I have had a KA 36" built-in SxS in use in my kitchen for about 4 years now. The model is KSSS36QMXOO. I have had no problems and it is rather quiet, as far as fridges go. Having said that, I must add that a SxS is not an ideal set-up. If I only had one refrigeration unit in the house, it would definitely not be a SxS. I do have another fridge/freezer plus freezer only in my basement, so this works well for me. I got it because I ran across a super deal that I could not walk away from. I have had no regrets.

There's a response on your thread in Appliances. :-)

Thank you suska6184 and cat_mom for you replies.

It is good to hear that you've had no significant issues with your SxS versions (a search on the web seemed to show more reviews positive rather than negative).

I was also interested in the Liebherr 36" french door but this had many more negative reviews, especially recently. Plus for people under 5'6" tall the refrigerator section seemed to begin quite high up. Also a possibility was the Bosch 36" french door but the price is significantly higher.

suska6184 - why did you think that a SxS was not an ideal setup?

I have a KA 36" side by side. I can look up the model if you want. I love the layout of it - it fits our family. Boys can reach their snacks and there is a place for everything I need too.
Our big complaint is the ice maker in the door jams constantly! We have dejammed it and thawed it repeatedly. We stopped using the ice dispenser on the door and just reach our hand in and grab ice inside. For that reason alone I dont know if I would buy it again. Everything else is perfect for us.

I have a 42" built-in KA for almost five years and have had no problems with it. I think that ice in the door thing is a bad design idea. I have that in the Whirlpool fridge at my weekend lake place and the ice seems to kind of congeal into one giant glob. My SIL also had a power outage and that ice in the door melted and leaked on their wood floors. Had I known that before I bought mine I would have picked a different icemaker arrangement. My KA fridge is great though - icemaker is in a drawer inside - not in the door.

The main disadvantage of a SxS in my opinion is the narrow freezer. The fridge can be a bit narrow in a 36" as well. That said I lived with a 33 inch SxS in my old kitchen for about ten years and some how I got along fine.

Thanks ejbrymom and gibby3000. It's good to hear confirmation that you are happy with the SxS.

If you have the model number handy, ejbrymom, I would definitely be interested to see if this is similar to the one I am thinking of getting.

I think mine's a 48" SxS KA built-in. It works fine with our only issue being the icemaker as well. Ice tends to freeze up along one side until the icemaker thinks it's full. It's not a big deal for me to reach in and break up the ice periodically - takes less than 30s every couple weeks.

We did have a problem with the icemaker that was fixed under warranty. I was chatting with the technician when he was working on it, and he said all the manufacturers buy their icemaker from the same source (GE I think). Based on that, I have no great expectation that one brand's icemaker would be much better than another, but take that as hearsay.

Other than that it works fine. As the guy at the appliance store said when I was contemplating subzero vs KA: "they all keep the beer cold".

The small freezer isn't an issue with me as I don't keep many frozen foods. As far as the frig not being wide enough, I am fortunate to have a garage frig (freezer top, frig bottom - 1o yr old frig). I like that with a side by side the kids can reach their own food (yogurt, fruit, cheese etc).
The slide out shelves are easy to clean. The clear bins are easy to remove to clean. mine only has 2 freezer baskets and 3 clear view drawers in the frig. I bought mine nearly 3 yrs ago from Best Buy.
It is 36 wide and 30" deep.
model # KSRG25FTBL01

Here is a link that might be useful: my frig is similar to this one size wise

Thanks everybody. We think we'll give it a shot.