Choosing a refrigerator, then, is really a matter of how well it fits your space, your budget and your aesthetic, as well as how it functions in your life. There are top or bottom freezers, side-by-side doors and French door models available from nearly every major brand in various sizes. Ice and water dispensers have become commonplace, and now there are more bells and whistles such as Wi-Fi connectivity, smart features and technology that make it possible to see inside the fridge without ever opening the door.
Size: Nailing the right size fridge is the most important decision you’ll make. There’s nothing worse than consistently running out of cold storage for perishables and frozen food, but sometimes you only have so much space to work with. The capacity of your refrigerator is going to be necessarily limited by the boundaries of your space. You can always get less fridge for the space that you have but don’t learn the hard way that a sturdy, boxy appliance like a refrigerator isn’t going to magically squeeze into less space than it requires, even if it’s only a matter of a quarter-inch. Refrigerator widths range from 24 inches to 36 inches and up, with 30-inch and 36-inch models being the most popular and most numerous.
Once you know your maximum measurements, considerations such as layout and standard- versus counter-depth will affect the overall capacity of your refrigerator. You will typically pay more for a counter-depth fridge, which creates a streamlined aesthetic in your kitchen, even though it will get you less storage space.
Style: The style and layout of your fridge are also big considerations to make.
- French door models are currently the most popular kind of refrigerator, which have a clean look and also tend to maintain temperature better, as you’re not necessarily opening the full width of the fridge every time you want to grab something.
- Bottom freezers tend to offer you a little more freezer storage than top freezers, which may be a consideration if your lifestyle leans toward frozen convenience meals. If you reach for the fridge more than the freezer, some also like that bottom freezers allow for more interaction at eye level with the items you grab most often. Top-freezer models still exist but have mostly gone out of fashion.
- Side-by-side refrigerators offer a sleek choice for a narrower space and give you more freezer space than top/bottom models. That also means they tend to have less room for non-frozen foods, and can also be less temperature-consistent and energy-efficient due to the length required to maintain two different temperature zones.
- Counter-depth refrigerators are less deep than a standard refrigerator, so they won’t jut out as much and can give your kitchen a more custom feel. Because of that, they’re often a bit wider or taller to make up for the lost capacity in depth. A standard countertop is about 24 inches, and counter-depth refrigerators measure 31 to 33 inches deep.
Special features: All those little extras like an automatic ice maker and water filter and touch-view door are nice but they cost extra. If you are an ice fiend you might want to spring for a fridge that makes custom ice, for instance. If not, opt for a more basic fridge with less special features and spend your kitchen money elsewhere.
LG’s pricey MoodUp fridge has all the bells and whistles including lighted panels that you can coordinate with music.
Price: Full-sized refrigerators start around $600 and go up from there — way up. There are smart fridges with lighting schemes, transparent doors and built-in cameras but these will cost you many thousands of dollars. Most quality refrigerators land somewhere between $800 and $2,500 so be prepared to shell out something in that range for a reliable model with good design and sufficient capacity.
