Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I am getting a new refr. and was going straight for the side by side, I love the look of it, with ice maker and water dispenser - however everyone says go with the bottom freezer, so much more room. But they look huge to me - my refrigerator is never overflowing with food anyway, where I need something huge.

pros ? cons ?

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

For us it was look of the french door unit, we really liked it, I also have my water inside the fridge. We didnt like the look of the water and ice on the door, we wanted a very sleek look of the all stainless look.
We have a freestanding icemaker next to the beverage center so it worked out nice.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

Im with you. I like the side by side look so much more. But my parents have one and said DONT get it cause there is no room at all. Very tough choice. we are buying appliances this weekend so thanks for the post!!

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I have a top freezer and personally, I think it is the best to have. Although the side by side looks the best, it is less energy efficient. The bottom freezer (I think that's also less energy efficient) is more of a pain to get things out of the freezer. You said you don't keep much in the fridge, but do you keep a lot in the freezer?

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

For us we wanted and really loved the french door/freezer on the bottom frig. We love it. When we have company it works out great to have platters of food. It holds so much. And we don't mind the freezer on the bottom. For us it works.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I wanted to get the French door with the bottom drawer. DH was completely against side by side b/c you can’t fit a tray of anything in there. For catering purposes, or we sometimes make chocolate covered pretzels and have them laid out on a tray that needs to go in the freezer, no go with a side by side. Unfortunately we couldn’t fit anything but a top freezer under our stupid cabinets in our new house, so we ended up getting a whirlpool gold top freezer with contour doors. It still looks modern and nice and clean, and it’s really nice inside. It has filtered water that doesn’t take up any space and comes out of the top of the inside of the fridge (if that makes sense) and an ice maker in the freezer. Works for us. In retrospect I’m not sure how much I would have liked the bottom freezer, but I really do like the look of the French door and think it offers more versatility than the side by side.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I have the freezer on the bottom and LOVE how roomy it is! I had the top freezer at my parent's house and when I go there I can't even remember how we used to fit ANYTHING in that tiny thing! lol I can get SO much food in my bottom freezer it's really crazy! I even have the topper of my wedding cake on one of the shelves adn still have tons of room!

I have the french-door top and I LOVE being able to open both sides and have access to all shelves without anything in the way. I didn't want the ice on the door...I don't like how it looks. HTH

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

we just bought our french door fridge with the bottom freezer and LOVE it.. the convenience of the fridge on the top is so much better!

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I LOVE MY FREEZER ON THE BOTTOM!!!

In caps for a reason!!

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We got the side by side.

I didn't go with the bottom freezer b/c - well I freeze a lot of things and didn't want to be bothered with bending down, things getting buried on the bottom, etc.

I am very, very happy with the side by side. Only drawback is the fridge is too small to fit a whole pizza pie or a sheet cake. In actuality though - how often will I need to fit those items?

So for us - the deal breaker came down to the freezer. I keep all our meat and frozen veggies in there. I like to be able to see everything and say 'we'll have teriyaki veggies today' not say 'we have to have broccoli b/c that's the only thing I can reach right now without shifting the whole freezer.'

Make a list - what's more important to you?

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

I really wanted to frech door fridge type, but when we bought our new refrigerator a few years ago, they were not made in the smaller widths yet (we needed a 31"). We ended up getting a bottom freezer and I happen to really like it. It has two pull out wire drawers and a huge basket on the bottom. We don't store a ton of stuff in there since we also have a stand alone freezer in our garage.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

This is my opinion alone, but I prefer the freezer on the bottom. When we renovated our kitchen, that's what I got. I like it b/c now I use my produce more. It's terrible, but if I had to squat down on the floor to check the lower drawers or shelf, sometimes I missed stuff, it's easier at eye level.


I think side by side is not really big enough on the inside for us.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We have a side by side now and are going with a French Door for our remodel. No room for big things in the side by side.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We have the french doors with freezer on the bottom!!!! BEST REFRIGERATOR EVER!!!!!

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

generally, people with the freezer on the bottom love their refrigerators the most...

I can't stand side by sides. You can't have a big party with one of those... no trays or cakes fit

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

LG brought the French Door back and now almost every single manufacture has one.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

we have side by side... this is the second one we've had. i really like them, and i feel like they have enough room ( although we don't have kids yet, so who knows how i'll feel then LOL ). i like the freezer the most- i'm short so i like that with the side by side freezer, i can see everything we have, right away.... AND each kind of frozen meat can have its own shelf, the frozen veggies are in the little basket thing--- everything is happy in its own place lol
we don't throw a lot of parties, so the whole fitting big trays of stuff isn't really an issue

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We have a bottom freezer, and love it. There's more room in the fridge than a side-by-side, and it's more convenient, in that we look for stuff in the freezer much less often than we look for stuff in the fridge. Having everything at eye-level (or close) in the fridge is great - nothing gets lost or forgotten about.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We have side by side. I loved the look of it but honestly it doesn't hold a lot. We have another refrigerator downstairs in our laundry room.

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

Posted by wannabemom

generally, people with the freezer on the bottom love their refrigerators the most...

I can't stand side by sides. You can't have a big party with one of those... no trays or cakes fit

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

i want french door freezer on the bottom but in counter depth its just way too much money - so i *think* we'll end up with a side by side....

Re: Side by Side refrigerator vs freezer on bottom..

We have a french door and freezer on the bottom and it would be hard to go back to a side by side again. We have the same gripe with the side by side. The freezer is so narrow.