A family member just bought a Frigidaire 22 cf side by side. I guess she’s happy with it, but did mention that it was impossible to find one without in door water/ice so had to give up space to that. Sorry not to be more helpful.

Ann, I know which refrigerator she bought, I think.
Thanks for telling me that.
I don’t know where I am or if this will get back to you, but you were helpful.

A french door has the same amount of cubic feet space. It’s just organized much better. You get the most accessed space at the easiest height to get to, and with far more continuous shelf space than a side by side. Splitting the cavity in half greatly reduces storage capacity compared to a single wide shelf. A French door holds far more, far better organized, than a side by side. The freezer drawer below holds the same cubic feet as a side by side. It’s just easier to get to with the drawer bringing all of the stored products out to you.

GreenDesigns. Thank you for your response. However, I do not believe that it has been proven that French doors with a freezer under it at the same cubic feet have the same amount of space.

As much as everyone likes the new design. Something new. There are signs that people are trying to make up for the lack of storage due to putting an ice maker on the little bottom freezer and not having enough space for the usual items they buy every week. People are stuck with the French doors and they won’t be buying them again. There is not one great review for the convenience of needing three hands to put something in the refrigerator. The no water feature paneled side-by-side refrigerators are what people are looking for now because of the mechanical issues.

No French doors for us because of my bad back, knees, etc. plus I know items will land in the very bottom of that freezer drawer and never be seen again. We once had a small chest freezer, so I know!

Three weeks ago, we had to buy new SxS refrigerator, but are restricted to a counter depth because of our island. Bought a 20.6 cf counter depth Whirlpool from Lowe's Because it fits in the space we have. (It beat out a Frigidaire that was a bit taller, so too tall for our space, plus Wpool reliability is slightly better per CR mag)

The freezer space is pathetic, and not near as deep as the beloved 19 y/o Amanda counter depth it replaces. The light in the freezer is in a really stupid place, back wall, and the protruding cover is easily getting knocked around by bags of frozen vegetables. (rolling my eyes)

More aggregating is the fact that it needs another shelf, which will cost approx $100 to order. I do not store 15.5" high items in there and need that extra shelf for more efficient use of the space.

I' m mentioning all this just to point out some things to watch for in your 22.cf SxS.

Cavimum, I understand. my side x side Amana is over 35 years old. It's 2.0 cu ft and will hold weeks of food, glass adjustable shelves and great door space. Water and ice on front. Freezer is perfect. I can't give it up. How easy it was to count on quality. I never had a repairman for it. I'd like to know why appliances have taken a nose dive. Been searching for a couple of years and can't find a decent review. Even the high end have troubles. Such a shame.

How about the refrigerators that have 4 doors? Nuts isn't it?

How wide do you want the side-by-side refrigerator to be? For 22 cf, it would have to be 33" or 36".

Per Consumer Reports, "Side-by-sides are ideal for narrow kitchens but are the least space-efficient inside." and "Top-freezers offer the most storage for their size and are the least expensive." Would you consider a top-freezer model? There are top-freezers with 22 cf and more. For that capacity, the width would have to be 33".

Wdccruiser, Thanks for posting. My width on a 22 cu ft is 36 in. now. It holds more than any 22 cu ft will hold if I buy one new. That is with the water and cube feature on the front. Sure, have looked st the top freezer at Home Depot and it is not able to hold as much. I did this with my guy at Home Depot. It does not fool the eye either. You can see it is small.
I feel sorry for people who sell appliances. Also, the ratings are skewed.
I have read some folks are bringing there old refrigerator in from the garage.
Also, need to know what service you can get with the brand you buy. Some say it’s bad or none in their area.
I would like to find some good reviews that speak to that and find the service they received extended the life of a refrigerator by years.

Two high-rated 36" wide side-by-side models highly-rated by Consumer Reports:

• LG LSXS26366S
• LG LSXS26326S

Those two LG side by sides that wdcruise posted date back to 2014-2015. I wonder if LG has improved their compressor and ice maker technology since then. I have to agree that the Home Depot reviews are abysmal, and I would not buy either of those.

mtrot I don’t know the answer. I try to ask. When I go to private appliance stores I have pulled out my cell phone to look up the model number and it’s reviews and they (salesmen) are insulted. To dig deep you have to know the serial number as well. You look at the serial number on the compressor because if you were to replace the compressor or if the company were to replace the compressor the serial number would change. There are other refrigerators that have bad compressors too. Somewhere on here or on HOUZZ, never sure where I am, there is a large group that talks about refrigerators and you get on there some appliance people who repair refrigerators and they will tell you. Some owners have the ability to fix them. The biggest problem is water. Ice cubes flying out; water not going into the cup. That doesn’t seem to change but I do look to see how old the reviews are. It’s difficult because when you get a review from someone who just bought theirs in 2018 or 2019 and they say oh it’s just beautiful and we like it then that’s not helpful either because they have not witnessed the oncoming problems. There are no reviews that say that we have had it for 10 years and nothing has happened. I think the countries that make these appliances hate America.
The site with lots of participation has one title which is “I know I shouldn’t have done it but I bought a Samsung refrigerator and I regret it .” That woman was a great spokes person because we were all together and I was watching each other‘s posts and she had just bought it and we were concerned. Then she wrote back and said that. Samsung is so expensive and looks good but is full of troubles including trying to find someone who will repair it. The Samsung office is rude is not helpful.
I have made another rule for myself. If a refrigerator is on sale then I shouldn’t buy it or consider it. If word gets out that there is a very good refrigerator that will never go on sale.
It’s like when I bought a speed queen dryer. You could not find one that was made in 2017 that had very good reviews. I ended up finding one that I thought was made in 2018. Brand new configuration. What I really had was one made in 2016.

Can you explain to me why you need 3 hands to put something into a refrigerator with a French door? I have a French door and I need 2 hands. Open right or left door with one hand, insert item with other hand. The worst thing that could happen I guess is you opened the wrong side and have to close it and open the other instead.

We're moving right away and need to buy a new fridge for the new place and I was only considering French doors again, but if they don't all work like the one I have, I'll have to keep my eye out for that and not just order online without seeing in person.

We have had a counter depth Samsung side by side for 3 years. It has an outside door on door that opens only for heavy used items that is handy. We have the built in ice machine so takes up some freezer space. I love it, it is very sleek, no handles. But I will say as a caveat that we also have a Marvel drawer fridge that is for beverages only. So that takes a lot "heat" off the available space in the fridge. We previously had an LG french door that held a ridiculous amount of food in comparison.

We bought a Kitchenaid S&S counter-depth KRSC503ESS for our vacation home. Haven't gotten it yet, so I can't review it. It was difficult to find a S&S counter-depth. I have a French Door at home (full size) but did not want one in the vacation home because, like you said, the freezer space is ridiculously small.

I also love the look of the handles on the Kitchenaid.

stir_frye I wish you luck with your new Kitchenaid. Thank you for sharing.

We also bought the kitchen aid krsc503ess. We were pleasantly surprised. The doors open in such a way that you can push it far enough back to hide an inch or two of the doors with a very tight 36 inch wide niche so it looks almost like a builtin. The inside also looks pretty fancy for a freestanding fridge. it has spill proof shelves and dual evaporators. I do miss the built in temperature gauges of our old ge fridge. Otherwise, works well. Pretty quiet except when makeup no ice. Ice maker generates smaller cubes than our old ge, but it has metal blades fto stir/break up ice which most new fridges do not. Ice maker has been problem free so far. When we bought it, it was $400 cheaper than the comparable Ge. It actually has space for three more shelves than it comes with (room for two more in freezer and one in fridge If you remove the bottle rack). We bought the extra 3 shelves for $300 and now it seems pretty generous space wise for a counterdepth fridge (our last one was full depth). I initially wanted a builtin but now I’m glad we got this instead because it’s nice to have the ice/water dispenser and it truly looks almost as good.