French door vs side-by-side door refrigerators: Which one’s right for you?

Refrigerators, in addition to being an integral part of our kitchens and our everyday lives, are so much more today. Unlike the old days, when refrigerator choices were fairly limited and designs largely overlapped, the market for new refrigerators is much larger today.

They have been evolving just as fast as any other appliance and cater to a wide variety of individuals as well as families as per their requirements. Bearing in mind the ever-changing needs of people – both in terms of features and capacities – two types of refrigerators, French door refrigerators and side-by-side door refrigerators have become increasingly popular.

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While they may appear to be largely the same, they are very different. In case you’re wondering just how so, and which one is the best for you, you’ve come to the right place! Read on.

Differences between French door and side-by-side door fridges

Design: French door vs side-by-side door refrigerators

Side-by-side door refrigerators feature a top-to-bottom freezer and refrigerator compartment, next to each other, hence why they are called side-by-side.

French door refrigerators, on the other hand, have one refrigerator space on top with two doors instead of one, with a freezer drawer below. The same is much akin to a pantry-style layout, making it much more convenient to store and find food.

While side-by-side doors provide you with tall but narrow compartments in both the refrigerator and freezer space, French door refrigerators provide shorter and wider spaces.

Pros and cons of French door refrigerators 

In addition to easy storage and retrieval of food owing to its wider compartments, French door refrigerators also ensure all your food stays at eye level, thereby ensuring further ease of access. Secondly, in French door refrigerators, more storage space is dedicated to the refrigerator instead of the freezer. Moreover, if you have a small kitchen the narrow doors on a French door refrigerator give you more space to move, especially if you have an island countertop.

However, the bin-style freezer space of French door refrigerators requires one to bend down to retrieve and sort through food. French door refrigerator freezers also have a smaller capacity when compared to side-by-side door models. Most French door freezer drawers tend not to have shelves, which can further make organising food difficult. Lastly, French door refrigerators generally tend to be more expensive compared to their side-by-side counterparts.

Pros and cons of side-by-side door refrigerators 

Side-by-side door refrigerators are more conventional in style and offer vertical storage with plenty of space for both the refrigerator and freezer space. The same provides flexibility for one to organise the most frequently used fresh and frozen items at eye level while keeping less accessed things on the lower shelves. Just as with French door refrigerators, you’ll often find in-door or external ice and water dispensers, as well as other desirable features such as adjustable shelves and door bins to help you keep everything organised.

Furthermore, just as in the case of French door refrigerators, side-by-side refrigerators also feature narrow double doors, making them a good fit for tight spaces. Their conventional design also means they are significantly cheaper than the corresponding French door refrigerator models.

Both side-by-side door and French door refrigerators these days feature smart voice assistant support and app enabled-controls, enabling you to set them up as per your requirements even on the move. Furthermore, they also almost always feature water and ice makers, whether internally or externally, or in some cases, both. However, owing to the simpler design of side-by-side door refrigerators, they tend to be cheaper than French door refrigerators. However, on the flip side, their narrower storage space means decreased storage capacity as well as ease of access while storing and retrieving food.

Side-by-side door refrigerators may also require more bending than usual, owing to the fact that certain items, whether in the freezer or the refrigerator section, may have to be stored on lower shelves owing to a shortage of storage space. They also tend to lose out on storage space in the freezer, due to the narrow compartments, putting them at a disadvantage over French door refrigerators.

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Which one should you buy?

To decide on whether you should buy a French door or a side-by-side door refrigerator, you must consider your requirements as well as the space it is to be placed in. Side-by-side door refrigerators tend to be more practical for home use, owing to their relatively compact form factor, as well as the ease of access vis-à-vis both the refrigerator and freezer compartments. However, for a commercial kitchen, a French door refrigerator may be a more prudent investment due to the larger freezer storage capacity and larger, wider refrigerator storage space, which enables quick and easy storage and access to food.

At the end of the day, however, each family/individual’s requirements may differ from case to case, and it would be a good idea to consider the aforementioned aspects before shelling out any money on either kind of refrigerator.