I ended up w/ half shelves, too, and didn't love them as much as I thought I would. I have at least one all-the-way-across arrangement. The others, well, they're staggered, and it has worked out well.

My new fridge (back WHEN it was new) lost some vertical height because of the increased freezer space and because the mechanics moved up into the fridge itself.--I found there was only one HALF of a shelf that I could put anything tall on I guess I was supposed to store my milk in the door, which would have relieved some of the crowding, but...

I can't put my milk in the door, it'll go bad. I live in Queens, NYC, and the grocery-store guys must let the milk sit around on the sidewalks while they're unloading it. Because it goes bad very quickly. So I store it in the fridge. I used to store it way in the back on the top shelf, which was the coldest spot. Now I store it on the front of the bottom shelf.

(having only a half of a shelf for tall things has cured my DH of one of his most annoying refrig. habits: setting short stuff in the tall storage space. You know when people open the fridge, and just set whatever it is in the middle of the top shelf? He doesn't do that anymore!)

I put small things in the doors, because, since I have to rummage around among them, I'd rather do it on the door so I can see what I'm doing.

I did end up w/ one very closely spaced shelf, and that was worrisome to me--stuff wouldn't be that accessible. But I turned it into store for long, skinny stuff. That's where the eggs live (bcs you're not supposed to store them in teh door; it's too warm), and where we keep the loaf of bread. The extra pound of butter goes there, too. Also the canister of powdered buttermilk. Because this is a pullout shelf, I can get stuff in the back, though most of it is just long a skinny.

I have threatened to label certain spots w/ the P-touch labeler, but my DH has assured me he'll peel them off if I do. But I still think it would be useful--the ketchup and dressings always go here; lemonade goes here; eggs go here; bread goes here.

Every now and then, I go to bake, so the eggs are out for a while, and find that something has been put in the eggs' spot. I keep thinking that if there was a label that said "eggs," he would be less likely to just stick something in that space "for now."

I also got one of those plastic baskets and put yogurt in it, to keep it from falling all over everywhere.

Enjoy your fridge! Mine came w/ a section in the booklet that explains all the noises. It's very weird to have that fridge noise change--even though it won't be a truck, it'll be *different* and you'll notice it. And then, in a week or so, you won't at all! Isn't that funny, how we adjust?

How exciting, Erica!!! Congrats!! I waited for months before the new one we ordered finally came in, and I was never so happy to see anything in my life! LOL

It might help us to know what kind of fridge you got - the way I organize my fridge might be really different than the set-up you'll have (I have a maytag with french doors on top for the fridge, and the freezer on the bottom - all shelves are adjustable, one of which can be adjusted just by turning a lever (ie, you don't have to take food off), two veggie drawers, a meat and cheese drawer, etc. So tell us what kind of fridge you got, and then we might be able to help more (or less - I know nothing about organizing a side-by-side, having never had one). :-)

Tally Sue, I can finally store milk in the door of this new fridge, since it's designed specifically to keep it cold enough. But I totally understand not being able to otherwise...it took a *lot* of convincing by my DH to even try it in the new fridge before I believed him. LOL Sorry it goes bad so quickly there!!

ooh, Jamie, I want your fridge!

Jamie...I've seen those refrigerators and I love them... But...People say you have to practically stand on your head to get the ice. Is it a problem for you?

Erica...I had a Amana (sold w/house :( ) and I didn't end up using the split shelves either. But I loved it anyway. I always jammed other stuff in the door, because the door is the warmest spot of the fridge they say, so I always kept my milk on a shelf. Milk is easy to find. It's all the jars of stuff that gets lost.

Oh, I LOVED it when we got our new fridge a couple of years ago! Previously, we had been using an older model that had come with the house. So this one seemed like the Cadillac or BMW (or Porsche or whatever!). We had to get a side-by-side because we didn't have the clearance in our other house for a wider door. Now we do, but I've gotten used to the S by S.

We have deep shelves in our doors that hold gallons of milk and I must say the milk stays plenty cold. We have a can holder at the very bottom (although it's not used now since we gave up soda!!). I put all condiments on the top 2 shelves in the door.

I *love* my deli drawer. It holds our sandwich stuff - meat, cheese, tortillas. I made sure it was set at a middle-height.

There was a time I was really into putting everything in a certain spot, and I also thought about labeling my shelves (hear that, TS?). Everyone laughed at me, so I chickened out. (They laughed at me when I labeled my pantry, too.)

Freezer: I have 2 pull-out bins. I keep poultry in one bin, red meat in the other. All frozen veggies are grouped together, too. I don't like Side-by-Sides when it comes to the freezer section. Too narrow. But it works. Our old fridge is now out in the garage, so we have extra room for cold and frozen stuff.

Of course, there is the regular cleaning maintenance of a fridge. Again, there was a time when I was good at regularly cleaning mine, but that has sort of fallen by the wayside. However, I do NOT have science experiments growing like my mom always does. (Poor Mom, I seem to always be picking on her!) It's a pet peeve to see old, unidentifiable stuff in the fridge...and also expired stuff. So I try to keep up on that.

Have fun with your new fridge. Mine still feels new to me!

Sheryl

Thanks for understanding how a refrigerator could be exciting. ;) First of all, it *sounds* wonderful!!! Just a soft fan-like sound like when our dishwasher is on the dry cycle. Nothing to get used to, at all.

I tried to find a picture online of the insides of the model we got, with no luck. So... the freezer is on top, with a wire shelf all the way across, half-way up. Two door racks. I like the idea of keeping categories in separate bins. I chose this model specifically because it had a higher ratio of freezer to fresh space than a lot of them do. I want to see if I can get a month's worth of stocking up in there--and I need to be able to actually find the stuff.

The fridge part has clear produce bins, which should be a help. (In our old one they were opaque, so I always forgot to use up produce. We ended up using them for soda and juice cans.) There's another clear drawer farther up, which might be good for holding meat while it's defrosting. (I usually freeze it all and then thaw as needed.)

There's a shallow shelf at the bottom of the door, which isn't terribly easy to get to because the gallon-size bins jut out above it. Not sure what it's best for. Any ideas?

I threw snacking cheese (as opposed to sliced) and yogurt into a couple of the gallon-size bins on the door, just to get them put away quickly. But I think I might leave them there--they won't get lost. Maybe apples, also.

I need a good way to store cut-up produce. Having veggies ready for snacks is really helpful when I'm trying to ose weight, so I've got to have a good system. I've been using low, round Rubbermaid containers--sheer on the bottom, with beige tops. The problem is, looking in the fridge mostly what I see is the beige lid and I can't tell the carrot sticks from the celery from the green peppers, without digging around. Has anyone seen containers that come with different lid colors, so I could color-code the veggies? ;) Or perfectly clear ones? (I guess Gladware might work.) Or tall, narrow square ones that would fit inside the produce bins?

Erica

How exciting!

When I got my new fridge, I took that opportunity to set a specific place for things, so everybody knows exactly where they are. No more rummaging around trying to find something.

I put kid snacks in the door. They are visible and accessible. Any produce that needs to be used up right away, as well as leftovers, go on a certain shelf. I can check that shelf when I'm making dinner, so less waste from spoiled food.

The shallow shelf at the bottom of the door is where I keep my condiments. It corrals all those little bottles, and since they are visible they don't get lost. Might be good for kid snacks too.

Have fun with your new refrigerator!

There's a shallow shelf at the bottom of the door, which isn't terribly easy to get to because the gallon-size bins jut out above it. Not sure what it's best for. Any ideas?

I have something sort of like this. We have condiments in there, and on one side, where there isn't a deep bin directly above it (there's a soda-can ledge, which we don't really need), we put the skinny Brita water pitcher.

We used to lose the cut veggies in their leftovers containers bcs they're end up elsewher ein the fridge. Tne new rule is, the containers of cut-up veggies (usually meal leftovers--we don't prepare THAT much in advance) go IN the produce drawers. That makes a huge difference for us! No more fixing fresh carrots because we can't find last night's.

You could LABEL lids, maybe. Of course, they could end up on the wrong container.

If these cut-up veggies are things you always do, it would be OK to buy two clear-lid containers JUST for them--even if they don't match your regular stash.

anneliss - our freezer drawer pulls out, and the ice bin is in the upper wire basket, which also slides out. So it's just a matter of pulling the main drawer out, then sliding the basket out to get ice...it's not even a very far reach down. It seems perfectly convenient to me... :-)

Erica, how wonderful!! It sounds like you freeze a lot of stuff like I do - big freezers are a must! I have the upright freezer downstairs too, but I am very impressed with how big the freezer under my fridge is. Is that shelf at the bottom big enough for meat and cheese? It's not something you're likely to forget is in there, and I have a shallow drawer specifically for that (a pull-out "tray", really) that works very well. Or you could store nail polish in it. ;-)

As for the veggies, what about putting them in bags rather than hard containers? I use ziplocs for everything - I buy them in bulk from costco, and that way I can see what's inside, and they fit anywhere because they can "change shape". Something to think about, anyways. :-)

Erica - I'm jealous of the new fridge! We always seem to have old ones with one problem or another.

When you mentioned containers for the veggies, I thought I would mention the tupperware Fridgesmart containers. I have gotten rid of most of my old tupperware containers and just keep a few disposable ones now (I know if I am out of containers I need to clean out the fridge LOL) But last year I got a small Fridgesmart container. It works so well keeping lettuce fresh that I bought a large one just for lettuce (This is a big thing for me - I usually don't like to by too much new stuff into the house, but I had been wanting this for the whole year) They are clear with a blue top. Sorry-can't help with the colored tops, but maybe you want to put a piece of colored tape or even a label or something on them?

Here is a link that might be useful: FridgeSmart containers