Unlike a typical dispenser that just dispenses cold water and ice for a refreshing drink, this dispenser allows you to prepare tea, pots of pasta water, and more, quickly and efficiently. This fridge also features LED lighting, a counter-depth design, and a customizable exterior. You can choose between a white matte finish paired with gold hardware, a black matte finish paired with stainless steel hardware, or an entirely stainless steel model, depending on the look of your kitchen.
And, when it comes to the interior, you can enjoy an in-door, drop-down tray, as well as five shelves. Now, this model may not be as spacious as others on the market, but it'll certainly exceed expectations in other aspects of its design, making it worth the splurge. Modern amenities meet an upscale design in this French door refrigerator.
With a stainless steel exterior, two swinging doors, and a bottom freezer, it's no stranger to functionality or style. Although it doesn't come with the technology features of other models—such as WiFi capability—it does provide thoughtful storage in the refrigerator and freezer portions.
The refrigerator is 18 cubic feet in size, which is plenty of space for a large family or a couple week's worth of groceries. The freezer portion offers a little under 7 cubic feet of storage for your meats, ice cream, or tubs of homemade tomato sauce.
It has a two-layer design, so you can organize your goods by how much you use them. Fill the two sliding bins with the items you need to access most, and then tuck the others below.
The interior LED lighting in both the refrigerator and freezer compartments ensures you're able to see your food, and grab it quickly. Now, despite its high price tag, this Whirlpool model isn't perfect. It can be noisy, especially if its factory-installed ice maker is making ice. If you're willing to deal with a bit of noise though, you'll find this appliance to be convenient, stylish, and an upgrade. Side-by-side refrigerators, which have the fresh food section on one side and the freezer on the other, are a solid pick for any household.
They make items easy to reach and organize. This appliance measures in at The freezer uses 6. With this model, you'll enjoy amenities like an in-door can caddy, specialty deli drawer, adjustable gallon door bins, and exterior ice and water dispenser, complete with filtration. The doors open to bright, LED lights, and frameless glass shelves that let you store more items. A door-in-door refrigerator lets you access items in the door bins without opening the entire fridge.
This GE Profile model takes the accessibility feature to the next level with its swiveling door bin, which can help you reach even more items than usual. It works to make your life easier in other ways, too, including the AutoFill water dispenser which senses the size of the glass you want to fill, and lets you walk away to complete other tasks while it reliably does its job.
Although the ice maker does create smaller cubes than normal and dispenses them in a spraying matter at times, this model prioritizes organization by building the ice maker into the door which is game-changing. This leaves the top refrigerator compartment with The small, chilled drawer below is perfect for storing ready-to-go snacks for kids, or commonly reached-for items.
The bottom freezer isn't the largest on the market, and the model as a whole is quite wide at nearly 36 inches. However, soft-close drawers, built-in Wi-Fi, and the fingerprint-free finish do make this item worth its price tag.
The LED light wall, which illuminates the interior of the fridge from the back, is also a feature you probably wouldn't look for but makes your experience better. Don't have enough room for a full-size refrigerator? No problem! This fridge is more spacious than a traditional mini fridge, with 7. This model has most of the same features as a full-size fridge, as well, including two clear produce crispers, two adjustable shelves, and door storage.
It has the space to accommodate tall items like bottles of orange juice, and a reversible door allows the piece to swing open to the left or right. There may be no deli drawer, butter keeper, or ice maker, but this appliance is Energy Star-certified , so it will help you save electricity and bring down your bills.
Overall, this compact fridge is a good choice for small kitchens, break rooms, offices, or even basements. Smart appliances are a common addition to modern homes. If you're in looking to add one to yours, so you can control the temperature of your fridge with your phone, you should check out the LG Electronics LFXSS.
With Wi-Fi and a French door design, it's certainly high-end and will make your kitchen feel like a luxe space. To make use of the smart design, adjust the temperature with voice commands, receive notifications if the door is open, and diagnose issues from a remote location with your smartphone. This fridge is If you typically host friends and family, you'll enjoy how the water and ice dispenser is tall enough to accommodate large containers.
In addition, any home can benefit from various organizational features within the fridge, that give you tons of space to store all your food. When it comes to refrigerators, there's no shortage of options. The built-in ice and water dispenser, quality lighting, and adjustable shelves make this piece a good fit for any household. Although it doesn't have an ice or water dispenser or smart features, it's spacious and features a deli drawer.
A refrigerator's "type" is defined by its door design, freezer orientation, and depth. The type that's best for you and your household depends on the layout of your home, budget, and preferences.
Typically, a top-freezer refrigerator is the most basic and budget-friendly option, and is most suitable for anyone living in an apartment, RV, or smaller living space. On the other end of the spectrum, a model with two French doors or many compartments can be the most expensive on the market, and provide the most features including a factory-installed ice maker, filtered dispenser, customizable exterior, and a smart screen.
When it comes to fridge types, knowing the difference between a counter-depth model and standard-depth one is key, too.
A counter-depth model sits flush with your cabinets and prioritizes style, while a standard-depth one has a more spacious interior and prioritizes functionality. A counter-depth refrigerator can give your kitchen a custom aesthetic, though it may offer less storage space inside. The capacity of a refrigerator is measured in cubic feet, and can range from 10 cubic feet to 28 cubic feet. This measurement encompasses all compartments, and ultimately determines how much fresh and frozen food you can store.
Depending on how many people live in your household, and how often you cook at home, you may want a fridge that's smaller or larger.
In general, it's recommended that a fridge have at least 4 to 6 cubic feet of space per adult in the household—the average capacity for a fridge hovering around 20 cubic feet. A household of three or four is generally comfortable with 16 to 20 cubic feet of space, while larger households and frequent entertainers enjoy about 20 to 25 cubic feet of space.
An ice and water dispenser is a common amenity in refrigerators. Now, if you don't want this feature, since it can add to the price of your new appliance and require occasional repairs, there are certainly options on the market. However, if you do opt for a dispenser, it's key to consider the location of it, its setting options, and whether or not it has a filter.
These factors can impact the capacity of your fridge, the amount of maintenance you do, and how you use the dispenser. For example, filters needs to be switched out every six months, adding to the operational costs of the fridge and the time you spend making sure its running properly. In addition, some dispensers' settings include crushed ice, cubed ice, and hot water. A top-freezer refrigerator has a very common, familiar design. It has two doors—one that opens to the fridge portion, and another above that opens to the freezer—and plenty of shelving, produce crispers, and door bins for storing your fresh and frozen food.
This kind of refrigerator is most suitable for small living spaces, households, and budgets, as it's not known for capacity, amenities, or smart technology.
It's easy to install and use, though, making it a reliable pick. Refrigerators with a bottom freezer make it easy to access and see your stored food. That's because the fridge is at eye-level, and the freezer typically works like a pull-out drawer.
Refrigerator Ratings The options make it easy to choose the right style of refrigerator for your kitchen—whether it's top-freezer, bottom-freezer, side-by-side, or French-door. Refrigerator Ratings. Group Created with Sketch. Top-Freezer Refrigerators 35 Top-freezers offer the most storage for their size and are the least expensive. Top-scoring refrigerators usually deliver more consistent temperatures.
Bottom-Freezer Refrigerators 24 Bottom-freezers keep refrigerator items within easy reach. Most models we tested chill and freeze adequately and include pullout shelves or bins, split shelves, spill guards, and room in the door to hold a gallon of milk.
French-Door Refrigerators Once you know how much space you have, particularly the width, our recommended models will help you find a refrigerator that fits in that space. Models that have higher energy-efficiency scores use less electricity for their capacity. Side-by-side refrigerators 40 Side-by-sides are ideal for narrow kitchens but are the least space-efficient inside. Higher-end models offer half shelves. And if your household isn't large, remember that a smaller refrigerator is likely to use less electricity overall than a larger model.
Built-in refrigerators 19 Built-ins align with cabinets. Most models we tested chill and freeze adequately and include pullout shelves or bins, spill guards, and room in the door for a gallon of milk. Bottom-freezer models actually had the highest satisfaction of any type. Built-in models from luxury brands can cost five figures. Size range: 36 inches is the most common width, while inch and inch models are also easy to find.
A few inch built-in models are available from luxury brands. Regular-depth and counter-depth models are widely available. Freestanding models are most common, but plenty of high-end built-ins are available, too. Pros: All fresh foods stay near eye level for people of a wide range of heights, and you get easy wide-item storage pizza, deli trays.
The half-width doors are convenient in tight kitchen layouts, and models have a trendy look. You also have tons of options, such as two drawers, door-in-door features, premium dispensers, specialty ice makers, translucent panels, and door tablets. Cons: The bucket-style freezer can be hard to organize, and retrieving frozen items requires bending. Tall-item storage is sometimes limited. Models are relatively expensive. The most consistent complaint about the French-door design concerns the bucket-style freezer.
It seems we only use the top 6 inches and the rest is a deep freeze that we never dig into. However, some upscale French-door variants like the Whirlpool WRXSDHZ have a fourth door, in the form of a second drawer, usually a small tray between the fridge and freezer. Usually such models let you adjust the temperature independently of the fridge or freezer, so you can turn it down a tick to help preserve meats and cheeses or nudge it up a bit to keep produce more appetizing or drinks at a better serving temperature.
Although side-by-sides tend to create much less satisfaction than French-door models, some people genuinely prefer this layout. Arguably the best part is that they tend to cost much less than French-door fridges while offering similar capacities and feature sets.
Size range: For freestanding models, 36 inches is the most common width, and some inch models are available, standard-depth and counter-depth. For built-ins, , , and inch widths are available. Pros: Side-by-sides offer eye-level access to both the fridge and the freezer, plus plenty of shelf space in the freezer.
Big capacity and cool features are available at reasonable prices, and the half-width doors are convenient in tight kitchen layouts. Cons: The wide-item storage is limited, and the design is less energy efficient than other styles. Owner satisfaction is mediocre overall. The downside is that owners tend not to be all that happy to own them.
Size range: You get roughly 8 to 22 cubic feet of storage anything smaller is really a mini fridge. These come in widths of 22 inches to 33 inches, and similar depths most are roughly square-shaped.
Pros: Top-freezer models are affordable, available in a wide range of sizes, and efficient. No bending required to reach frozen items. These fridges are also more reliable than other types, according to some sources, though we found that they might be more prone to minor, nuisance-type problems.
Cons: Owner satisfaction is low. Fresh foods sit below waist height for most people, and the full-width doors may be hard to open completely in some kitchens. We point toward a few notable top-freezer models in our section on budget-friendly fridges.
Bottom-freezer refrigerators are a bit of a hidden gem. But from what we can tell, owners tend to be really happy with them. They offer some of the same practical advantages as basic French-door models, for significantly lower prices.
Size range: A inch width and standard depth is the most popular size in the US for affordable freestanding models, though they get as narrow as 22 inches and as wide as 33 inches. There are plenty of counter-depth models, as well, though these tend to be on the thinner side. Built-in models are 24 inches to 36 inches wide. Pros: High owner satisfaction, especially relative to the price.
All fresh foods stay near eye level for most people, and wide-item storage pizza, deli trays is easy. Cons: The full-width doors on wider models may be hard to open completely in some kitchens.
These fridges also have fewer premium features than other styles. Bucket-style freezers on some models can be hard to organize, and swing-open freezers on other models are very low to the ground.
Retrieving frozen items requires bending. Four-door: Some brands sell upscale fridges with four equal-size doors. Not to be confused with two-drawer French-door fridges, these models have a full-width refrigerator compartment on top and two half-width compartments on the bottom. Counter-depth, in the strictest sense, means that a refrigerator is shallow enough to sit flush with typical cabinets or countertops, so roughly 24 inches from the front edge to the back wall.
You can find tons of these models for sale at any typical big-box appliance retailer, from every major brand, in most door configurations, at a range of prices. Others genuinely prefer having a shallower fridge because they find it easier to keep organized. Mainstream brands often sell standard-depth and counter-depth variants of similar fridges, and the models tend to have a lot in common, apart from the shallower dimensions and smaller storage of the counter-depth versions.
Complaints about lack of space were equally uncommon for counter-depth and standard-depth fridges, with low single-digit percentages of owners complaining about that on average.
We think most counter-depth models from the brands we highlight above should work well for most people. Any prediction about reliability is based on data about older fridges. But even then, the gap between the most-reliable and least-reliable brands looks pretty narrow.
And any company can sell you a dud and drag its heels on customer service, even if it has the best reputation. That said, we analyzed more than 28, customer reviews for 34 fridges, and we were able to pick out a few models that seemed especially prone to major malfunctions within the first few years of ownership.
Similarly, in our reader survey, just 2. Side-by-sides and top-freezer models were somewhat more prone to minor, nuisance-type problems like noise, broken shelves or handles, and flickering lights than French-door or bottom-freezer models. The first, simplest step toward picking a more sustainable fridge is to make sure it uses climate-friendly Ra refrigerant, as many current models do.
Ra is a huge improvement over Ra, which is 1, times as strong a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide and was the most common refrigerant for household refrigerators through some popular models still use it. If your top priority is to use as little energy as possible, check out the Energy Star Most Efficient list. The models there are the most energy-miserly fridges you can buy in the US. Judging by this list, the most efficient style of fridge in terms of energy use per cubic foot of storage tends to be a large top-freezer model, which should have plenty of storage for a couple but might feel cramped for a household of four.
But the list has plenty of other efficient models in other styles, as well. We have to note that the Energy Star Most Efficient list feels a little incomplete, or maybe built around questionable criteria. When you do the math on energy use per cubic foot of storage, there are plenty of big, stylish French-door models for example that beat out some of the smaller, more homely top-freezer models.
Large fridges can also mean fewer trips to the store, which might mean less driving and almost always energy and emissions savings as a result. Then again, huge fridges also have a way of turning into graveyards for lost, wasted food. The standard Energy Star list—not the Most Efficient list—is basically useless.
Finally, a long-lasting fridge tends to have less environmental impact than a fridge that breaks quickly, assuming that the energy use is similar. And longevity isn't everything: A reliable, decades-old fridge uses a lot more energy than a new one, and sticking with it could potentially have a bigger environmental impact than replacing it. In the bigger picture of your overall household energy use and emissions, choosing a low-energy fridge has a small impact compared with other upgrades such as choosing a highly efficient electric heating and cooling system, or an electric car, or a source of clean energy like rooftop solar panels.
Liam McCabe is a senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars. He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. How we researched Reader survey. Why you should trust us How to pick a fridge LG: The major brand with the highest satisfaction GE: Somewhat better customer service Whirlpool: Fewer bells and whistles, fewer complaints about bad reliability Other major brands What about a budget pick?
What do you get when you pay more for a fridge? Why are so many fridges out of stock? Door styles: French-doors lead in popularity and satisfaction What about counter-depth fridges? Reliability: Hope for the best Efficiency and sustainability: Much better than they used to be.
Why you should trust us. How to pick a fridge. Take multiple measurements of your space rather than the existing fridge to find the maximum width, depth, and height. Seriously—take multiple measurements of each dimension in case your floors turn out to be crooked. Remember to measure any baseboards or trim. Build in some buffer space for ventilation. Make it about 1 inch on the top and sides and at least 2 inches at the back.
Think about measuring the rest of your kitchen. The layout of the rest of your kitchen matters, too. If you have a kitchen island, measure the distance from the wall to the edge of that counter to account for the door swing. In this situation, a counter-depth model, or one with half-width doors like a French-door or side-by-side model might make the most sense.
If your fridge will sit close to a wall, think about whether the door will be able to swing open wide enough for you to pull out crisper drawers or deli trays. A single-door fridge like a top-freezer or bottom-freezer model , with the hinge on the opposite side from the wall, might be your best bet. Measure your doorways.
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