We went from water inside to water outside the door. Outside is so convenient. We are very happy about that change.

If you now use the outside water frequently, you will miss it if you don't have it. Inside water is not as convenient.

I've never had one. I dislike using them at other people's houses. But I also dislike drinking cold water generally (we drink room temp water from an RO spigot), so I'm probably strange.

We have a Sub Zero with no water dispenser, internal or external. We do not miss it. We installed a filtered water dispenser at our sink and use that instead.

I don’t miss it at all. I, like you, prefer the look of the fridge without the water/ice dispenser.

I LOVE my outside water/ice dispenser and it is non-negotiable for me. Plus I have gotten really used to the separate middle drawer for produce. So much easier than opening both doors to check those wide bins for fruit and veggies. Check Samsung; they have a lot of counter depth fridges with both of those features. And.. due to Covid a lot of the big box stores are short on inventory. Hope you can find exactly what you want in stock!

I'll jump on the "dont miss it" bandwagon. Went from a side by side with I&W in the door to a bottom freezer french door without. I don't miss it whatsoever. We do have a beverage faucet with dedicated carbon filter (I dont care for the flatness/blandness of RO) at the sink.

I decided against the water/ice dispenser (either external or internal) as well and don’t miss those features either. And the fact that they are prone to be problematic certainly was a factor in making my choice, plus the everyday cleaning hassles. Good luck in choosing what’s best for you and your family!

I like the water dispenser on the outside of my fridge. Water is filtered and colder than tap water. I don't have an ice maker on the outside, but the people it do know who has them don't use them . The ice cubes just plunk out one at a time. It is faster to just reach inside and grab an handful of ice.

French door water and ice on the door eat up a lot of frig space. Check a couple counter depth models out to see if you're OK with that use of space. They start with less capacity than your current full depth.

Short answer, yes, I miss it terribly.

Long answer:

The ice I can live without even though we use a lot of it. Heck I’m even back to trays as the ice maker’s ice tastes bad. (Possibly because when I moved in two years ago I discovered the filter hadn’t been changed since 2002. I don’t like using them at other people’s house either as this seems to be a common problem.) The water is another story. At first I just bought gallon bottles, but we’d go through so many in a week that the recycling bin made me feel guilty. Use a Brita now but that doesn’t remove lead and it’s a constant battle with the family over keeping it filled. I live in an old house with plumbing of unknown age, so when I fill it I try to coincide with someone showering or a cold water wash, or else I let the water run for a while before filling it. Wasteful both for water and septic.

I’ve been meaning to remove my instant hot and put better filtered water in its place. It won’t be cold but I guess better than what I’m dealing with now. I think I got stuck in the research phase. Carolyn, what are you using?

If you go to counter depth, you will want every cubic inch of space in your fridge. We went with a Whirlpool french door with water inside and conventional ice maker and like it very much. It's not inconvenient to get water or ice.

Definitely don't miss it and love the sleeker look without it. The inside water is no biggy and the ice is easily accessible. We have the Bosch french door with separate produce drawer and integrated handles. Love it

If it will help justify the loss, through-the-door ice/water fridges are less energy efficient than ones without the feature.

I think you're better off without it. I've never had it, but I never want it either --- the number one spot for problems, and I know more than a couple of people who've had floods in their kitchens because of it. I also prefer the look without it, and they're generally more efficient without it.

Personally, I have no regrets on omitting this.

I don't like the look of a dispenser in a door. I chose a fridge as basic as possible. I don't even have the ice maker turned on, I buy ice by the bag from Costco and put it in the ice bin. Always fresh!

If your option is to move to a water dispenser inside the fridge, yes you will miss the door dispenser. I moved from the dispenser inside the fridge to the door dispenser. When I had inside-the-fridge water my kids were too young to use it. I cannot imagine the hours my fridge would spend open with my kids managing yo be the least efficient bottle-fillers ever. I didn’t like it in the fridge. It’s worth it to me to have it in the door, and if I dropped that I’d plan to use filtered water at the tap, not from the fridge.

Don't have it, don't want it. Fridge exterior looks so much better without it IMO. What does it take all of 10 seconds to open the door and pour from a jug in the fridge?

We used to have water and ice in the door. When we remodeled we put a filter on the prep sink cold water line instead so that we could fill pitchers and pots for cooking. I prefer to let the water run for awhile before filling a glass and you can't do that with the refrigerator dispenser. I don't miss the ice in the door. A friend is installing the Elkay Liv H2O dispenser into her remodeled kitchen. It is available with or without a chiller.

https://www.elkay.com/products/drinking-water/water-dispensers/built-in.html

It also depends on your kitchen layout. Will you be annoyed by people getting water from the sink, or is the sink easily accessible?

I love I/W in the door. We have had it in three houses and never regretted it. It doesn't look as good, but to me, the functionality outweighs that. We have a fridge in our vacation house that does NOT have it outside and I do miss it when I am there.

We almost never use ice, so trays are sufficient for us, and we have a filtered water spigot by the sink. If I lived in the South or Southwest I might reconsider, but here in New England we are more likely to need to heat water than cool or freeze it.

Our situation is similar to Caroline's: went from water/ice in door to filtered water from the sink. I don't miss the door water dispenser, especially the hard water build up that made it always look dirty. I do miss automatic ice.

My husband bought a countertop ice maker but it's really not a good solution for constant use. I really love having a counter-depth fridge though, so my hope is to one day replace the fridge with one that has an ice-maker or maybe even do a total remodel.

I’m on my second Samsung FD with ice/water. These fridges are junk. Never again. When this one dies, I’m with Imp1959. Going Bosch with ice in a drawer and filtered cold water inside. I think I will like it.

If you are getting funny tasting water or ice, you may need to clean or even have the water and ice lines replaced as mold and bacteria could be the culprit.

Never had it, and don't want it. We wouldn't even allow our fridge to be connected to the water line at all. (Although it is built to be capable of automatic ice making and inside water dispensing.) The water line systems are the biggest failure point of fridges, so to avoid the possibility of such floods and repairs, we didn't connect it to water at all. Instead, we have an RO system at our sink that we use. We live in an area with very polluted city water, so RO is a health necessity for ice making, water drinking, and cooking. (Yet another reason we didn't want our fridge connected to city water.)

We’ve never had one and I’ve never wanted one. We have a Culligan RO system-I’m a room temperature water drinker.

The filters for refrigerator water are weak to be kind. We have reverse osmosis under sink this faucet on counter. Very good system. Have front door dispenser and it is a pain and ice gets frequently blocked up in freezer container so I am not a fan. It came with house. If I replace there will be no door dispenser. And I won’t miss it at all. My 2 cents.

Love ice and water on door...if you like crushed ice it is a must. Lived twenty married years without and twenty with door dispenser...can’t imagine going back to without. We actually have dual ice makers in our refrigerator for the two of us.