Advantages & Disadvantages of French Door Refrigerators
Introduction
Bigger refrigerators are becoming the norm even in cities. Among big refrigerators, French door refrigerators are on the trend since they offer so much and look amazing at the same time. If your old fridge is broken, you can get it fixed by a professional by searching for “refrigerator repair near me”. If you’re in the market for a new refrigerator, the pros and cons of a French door refrigerator may help with your decision. Let’s check them out:
The Advantages of French Door Refrigerators
- Easy access to food – French door refrigerators are large, extremely large. They are the largest fridge you can buy unless you opt for a custom-made refrigerator that fits in your cabinet. When you have such a large refrigerator, everything is within sight as soon as you open the doors.
Unless you don’t stock up your refrigerator, or like to eat fresh produce every day, this is a feature that’s not available with normal refrigerators. French door refrigerators have larger doors, wider baskets, and bigger door bins. It also boasts a better layout for both accessibility and visibility. That’s why you’re able to easily spot the things you want and also access them with ease.
- No banged cabinets – Side door refrigerators have a major disadvantage. The doors only open one way and that means if you’re forced to keep your refrigerator beside your cabinet in a certain direction the doors bang the cabinet every time you open the refrigerator. This inflicts damage on both the refrigerator door and cabinet and makes you spend more on repairs.
With a French door refrigerator, this isn’t an issue. You can easily open the doors in either direction. Moreover, they have a few extra inches of depth that allow for a tighter angle of rotation and keep your door away from the beautifully finished kitchen cabinets.
- Wider shelves and drawers – This one is pretty obvious. French door refrigerators are wider and deeper than regular refrigerators and that allows for wider shelves and drawers. Everyone could use more room in the refrigerator and take advantage of that extra space for storing large dishes without a hassle.
- More space on the top shelf – Due to the larger width, French door refrigerators also boast more shelf space. With wider door bins and wider shelves, the refrigerator can be configured more optimally. Moreover, French door refrigerators usually come with a modular orientation that lets you adjust the space according to your needs. That means you can adjust the height of the top shelf to fit taller items easily.
- Large Door Bins – With regular refrigerators, the doors aren’t just smaller, but have smaller door bins. That makes you unnecessarily use up existing condiments to fit in new ones or simply throw old condiments away even when they are perfectly fit for consumption. This changes with the French door refrigerator.
Some French door refrigerators are so big that they can even fit gallon jugs in the door bins. This allows more space on the shelves for other ingredients. You can even fit large wine and champagne bottles in the door bins without a hassle.
- Deep drawer freezer – You may not have a lot of frozen goods. However, everyone likes to stock up on a few packs of boxed frozen meals that can be used while late-night binging. The deeper freezer drawer accommodates them all. You also get a larger chill drawer that sits right above the freezer and can be customized according to your needs.
You can change the temperature in this drawer independent from the rest of the fridge to keep anything from slushies to ice creams cool. You can store every item that needs to stay cooler than the rest of the refrigerator, but not cold like the freezer.
The Disadvantages of French Door Refrigerators
- Too big to fit – As mentioned above numerous times, French door refrigerators are big. Sometimes they can be too big, and the advantage comes back to bite you. For instance, if you live on rent and your kitchen has a designated space for the refrigerator, you may not be able to fit in a large French door refrigerator.
Moreover, there are plenty of restrictions on changes that can be made in a rented apartment. Even if you were a homeowner, you would be hard-pressed to make expensive layout changes just to fit in a refrigerator. That kind of modification is usually reserved for extensive renovation.
- Energy Hungry – A large French door refrigerator has a ton of space and plenty of useful features. However, those advantages can quickly become a disadvantage when they hog up a lot of energy. Even the most efficient French door refrigerator would have higher operational costs compared to a single door refrigerator.
That’s why you should assess whether your home needs all that extra refrigerator space instead of buying into the hype. While a French door refrigerator is perfect for a family of four, it may not be ideal for a two-person household.
- May not suit your kitchen style – If you have a modern kitchen with sleek styling and generous use of chrome and steel, a French door refrigerator would fit right in. However, a French door refrigerator isn’t suitable for anyone who doesn’t have a modern kitchen.
For instance, if you have a contemporary or retro theme going on in your kitchen, the French door refrigerator would completely destroy the look and stand out in the ugliest way possible. Its premium brushed aluminum finish would look tacky instead of refined when matched with the bright hues of your retro kitchen.
Conclusion
From style to function and space, French door refrigerators offer a lot. However, those advantages can also come back to bite you when your fridge doesn’t fit properly in the kitchen or when those extra features use more power. You may buy a new French door refrigerator or consider fixing your old fridge by searching for “refrigerator repair near me” and hiring professionals.
