Refrigerator Types: French Door, Side-by-Side, Column and Built-In

The refrigerator is the largest object in most kitchens and the one opened most often. Its type decides how much aisle its doors take, how the food inside is organized and how it meets the cabinets around it. This page compares the configurations. How deep a refrigerator should be is its own subject, covered under counter-depth, standard-depth and built-in refrigerators.

The types at a glance

Width classes are general categories. Actual width, height and depth vary by model, and the installation sheet for the specific model is the only document to draw cabinets from.

Freestanding types in daily use

Top freezer

The simplest design, with the fewest parts and the most usable volume for its outside dimensions. It fits narrower openings than any other full-size type, which makes it the natural choice for a small kitchen, a rental or a second refrigerator. The fresh-food compartment is below waist height, so the things you reach for most are the lowest.

Bottom freezer

The same footprint turned upside down. Fresh food sits at eye level and the freezer becomes a pull-out drawer. The single wide door needs a clear arc in front of it, so check it against the aisle and against any island.

French door

Two doors over a freezer drawer. Each door is half the width, so it projects less into the aisle, and the full-width shelves inside take trays and platters. Some models add a fourth door or a middle drawer with its own temperature setting, useful for drinks or children's snacks. Two things to check in a showroom: how well the center seal between the doors closes without a push, and how the freezer drawer is divided.

Side-by-side

Refrigerator on one side, freezer on the other, both full height. The doors are narrow, which helps in a galley or opposite an island, and frozen food is available at eye level. The price is width: neither compartment takes a large sheet pan or a wide platter easily. People who use the freezer as much as the refrigerator tend to like this type. People who entertain from the refrigerator often do not.

Built-in, integrated and columns

These three are installed into the cabinetry instead of standing in front of it.

• Built-in. A tall, shallow refrigerator with its compressor usually at the top or bottom behind a grille. It sits flush with the surrounding cabinet boxes. It may have a stainless front or accept panels, and the grille and hinges often stay visible.
• Integrated. Designed so that, with cabinet panels fitted, there is no visible grille and the door sits in the same plane as the cabinet doors beside it. The cabinet opening, panel sizes and reveals are specified tightly by the manufacturer.
• Columns. A refrigerator column and a freezer column sold separately, in several widths. They can stand together as one wide unit or apart, for example a refrigerator near the prep area and a freezer by the pantry. A third column for wine is common. See beverage centers and wine refrigerators for that side of things.

All three need secure anchoring against tipping, a cabinet surround built to the installation sheet, and a delivery path into the house that has been measured. JDI's article on panel-ready refrigerators explains how the cabinet panels are made and fitted, and the guide to appliance finishes covers what a stainless front looks like next to painted and wood cabinets.

Capacity and how to judge it

Capacity is quoted in cubic feet of interior volume, and the label figure counts space you cannot always use. Two refrigerators with the same number can hold very different amounts of real food, depending on shelf layout, door bin depth and how much the ice maker takes. Judge capacity with your own habits in mind:

• Bring a mental list of your awkward items: a sheet cake, a stock pot, tall bottles, a large pizza box.
• Check whether shelves adjust in small steps or only to a few fixed positions.
• Look at how much of the freezer is taken by the ice maker and bin.
• Ask yourself how often you shop. A household that shops twice a week needs less volume than one that shops twice a month.

Where the refrigerator goes

Type and position are chosen together. The refrigerator is usually placed at the end of a run, near the kitchen entrance, so someone fetching a drink does not cross the cook's path. It needs a landing counter within reach of the opening side. And its doors need to open fully without striking a wall, an oven handle or the island. In a narrow room this last point often decides the type: a French door or side-by-side clears an island that a single wide door would hit.

What to check on the spec sheet

• Width, height to the top of the case and to the top of the hinge, and depth with and without doors and handles.
• Required air clearances at the top, sides and rear.
• Door swing: the width of the appliance with doors open at 90 degrees, and the hinge-side clearance to a wall.
• Whether the hinges are reversible, on single-door types.
• Water line connection point and whether a filter is internal.
• Electrical requirements and receptacle location. Your electrician and the kitchen electrical code page cover the circuit.
• For built-in and integrated models: cutout dimensions, panel dimensions and weight limits, and anti-tip requirements.
• The EnergyGuide label and whether the model is ENERGY STAR certified.

Who should choose which

• Small kitchen or tight budget: top freezer or bottom freezer in a narrow width class.
• Family kitchen with an island: French door, for the narrow door swing and wide shelves.
• Galley or narrow aisle, heavy freezer use: side-by-side.
• Kitchen open to the living area, where the refrigerator is on view: built-in or integrated, so the appliance does not dominate the room.
• Large kitchen, serious cooking or entertaining: columns, sized to how much fresh and frozen food you really keep.
• Anyone who bends with difficulty: avoid the top freezer. A French door or side-by-side keeps daily items between knee and shoulder height.

Whichever type you settle on, it has to be chosen by model before the cabinets are drawn. The overview on choosing kitchen appliances explains the order of decisions. If you would like the options drawn into your own room, JDI Construction's team does that as part of design. Start at our Vancouver kitchen remodeling page.