The Difference Between French Door vs Side-By-Side Refrigerator

Kevin Drako is here to show you a few things to consider when deciding if a French door or side-by-side refrigerator is best for you and your family.

The great thing about both units is that French doors and side-by-side refrigerators both have options of having a water and ice dispenser in the front with control panels. Both have options to not have this in the front. The other great thing is that both units come in different finish options. You can match your other appliances with different colors such as white, black, stainless steel, slate, black stainless steel, and more. 

The big question that you should ask yourself is "does my family eat more frozen foods or fresh foods"? This question can determine if you need a unit with more freezer space or refrigerator space.

If your family makes a lot of big dishes with over-sized baking trays, you will need that extra room in your refrigerator and a French door option might be best. If you eat tons of sandwiches and pack on a bunch of meat, cheese, and veggies the deli pantry and refrigerator doors in a French door might be very useful for you. If you eat tons of fruits and veggies (like your suppose to) and more natural foods, a French door is going to be a great choice.

On the other side, if your family makes a lot of frozen foods such as frozen pizza, lasagna, or other frozen meals, a side-by-side might be a better option. With a French door, you have to stack your frozen foods on top of each other, making it hard to reach things or even see some of the foods that you have in your freezer. You may also get into situations where you have to bend over or get on your knees to maneuver through the things in your freezer.

If you have children, there are a few things to consider. If you want them to learn how to be independent and grab their own snacks and help out with dinner, think about how tall they are and that it might be a little harder for them to get things that are in a French door fridge. A side-by- side is nice in that you can see and grab things from both the freezer and refrigerator side equally and more easily than a French door. You can also see and grab all of the frozen foods a little more easily.

Can you fit a frozen turkey in a side-by-side? Maybe a small one, but probably not a big one. You may want to consider having a chest freezer in the garage or basement. If you have a side-by-side and make a big casserole, you might not have enough room to put it in your fridge and may consider getting a second fridge and keep it in the garage or basement. If you choose a French door, you might need more freezer space and need to get a chest freezer or second fridge.

The options are endless. After watching this video which option is best for you and why? If you have more questions, stop by one of our locations and we can answer any additional questions or concerns you may have. It's always best to see these options in person.

Skip the Bottled Water

The other day I was fancying an ice cold bottle of water.  The weather in Colorado being unusually nice these days, it was hot and nothing sounded better than cold, naturally pure water.  I happened to be in a place where a bottled water dispenser was available and I quickly put 2 crisp dollar bills into the machine and waited anxiously to hear the “drop” of the bottle dispensing from the machine.

I took a quick swig and for some reason decided to read the label on the bottle.  “Source:  Public Water Supply.”   What?  What happened to the all natural water sourced from the volcanic tunnels of an exotic island and naturally purified using reverse osmosis and then distilled using an advanced state of the art process powered by solar energy?

My first thought after reading the label….what a waste of $2.  Americans spend over $10 billion dollars each year on bottled water.   That figure represents roughly $1.25 per gallon which is 300x the cost of tap water.  There has to be a better solution.

I’ve got one.  Most households have this already sitting in their home.  Their kitchen specifically.  It’s called a refrigerator with a water and ice dispenser.   Your refrigerator’s water dispenser typically provides additional filtration.  Filtration that removes 99% of potential harmful contaminants such as chlorine taste and odor, heavy metals and chemicals and microbial cysts including parasites.

So, put your money back in your pocket, save the Earth from plastic bottles (only 28% are recycled) and push your glass up against your refrigerator’s water dispenser.  You will find tons of different refrigerators that have water dispensers built in that have different features. The Kitchen Aid makes a great refrigerator that has 5 different doors and has a great built-in water and ice dispenser, check it out.