just not as convenient as a less-glam one-door.

Just got a french door, and LOVE it. The Samsung 29 cf. I do like the look of the one door, bottom freezers, but I couldn't find one that was bigger than 22 cf. And I've lived a long time with a side by side, and on more than one occasion, I've had a hard time fitting things in (like a Costco pizza or a platter). I wanted wider fridge space. I'm still getting used to which door to open for which foods, but so far (3 weeks), I have no complaints.

We have the french door. I wanted an outside water dispenser and the single door models only had an inside water dispenser and I know my kids would stand there filling glasses with the door left open, which drives me crazy! I also opted not to have the outside ice dispenser because it took up too much inside space.

I like opening the one side I know I need something from. DH prefers the single door so he can open it all the way and look at the whole inside.

We bought a Kitchenaid french door because we wanted a water dispenser, and none of the single doors offered it. It's neat, it's actually an internal filtered water dispenser so it's hidden (I don't like the look of the external ones as they are less clean). You open one side and the dispenser is in the door. It also has an icemaker in the bottom freezer - ice cubes drop directly into a tray. It doesn't provide crushed ice though.

Another unexpected benefit is that you need less clearance to open the french doors, and we have a column that will be just in front of the fridge.

Otherwise, from a purely looks perspective, I would have went with a single door as it has a slightly cleaner look.

I prefer the look of a french door, but the functionality of a single door. So single door it is.

I'm not organized enough (read: my family would never follow my rules of organization) to utilize a french-door fridge in a way that you would only really need to open one door at a time. The saleslady suggested "breakfast on the left, lunch on the right!" But really, we put things away wherever there is space, and the thought of having to remind the kids that yogurt goes on the left (or whatever) put me off the idea entirely.

Plus I like having counterspace right next to the door opening, which you can't have with a french door fridge. Oh, and my single door fridge was about an inch shallower than the french door options I was looking at, so it will project a little less beyond the counter than the french-door fridges would have.

I'm getting a French door because we entertain quite often and it seems as though it will be much easier getting large trays of food in and out of the French door than out of a single door, but I've lived with a side-by-side for 11 years and can't even open my freezer door all the way, so anything will be better than what I have now!

Good luck with your decision!
Patti

Just want to confirm what someone said above..there is definitely less door storage space in the FD than the single door. I do miss it, but got FD for the same reasons as everybody else. The other advantage of the FD is that the doors are much lighter and easier to handle than the single door.

I also got the Samsung (26c.f.) and love it after having a side by side (never again!!!!). There are only 2 of us so keeping it organized is not an issue. Frequently used stuff on one side, less frequent on the other. One drawer for fruit the other for veggies.We can open each of doors individually. I do find there is less door space but since we don't buy gallon containers of milk, juice etc and store wine etc in the beverage fridge I think I can install a couple more of the door bins without a problem. which reminds me I was supposed to order them a month ago...LOL. This also allowed us to make the island wider and still have lots of room for traffic.