I always thought the best thing about having the water and ice dispensers on the outside of the door was so you didn’t need to open the door?

Opening the door causes the temp inside to drop which makes the refrigerator work to lower the temp. That was what the sales pitch contained years ago.

We have a French Door and really like it.

We are a retired couple and ended up getting a French door fridge with water dispenser inside.
Pros: more storage capacity inside and a clean look outside.
Cons: you have to open the fridge each time you get a glass of water.

It does not bother us all that much, although it’s certainly not ideal. When we were a busy family of 4 with kids, their friends, guests, etc, I think it would have driven me nuts. I probably would not recommend it if you have children at home or entertain a lot.
For a quiet retired couple it’s doable. We were doing a retrofit, not a new build, so had to make some compromises.

Year's back we had the dispenser on the outside. I agree with Alicia when it was more of us.

But, I did feel it got dirty looking.

We now have a Bosch in Florida home.mwith dispenser inside. It doesn't bother me at. Yes you open a door but you just long glass.

Up north my fridge is Subzero. No dispenser. I have instant hot and cold on my sink.

Our outside door water dispenser got stuck when my DH went to fill his glass and flooded the kitchen. He was home alone at the time. The shutoff was in the basement so you can imagine how it went. Next refrig will not have one.

Our current fridge the water is not very cold so I tend to not use it. And even on our black fridge we get streaks that are hard to clean off from hard water.

When we were shopping our salesperson recommended against outside water/ice dispensers where the dispenser is in the refrigerator door (which is not the case on a side by side where it can be on the freezer door). Said most first year repair calls they got were for these dispensers. Issue is that the ice can melt slightly, stick together and jam the mechanism. We had never had or wanted one, so for us the water in fridge is a significant upgrade that we really enjoy.

We prefer water on the inside of the fridge and no ice dispenser. Actually, one of our houses has the Monogram auto-fill pitcher and I love that thing.

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@maddielee said, "Opening the door causes the temp inside to drop which makes the refrigerator work to lower the temp."

I think this is mostly a sales pitch. There is a lot of radiant mass in a full refrigerator and so it doesn't take that much energy to cool things after opening. IIRC refrigerators lose more energy through the poorly insulated ice dispensers than from regular opening. I am not 100% sure, so please don't take my word for it.

ETA: A few years ago our ice dispenser decided to randomly spit out one or two cubes of ice every few hours. Unfortunately, it made that decision while we were on vacation. We didn't realize we would be replacing hardwood flooring when we got back. What a treat!

I bought a Frigidaire 10 years ago and the water/ice dispenser on the door (french door model) and it worked for about a month or two. After several attempts to fix it, the service tech told us to just accept it....that it will always be a problem. What abcdlatham said is exactly true and exactly what our service tech told us. The ice slightly melts and they get jammed! I loathe my refrigerator and getting a new one soon...as soon as the supply chain issues go away. Oh...and yes, they drip and cause horrible hardwater marks. Don't ever get ice/water dispenser on a ref. door! (Freezer ok on side by side)..

We purchased an LG french door with ice maker in the door in 2019. We have had no triouble with the ice maker functioning, but it causes food to freeze or get ice crystals if placed in areas right behind ice maker. I've gotten used to it and watch what I store in that location.

We have had no trouble with the LG, but would probably get a single door if it were available in the size we need as I seem to always need to open both doors.

Just to add that I have had LG refrigerators for over 2 years without a problem and would not hesitate to buy another. I moved into a house with an LG French Door with ice and water dispensed from the outside, but I can't comment as I don't use them, and turned off the water to the fridge.

This is one of the reasons I have a 20th century fridge still. The spouse and I can't agree on inside vs outside dispenser. (I actually want no dispenser and a pitcher inside but I really got nowhere with that idea.)

So I keep my old fridge, which is slightly undersized for my family but by the time we replace it, the kids who have known it their entire lives will be in college and it'll be plenty large for the two of us who remain and I'll still not replace it. It'll keep working just fine and maybe I can be buried in it...unless it still is working and my future adult grandkids will fight over it.

We have a Kitchen Aid with the dispenser inside and the ice maker tray in the freezer. We specifically did not want an outside dispenser for reasons of mostly looks. This was a good decision for us-- we don't find it inconvenient to open the refrigerator to get water or the freezer to get ice. The door isn't open long enough for the temperature to drop, and at this point in our lives an outside unit would be one more thing to have to tell young grandchildren not to play with.

When we decided we wanted to run our site-finished hardwoods right through the kitchen I read up on primary causes of kitchen floor water damage, and decided we would not install a water line for our fridge at all. Perfectly good water comes right out of the tap three steps away and we make ice the old fashioned way which takes about 30 seconds. Two years in and no regrets. I recognize we have the good fortune to live somewhere with pretty good-tasting municipal water, though. I noticed @Toronto Veterinarian has taken a similar approach, and assuming that username is truthful we are on the same municipal water system. For those who do want to filter their drinking water though, there are other solutions that can be applied at the sink.

I can't speak for the LG, I've never bought one of their products (although my service person does tell me he thinks they got the energy efficient washing machines right compared to some of the others ;0))

I've had the Kitchen Aid french door with inside dispenser and in freezer ice maker for about 5 years. I'm perfectly happy with it, no issues at all. There was no line to the refer in this house when we bought it....I didn't miss having one. But several months after buying that refer, I did have our plumber come and put in the water line. We don't seem to use a lot of ice, and our water quality good from the tap - it's just one small thing to not have to remember with ice being automatically made and bin refilled.

I have a Kitchen Aid with a bottom freezer drawer (icemaker inside), french door fridge doors, and a water dispenser inside the fridge. It's probably the same one @morz8 - Washington Coast has. I got it in 2017. I don't mind at all opening the door to get to the water dispenser. I've always avoided fridges with the water/ice dispensers in the doors. They always seem to go south at some point with bad motors, leaking seals, or just the plastic trim not holding up, or yellowing (on white fridges).

I have the GE Cafe with the internal water dispenser and I love it. I don't like the external dispensers for looks and I find it weirdly unsanitary. I am a germaphobe so that is probably just me.

I have no experience with an internal water dispenser, but I absolutely hate it on the outside. We have a french door fridge with no water dispenser on outside. No water dispenser at all. Icemaker on inside. I mostly prefer room temp water or if I do want it cold, I want ice. The Mr. keeps bottled water in the fridge. Good luck!

We have a French door refrigerator with water inside which I never use. I just fill up from the tap, and if I want it cold I add a couple of ice cubes.

"I noticed @Toronto Veterinarian has taken a similar approach, and assuming that username is truthful we are on the same municipal water system."

I lived in Toronto until recently; now I'm out of the city and on a private well for water. But I agree with you about the risks of a water line to the fridge, even if I didn't drink water from the tap. The unused dispensers on the front of the unit aren't enough to entice me to replace an otherwise well-working fridge, so I just shut the water line down. When I do replace it, my next fridge will not have ice or water dispensers.

Our LG died after 5 years, the compressor was bad. It’s a known problem and they drag out and torment you without fixing anything. Our appliance guy said the are still selling them knowing the compressors are junk. There were not a lot of choices for in stock but we purchased Frigidaire and are very happy with it. Bottom freezer, French door top. We do not use the water dispenser and very little ice. I would have bought without either but no in stock options. Prefer a better water treatment option.

I’ve had three refrigerators in the last 20+ years with ice and water on the door - never have had a problem.

I've had an LG FD fridge for about six years and love it. I have no dispensers however - just the ice maker in the drawer.

Timely topic for me. My 11 year old side by side failed on Monday and I've been out shopping. Think I want a French door and no outside water or ice. But the more I look the more confused I get. I need counter depth and then if I don't want ice or water on the outside, my choices are limited. And some of the brands are impossible to get right now.

I don't have to have cold water, but my husband does. So we've just had a water pitcher in the fridge and he has gotten used to it and isn't complaining.

This fridge had a pretty early failure on the outside part, but it continued to make ice that we could reach in and get. Eventually that quit working too. It started on the outside with ice not stopping. Water still stopped for awhile and then it eventually quit stopping too.

I usually put a sign out to tell my children or grandchildren not to use it. But one Christmas dinner I forgot and one the children went to get water during dinner and it didn't stop running and we had water everywhere. We finally got it to stop by pulling out the fridge, unplugged it for a few minutes, and then when we plugged it didn't start again.

@Trapped The issue I found with counter depth was that the freezer was so small. The LG's I narrowed it down to are not as shallow as counter depth but not as deep as a true full depth one.

I purchased the no water or ice in the door model today and will have it next Friday. Here's to hoping it doesn't stick out far enough to bother us and we get used to the french door aspect!

I love the counter depth and dont feel like the freezer is too small. howrver however, its only the two of us.

ker9, I think LG corrected the problem after the lawsuit on the LGs. I got that impression from listening to Yale appliance reviews on youtube

We have an LG French door counterdepth fridge going on 9 years. We really like the fridge except for the in the door icemaker. The ice melts and refreezes inside and we constantly have to bang on the thing or remove the ice bucket inside to loosen up the cubes. The lever you need to press on with your glass to get water or ice looks like a mess. All scratched up. Our next fridge will not have ice or water in the door.

Do the research. #1 mechanical failure on a 'fridge' is the icemaker water dispenser. Ours began freezing up so the water no longer flowed. DH had to install a jerry rigged fan found on Youtube someone invented to 'fix' the issue. Be aware a modern refrigerator with all hits compliance regulations will not last more than 5-7 years. If your present 'fridge works every other way I would purchase some ice trays. But then I don't really use ice.

We have the counter depth french door with water dispenser inside and ice maker in the freezer on the bottom. No issues with it at all. We like the fact that the doors don't stick out so far when opened so it's easier to get by and that everything is at eye level...we are in the freezer far less often, so bending over to get something is less of an issue. We have the cabinet door fronts attached to the fridge so the ice/water dispenser would've really ruined the seamless front we wanted. I believe ours is jenn air, have had it for 12 years now and still going strong.

The only pain is it's a reach to clean out the bottom freezer...have to take all the baskets and such out to get into the freezer cavity to wipe it down. But admittedly, we don't do it that often.

We moved into this house in 1993 with a GE side by side REGULAR SIZE white fridge with the silver trim around the edge that we had purchase in 1983. It did not stick out at all. I mention the silver because it separated the fridge from my white cupboards and so it didn't bother me about the whites not matching. About 1996, not realizing and not checking the sizes carefully enough I didn't realize the regular size then meant it was much deeper than my old 1983 fridge. The new fridge was a big mistake. The cool white next to the warm white cupboard looked horrible. And it stuck way out in the isle, not leaving the right spacing between the fridge and my island. The store wouldn't let me return the fridge. I lived with it for about 6 years, wincing every time I went into the kitchen. So I finally couldn't stand it and bought a SS side by side which is now broken. I have not found it too small except at Christmas time on the fridge side when I have a houseful of company. It is just the two of us now and I'm not the type to let leftovers stay in the fridge very long. . If they don't get eaten quickly , out they go.

if you look at CR, the most reliable and most energy efficient are the old fashioned 2 door fridge with the top freezer. This same style with the freezer on the bottom is slightly less reliable and energy efficient on some models.. Then the side by sides and French door styles take a pretty big drop on energy efficiency and reliability.

Ice maker problems are repairable. Less cost than a new refrigerator even if the entire ice maker must be replaced. Sounds like this is the first failure of the 11yo appliance? Consider repairing what you have instead of buying a new refrigerator.

No experience with the LG, but going on 4 1/2 years with a GE Profile counter depth FD fridge with interior water. I thought the interior water would be a pain, but it's not. I can operate it with one hand, holding the cup with my index finger free to push the button. It's as much effort as open the door/ push the button, and how hard is that? Opening the door doesn't seem to affect the fridge temp. The one drawback is it's awkward to fill a pitcher or coffee carafe. The ice in the freezer is easy to get to, and makes a plentiful supply. We were surprised that we didn't miss a through the door ice & water dispenser like we thought we would.

Re counter depth French door: I was coming from a 29 cu ft side by side. Fridge construction has changed so that the larger fridges won't fit through our doorways anymore. (The box size is constructed larger than when I bought my side by side in 2003.) So I had to downsize to a 23 cu ft counter depth. I'm surprised how much food it holds. The interior storage is much more efficient & flexible than my old side by side. I do put foods in stackable storage containers & rearrange them periodically, but that means food doesn't get shoved to the back & forgotten. Less waste. The new fridge is so easy to keep clean: easy to reach into, good lighting to see by, easy to remove a shelf or bin for spot cleaning. The freezer is easy to disassemble & clean too. Easy to keep organized. It also holds more than it looks like it would.

Re: cabinet depth refrigerators - whoever did the cabinets for our house (and they're not high end) fortunately made the fridge surround about four inches deeper than the adjacent cabinets so you can fit a full-size fridge in there and it doesn't stick out. I can't for the life of me figure out why that is not standard procedure. I see so many real estate listings with the fridge sticking out about four inches. There are just two of us and there's no way I could get by with a counter depth fridge but the sticking out would bug me. We have one at our lake cabin but we also have a garage fridge running in the summer.

2katz4me, Our cabinet people and carpenter did the same with our full size refrigerator and it looks great-doesn't stick out. It's also just the two of us and in order to have space for another bank of drawers, we had to go with a 33" instead of a regular 36", so a counter depth would have really limited our refrigerator space.

We wanted a full-depth fridge and were going to recess it into the wall so it wouldn't stick out, but then the location of the fridge and the way the wall ended on the other side made that not possible, so we settled for the counter depth and it's not as bad as I feared.