I had a French door fridge at the beach cottage. It was great for a space with limited aisle clearance, but it annoyed me that I almost always had to open two doors to reach anything - especially difficult when you have your hands full. French doors are pretty, but they’re not ergonomically efficient. Ask your husband whether he wants to open two doors instead of one, every day for the next 20 years.

Perhaps a good compromise would be to get a fully integrated, paneled side by side. 48” is a lot of stainless, even in a large kitchen, and fully integrated installation is a little less bulky than built-in.

I agree with dan1888 - check your pricing, because a paneled fridge is always more costly than one with the factory stainless steel doors. I don’t happen to agree with eam44 that “48” is a lot of stainless”. I like the look. People have different preferences in that regard. Here is one of my favorite kitchens because the custom cabinetry is to die for. It has Miele MasterCool columns. I like the columns’ handles—such a change from the big long handles more commonly seen.

Thank you! I will double check our panel pricing tomorrow just to be sure. I like the sleek look of the stainless steel and really liked it when we were in the showroom so I’m torn because one of the things I like the most about the French doors is the wide view. In our current refrigerator everything goes to the back and we can’t see it and things expire and it’s a pain to fit things. But I think the 48” can still provide a wide enough refrigerator side to mitigate that?

Maria Rojas - what is really helpful is to take with you to the appliances store some containers you most frequently have in your fridge. A milk carton too. Just bring several (clean) containers with you in a shopping bag, maybe a casserole dish or platter if you tend to store those in your fridge. It really gives perspective to see these things inside of different models of fridges. Better than seeing them empty in the store I assure you. Don’t be embarrassed; this is a big purchase (though maybe go when the store isn’t busy). I also told my sister to do this, but for when she was shopping for sinks to bring a couple pots and pans. In her words, this was “huge” in helping make the decision for the right sink. Works for deciding which dishwasher too.

If I had to choose one today, it would be the 42" french door. I've had a 48" SxS before and I hated the freezer side. That 48" was stainless and I hated trying to keep it smudge free. I much prefer paneled appliances. I try to choose things that are easier to clean and reduce my irritation with others in the house who aren't as neat.

Choose what you like and works best for you and your family!

I am doing a 36 inch all fridge and an 18 (might bump to 24) inch all freezer. I’m so excited to have vertical space in both the fridge and freezer after 3 French doors! If you only have 48 inches, maybe also consider the 30 all fridge with the 18 all freezer!

B Carey- That sounds great!What brand are you going with?

Chispa- that’s great feedback on the freezer

Shannon WI- that is really good advice! I do think the stainless steel looks sleek and clean

Dan1888- that’s a really good point!

B Carey, I currently have the SZ 36" fridge and 24" freezer. I would not go smaller on the freezer if you have the space and budget. I'm very happy with this setup, but I only had 60" available or I would have gone up one size on the freezer. I buy large packs of frozen raw patties for my dogs and those take up room!

You may find it possible to get separate columns and locate the freezer in a less prominent spot than where you want the frig. If you can put it in a pantry it can be a lot less expensive white unit.

We owned a 36" SZ French Door in our last house. I hated it. The top drawer in the freezer was taken up mostly by the ice tray. Maybe that is NOT the case in the 42"? The remaining storage in the freezer was just not adequate for everything we needed. So we had a 2nd freezer in the basement.

In this house we installed a 36" column and LOVE the set up.

Megs1030- the freezer space is my main concern with the French door. Here’s a pic of the freezer

@Maria Rojas, I'm assuming that the clear basket on the left is the ice bucket? That's much smaller than the one that was in my fridge / freezer. So the design must have been updated since then. Still, the freezer drawers do not provide much storage

I just looked online at the side-by-side, better configuration in the freezer.... that would be my preference of the two.

Could you install the columns instead? I'm not sure if you've ever had a counter depth fridge before, but I promise things will not get hidden in the back. They simply aren't the same depth. If the containers are small, I can sometimes rest 2 on a shelf from front to back. But mostly, they are stacked in my fridge. I can fit a smaller jar in front of a gallon of milk, but could not stack 2 gallons of milk front to back (at least I don't think, I never have 2 gallons in my fridge).

@Maria Rojas, which fridge did you decide on? and do you like it?

We decided on the 42” French door. We haven’t completed the remodel- a lot of Covid-related delays but I will update with pictures etc once it’s all done

Did you pick SubZero? We're in the process of remodeling a house as well... So many options & so many opinions, making me so confused... My head is spinning on what to get

We LOVE our 42" French door SubZero. Ours is paneled, because the kitchen is open to the dining room, and I want the kitchen to "blend in" more with house and not stick out with tons of stainless. The quality is awesome, Wolf / SubZero customer service so far has been great, and I love the amount of room I have with the 42" French door (I'm a cook and keep our fridge busy). Good luck!

After 8 months of research and debate, we are replacing our counter depth, 42” 1994 GE Monogram SS w a 42” SZ French door. We predominantly consume a plant based diet, the 2 cubic feet of extra space on the fridge side was a major factor. I have a 36” 2007 full size LG FD in the mud room. I store the items in the freezer like a file cabinet. No issues with organization there 😊

I really wish the manufacturers would go back to this handle style!

I know it’s been forever that I posted this question but because of Covid, I ended up putting the remodel on hold. We picked it back up now and I thought I would update the post with the finished project

OP congrats on finishing your kitchen :)

i can’t tell from the pic which model refrig that is, looks like 42” (?)

Yes! We went with the 42” French door subzero. I couldn’t be happier. It was the perfect choice for us.

Maria Rojas your kitchen is beautiful! I'm about to purchase a SZ 48 inch french door. I haven't decided between stainless or paneled. Have you had any issues with scratches or denting on the stainless doors?

JJ thank you! I absolutely love the refrigerator. No scratches or dents and I have 3 kids 😂

It looks brand new still. They’re strong sturdy machines. In my personal experience no concerns on that front. Go for it! 😀

Maria Rojas, thank you so much for letting me know. I have 8 grandchildren ranging in age from 2 - 22 and while I've heard the SZ stainless doors are much more heavy duty than a lot of other brands, it's good to hear about real life experience. I've read quite a few complaints about Fisher & Paykel and Bosch stainless doors being easily scratched and dented. I just finished a 40 minute zoom meeting with our nearest SZ distributor, which is several hours drive from me. They have the new 48 inch French Door in their showroom and we went through all of it, including opening and closing all the doors and drawers. Either frig door can open or close independently of the other. The drawers on either side of the frig will open when the door on just that side is opened. The exterior doors and drawers looked pretty easily opened by the sales rep too. This is important for my aging, arthritic body. I love it!