That's a perfectly normal thing to do, having the all fridge in the kitchen and the freezer close by. Some people also rarely freeze anything and have them farther away yet. Side by side fridges were invented for tiny kitchens where there wasn't enough room for a full sized door to open. Make sure there's enough space for the big door before you do it.

You can get an icemaker in an upright freezer. The main issue is that every time you open the freezer for ice, you let out some of the cold. That's true of any freezer, though, and most handle it fine. That's also where the appeal of the through door dispenser on a side by side comes in. That's a big reason why side by side have continued to be popular in bigger kitchens.

If you have an extra cabinet you don't need, or a trash compactor you want to get rid of, you can also put in an ice only unit. They do need plumbing and can be loud, but some folks love them. Almost all have an ice maker which does freeze the ice initially, and an insulated holding area for finished ice, but don't keep the ice at freezer temperatures. The ice is constantly melting a little. So these are for people who use a lot of ice more than an occasional cube.

Ditto the above. Very normal. Very good.

Chest freezers don't lose their cold air. Cold air is very dense. It stays put. It doesn't climb up and slip out. It doesn't rise up and mix with room air. When you make air currents happen in room air, you barely make any impact on the stable dense air in the chest freezer. If you move a lot of things around inside the freezer, you begin to get that dense air to move. A bit.

That is our situation; all fridge in the kitchen, chest freezer in the garage. We are in the process of buying an ice maker to keep in the garage as well. It is interesting how few trips to the freezer you actually need to make.

Joe

My all fridge all freezer set is great. It has been in our garage (at the front, no less, lol) for 3 years waiting for the reno. I had to walk through the dining room and across a hallway to even get into the garage. The sxs in our kitchen was small, so at least half the time, I'd have to go to the garage while making dinner. Ours has an icemaker for inside, but we would have preferred an in the door model. It was a compromise we were willing to make. Once it moves into the kitchen, the water line will be hooked up so we will finally have ice.... Yay!
We are ditching the small sxs from the old kitchen and may get a stand up freezer. I'd rather look in than have to root around to find things.
I cook a lot of large batches and freeze leftovers. I also buy things on sale and then freeze them. It is nice to make dinner without hitting the store on the way home. With 2 growing boys, I imagine our need to store food will only keep growing, lol!
BTW - in our last house we had a decent sxs from the p.o. until it died of old age and then we bought an LG sxs that was larger and wonderful (and more efficient). The move here stunned us once we realized how much smaller this fridge was. Not all sxs's stink ;)

We've had two separate units (Sub Zero 501s) for 23 years. The frig is in the work triangle and the freezer is on the far wall and there's a 10 x 4 island in between. These freezers don't have through the door ice, it's inside the freezer and we've never had a problem with opening the door to get ice. When the 3 kids were younger I used to keep a plastic bin on the shelf that I kept filled with ice. That way they could just open the door and easily grab a few cubes for their beverage. They didn't have to pull the drawer out to get ice - and it had the added advantage of keeping their grimy hands out of the larger ice

Thanks for all the encouraging messages! If I can find good deals, the separate units are what I'll go for!

Are there any brand recommendations?

we just installed the all fridge/all freezer electrolux units. We haven't really had a chance to use them yet, but I can't wait. They are very well priced for what you get. Ice is inside the freezer and there's no water dispenser in the door. Hopefully I'll get moved into the house and start using them soon and I'll let you know how they are.

LakeMartinGal I think they are all good, and No brand is better than Another.

This is because the two different cooling circuits (in each appliance) are optimized to do one thing only, and /2ndly/ because the technique and tradeoffs involved have been known for decades and have been studied to death by millions of technicians and manufacturers who all want quiet, efficiency, and stability. Some technologies are now low tech, no longer high tech. This is my way of saying it. Others may say it in another way.