Tell me about your American fridge/freezers

[broomers]

I grew up with small under counter ones and DH and I have an integrated one that is set too tall by the previous owners that I can barely see/reach the top shelf so new kitchen refurb is being done in the spring and I'm insisting we have an American style fridge freezer. We have 2DS and I'm planning ahead for when they're big strapping teenagers and eat constantly so wanted the space (and ice on tap for gin!)
Do you have the drawer style freezer bit or the ones where there are 2 long doors. Anyone have the ones that open up like 2 cupboard doors for the fridge bit at the top. Are the water dispenser and ice cube bit worth the extra cost? Thanks

My mum had an American style and honestly it is so narrow inside I find it impossible to organise anything in. I am a bit organiser so this would be a big no from me. When we did our kitchen, after looking at LOADS, we went with a French door which suits us perfectly. The shelves are nice and wide, it has an external filtered water dispenser but ice maker is internal to the freezer, so no massive space taken up by ice machine in the fridge. It’s perfect and when it if it ever breaks I’ll replace it with the exact same things again. It’s really very dependant in what suits you as a family though so I’d advise looking around a lot.

We had a huge 2 door one which worked well - my parents new kitchen has a freezer drawer underneath and a double door fridge above, which I really like. Theirs is built I rather than freestanding so I don’t know the make - but it is fabulous

Huge silver thing with an ice cube maker but the freezer section is surprisingly small. Makes us do more fresh though as that section is huge

I plan a lot of kitchens for clients and recommend to clients that they check the capacities when ordering as they can vary massively by make and model.
Also be aware how much they stick out when planning your kitchen.
Most clients end up with a SS full size Fridge and a full size freezer next to each other with cabinets built round them because the freezer capacity isn't enough with lots of the AFF even though that's what they originally wanted.

we have a Fisher & Paykel with the double doors fridge at the top and freezer drawer at the bottom. Ice maker inside the freezer and water dispenser on the front.

I LOVE it. I’m small (5’3”) and can reach and see everything easily. The water dispenser takes up less space than in a lot of brands. The ice maker is great in summer, in winter we can empty it and turn it off for more freezer space if we want.

As a PP says, if it broke we’d get the same thing again.

Should have said, I do also have a small undercounter freezer elsewhere.

We have a full size wine fridge which will go in the pantry bit and also a separate under counter freezer that will go in the garage if we ever need extra space but that only tends to be at Christmas. Good to know people like the double door at the top ones I like how easy it was to see everything and each it when we looked at those

We have a big Samsung one with two long (freezer has shelves inside rather than doors). We use the filtered water and ice cube dispenser ALL the time, it's definitely worth it! And there is a lot of space, so that even at Christmas we can fit everything in. I like also that there is plenty of room for cans and bottles, so we can keep drinks chilled all the time.

We have the Samsung one, two double long doors, one for fridge and freezer. Tbh I'd prefer an American FF that had freezer drawers. I find it difficult to a) see what's behind food on shelves and b) food always falls off the shelves. I also think capacity isn't as big as it should be for such a large unit.

I've noticed French doors on top and drawers below can be too deep for standard kitchen designs- if I was getting that I would have my standard cupboards installed a few extra cm away from the wall and have an extra-deep countertop made so it all looks right.
With integrated doors I would want a full size larder fridge next to a full size larder freezer. That is a massive amount of space. As pp say American style with the narrower freezer is a pita if only shelves- stuff just falls off them and they don't hold basic wide flat stuff like pizzas or other boxed food. I wouldn't bother with an ice dispenser in the door it's a pain to clean - just have enough space to do covered ice cube trays in the freezer.

We have one with wide fridge doors on top and freezer drawers underneath. I originally wanted freezer and fridge section side by side but DP wasn't keen as the freezer drawers would have been narrow...fitting in pizza boxes for example

The fridge is great especially with family/christmas etc but the freezer is a bit 'rummaging around' and I'd prefer shelves. Also check getting it in and out of your house. And ours has some fault where water pools under the veg racks which is annoying.We didn't bother with water/ice dispenser as did seem to take up internal space and didn't want to plumb in. I think now I'd like ice dispenser but we don't use ice that much and easy enough to keep a bag in freezer

We have a Samsung American style fridge freezer. Next time I'd have separate full size appliances as the freezer is too small. You can never have enough freezer space. The shelves instead of baskets are a pain. I do love the water and ice dispensers though.

I've got an excellent AEG AAA rated side-by-side separate fridge & freezer (looks like one unit), bought a few years back. Bloody excellent.

We are on our second one. The first one had side-by-side doors and wasn’t well laid out - the ice section took up most of the freezer. We were acutely aware of this when shopping for our current one and opted for a Samsung one with freezer drawers.

It is a bloody brilliant fridge - the doors on the fridge part are designed so that there is no wall in the middle so you have the fill width of the fridge to use. The drawers are very spacious and the ice part is tiny but produces enough ice for our family of five easily.

The freezer part is HUGE. It has two drawers and easily holds double the amount of freezer food as our last one.

We have had our Samsung for 16 years. Two doors for the fridge and a 1/3rd of the total height drawer which is the freezer. Freezer has a top tray (ideal for bread and ice cream in this house) plus 2 deep 'bins' below. Fridge has shelves plus drawers (including a larder drawer for meat, cheese, fish etc). Also has water and ice dispenser. Plenty of space for when there were 4 of us and now there are only 2 we have a dedicated wine shelf in there 😂

We've recently got a Haier one with two doors on the fridge and two doors below on the freezer. So much better than the ones with two long, vertical doors as you don't open the freezer when going to the fridge. The fridge part is huge and the freezer is one of the largest we could find.

We didn't go for integrated water tap or ice on the front as it takes up so much space. Can see why people do though.

We've just replaced an old range master fridge at top with 2 freezer drawers (French style) and have just gone for a Samsung side by side one, I thought I'd miss the fridge layout but I love love the freezer shelves instead of drawers. It's so much easier and actually changed how I use the freezer as everything is so accessible. Love to fridge too, lots of shelves mean you can be really organised.
Plumbed in water/ice maker is def dealbreaker if you are planning new kitchen

Honestly, they are the worst thing ever, ice and water dispenser take up a lot of freezer space, the glass shelves in the freezer are awful, give me baskets/drawers anytime, they are also very deep. My LG one refused to die, I replaced it in the end with a standard ff. would never get another American ff or recommend.

Oh it seems very mixed reviews for the freezer bit with people loving shelves and drawers! Maybe it'll come down to what's in the sale at the time 🤣

I had a 2 door one and hated it. It took up so much space but the storage was lacking. I had to stack pizzas or fish fingers etc diagonally leaving little space for anything else on that shelf. And I was forever sweeping up frozen veg that had fallen out from open bags, when I wanted to get something from the bottom of the pile.

I have a nice slim 50/50 fridge freezer now, and the storage is much more efficient.

We just got this from AO last month I bloody love it.
Frost free heaven

Pros of ours, it has ice and water on tap and is plumbed in.

That's about it. Negatives, when we first got it the children were 9 and 6 so it seemed big enough. We have had it 10 years so they are now 19 and 16 and it now isn't big enough. The fridge is too small and narrow and so is the freezer. Part of one of the freezer shelves has a massive chunk at the back taken up with some of the mechanics so it is a half shelf.

We have two full height doors on ours. I don't know what is available now freezer wise because the ice and water would be a deal breaker but if I could have 2 tall side by side 60cm wide each fridge and freezer I would. I do have a larder freezer in the pantry as I bulk shop at Costco so that holds all the meat, chicken and fish and massive catering size chips. The kitchen AFF one holds frozen fruit, veg, ice cream and bread products.

I love love my American fridge freezer ( side by side) but the freezer is way too narrow. Can't even really got a frozen pizza in it properly.

But the benefit was the fridge was deeper, so great for putting in trays of food for parties etc.

In our new kitchen we have a full size fridge and full size freezer.

But for some reason still miss the American fridge freezer

I would say don’t both with an American style fridge freezer.
Buy a separate larder fridge and larder freezer and have them side by side - ensure the appliance on the left has its handle on the right and vice versa, so the handles are in the middle of the two, IYSWIM (will try to find a pic).
I find freezer compartments in the American style FF either too narrow to fit a frozen pizza and with shelves that things slide out of; or drawers with limited capacity

Like this pic