For most kitchens, the best side-by-side refrigerator is a 36-inch-wide, 25–27 cu ft model with a through-the-door ice and water dispenser and an in-door ice maker — that configuration gives you the most usable freezer shelf space per dollar, and it’s the class that owner-reliability surveys most often leave off their complaint lists. If your alcove is narrower than 34 inches, drop to the 33-inch, 22 cu ft class rather than forcing a full-width unit into a space it can’t ventilate in. A note up front, because of how people find this page: this article is independent and is not affiliated with Consumer Reports, does not reproduce their ratings, and is not a substitute for their testing — what follows is the comparison framework and the numbers you need to judge any model yourself, using the same attributes those surveys measure.
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Quick comparison: four side-by-side classes worth shortlisting
Brands change model numbers every year or two, so compare by class. Every major manufacturer — GE, LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Bosch — builds at least one current model in each row below; confirm the exact figures on the manufacturer’s spec sheet for the model year you’re buying.
| Pick | Best for | Typical key specs | Market price range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall | 2–4 person households with a 38-in alcove | 36 in W × 69–70 in H × 33–34 in D with handles; 25.5–27 cu ft total (≈15.5 fresh food / ≈10.5 freezer); in-door ice maker, 2.5–4 lb/day; dual evaporator | Usually $1,400–$2,200 |
| Best for narrow kitchens | Galley kitchens, condo alcoves 33–35 in wide | 33 in W × 66–67 in H × 31 in D; 21.5–22.5 cu ft total (≈13.5 / ≈8.5); ice maker often optional | Usually $1,100–$1,700 |
| Best budget | Rentals, second fridges, garage setups | 36 in W × 69 in H × 33 in D; 24.5–25.5 cu ft; in-freezer ice maker, 3–5 lb/day and 8–11 lb storage | Usually $900–$1,300 |
| Best counter-depth | Shallow 24-in cabinet runs, open-plan kitchens | 36 in W × 70 in H × 27–29 in D with handles (23.5–25 in cabinet); 22–23 cu ft; in-door ice | Usually $2,300–$3,800 |
Best overall: the 36-inch, 26–27 cu ft class with in-door ice
This is the shape most people should buy. You get a fresh-food compartment at eye level, a freezer you reach into without bending, and roughly 26 cu ft of advertised volume in a footprint that fits a standard 36-inch cabinet cutout. The in-door ice maker matters more than it sounds: moving the ice bin out of the freezer shelves frees about 3–4 cu ft of stackable freezer space, which is the single biggest usability difference between two refrigerators with identical stickers. Look for a dual-evaporator design (separate evaporators for fresh food and freezer), which keeps freezer air from drying out produce, and a sealed-system parts warranty of at least five years. The trade-off is width: each compartment is a narrow column, so wide platters and frozen pizza boxes become a real problem — see the capacity math below.
Best for narrow kitchens: 33-inch, 22 cu ft
If the alcove is 33–35 inches, this is your only honest option; shimming a 36-inch unit into a 34-inch opening blocks the condenser airflow and voids nothing on paper but shortens the compressor’s life in practice. You give up about 3.5 cu ft versus the 36-inch class and usually lose the door-mounted ice dispenser on the cheapest trims — many 33-inch models put the ice maker in the freezer instead. Suits small households, one-person kitchens, and anyone who values being able to open both doors fully in a tight galley. The trade-off is price per cubic foot: you typically pay 10–15% more per cu ft than you would for a full-width unit.
Best budget: 25 cu ft with an in-freezer ice maker
The sub-$1,300 side-by-side has not changed much in a decade, and that’s the point — fewer electronics, no dispenser in the door, and an ice maker in the freezer that owners report as slightly less failure-prone than in-door units. It suits rentals, second refrigerators, and anyone who wants maximum cubic feet per dollar and doesn’t care about filtered water. The trade-off: no through-the-door water, a smaller ice reserve that refills slower during parties, and usually no dual evaporator, so freezer odors migrate more readily. If it’s going in a garage, check for an ambient rating — most refrigerators are only rated for rooms above 55°F, and “garage ready” models are rated down to roughly 38°F.
Best counter-depth: 36-inch, 22–23 cu ft
Counter-depth means the cabinet is 23.5–25 inches deep instead of 28–31, so the fridge sits closer to flush with your counters instead of jutting 6 inches into the walkway. It’s the right call when the refrigerator faces a sightline from the living room or sits at the end of a cabinet run. You pay for it twice: roughly $800–$1,500 more than a same-capacity standard-depth unit, and you lose 2–3 cu ft of interior volume to the shallower box. Suits open-plan homes and anyone whose kitchen aisle is under 42 inches wide. The trade-off is that the deeper shelves you gave up are exactly the ones that hold sheet pans and bulk frozen goods.
Usable capacity: the arithmetic that matters more than the sticker
Advertised capacity is gross interior volume, measured with nothing in the box. Here’s a worked example for a typical 25.6 cu ft side-by-side: fresh food 15.4 cu ft, freezer 10.2 cu ft. The in-door ice bin and its auger occupy about 0.6 cu ft of the freezer’s usable envelope, and the compressor hump plus drawer slides eat roughly 0.4 cu ft more — so plan on about 9.2 cu ft of freezer volume you can actually stack boxes into. Now compare a French-door with the same 25.6 cu ft advertised: roughly 17.6 cu ft fresh food, 8.0 cu ft freezer, and only about 0.3 cu ft lost to an in-freezer ice bin.
The number that decides whether you’ll be happy, though, is compartment width, not volume. A 36-inch side-by-side’s fresh-food interior is about 14.5–15.5 inches wide; the freezer is about 9.5–10.5 inches. That means a 12-inch frozen pizza box fits in the fresh-food section and a 16-inch one does not fit anywhere in the refrigerator. A standard half-sheet pan (18 × 13 in) fits in no side-by-side compartment at full size; quarter sheets (13 × 9 in) do. Measure your two or three bulkiest recurring items — a sheet cake, a turkey roaster, a large pizza box — and compare them against those widths before you buy, because this is the constraint that makes people regret a side-by-side.
Dimensions: a five-number fit check
- Alcove width: a 36-inch unit’s body measures 35.5–36.25 in. Allow 1 in on each side for door swing and airflow, so you want 38 in. A 33-inch unit needs about 35 in.
- Clear path width: the narrowest point on the delivery route must be at least 36.5 in for a 36-inch unit. Removing the doors and handles reduces depth, not width — a 32-inch doorway is a hard stop.
- Height: 68.5–70.9 in for full-size; leave 1 in above for the hinge and for levelling on an uneven floor.
- Depth: 33–35 in with doors and handles on a standard-depth unit, 27–29 in for counter-depth. Add 1–2 in behind for the water line and air gap.
- Door swing: each door is roughly 17–19 in wide and needs about 90–110° of opening to pull the freezer baskets and crisper drawers, so keep about 19 in of clear floor in front.
Ice and water: where the money and the service calls go
- Ice production: in-door makers typically produce 2.5–4 lb/day and store 4–6 lb; in-freezer makers produce 3–5 lb/day and store 8–11 lb; dual-ice-maker models combine both for roughly 7–9 lb/day. A party that goes through 20 lb of ice will outrun a single in-door maker.
- Filtration: look for NSF/ANSI 42, 53 and 401 certification on the filter. Replace every 6 months or 200–300 gallons, whichever comes first — filters usually run $40–$70, so budget $80–$140 a year.
- Water line: most units use a 1/4-in compression or push-to-connect line. Leave about 36 in of slack behind the unit and keep a shutoff valve within 6 ft.
First-24-hour setup, and the reason for each step
- Stand it upright for 4 hours before plugging in if it was ever laid flat — compressor oil needs to drain back into the sump or you risk a seized compressor.
- Set fresh food to 37°F and freezer to 0°F (the FDA-recommended holding temperatures) and let it run empty for 24 hours. Loading a warm box makes the compressor run continuously and can freeze produce near the vents.
- Run 2 gallons through the water dispenser and discard the first 2–3 ice batches. New filters shed carbon fines, and new ice makers carry manufacturing residue.
- Check door alignment against the cabinet line after it’s loaded — a fully stocked door sags, and a 1/4-in misalignment is usually a 10-minute hinge adjustment rather than a service call.
Reliability: how to use Consumer Reports-style data without a subscription
Independent publications like Consumer Reports build reliability estimates from member surveys of what actually broke, which is a different and more useful signal than a spec sheet. You can approximate the same read from any model’s owner reviews by searching for the failure points that recur across brands: ice maker auger motors and frozen fill tubes, water inlet valves, defrost heaters and thermistors, and main control boards. Compressor failures are rarer but the most expensive to fix. Published owner surveys generally put side-by-side service life at 10–15 years, with the ice maker often the first failure somewhere around years 5–8.
That gives you a way to price an extended warranty rather than guess. An ice maker or inlet-valve repair typically runs $250–$450 including labor. If you assume a 1-in-5 chance of one such repair in the first three years — a reasonable planning figure, not a prediction — the expected cost is 0.2 × $350 ≈ $70. A $180–$250 three-year plan is only good value if it covers parts and labor on the sealed system, which is the failure that actually hurts. Check the manufacturer’s own warranty first: five years on sealed-system parts is common, and some brands go to ten or twelve on parts only.
Decision matrix: match your kitchen to a class
| Your situation | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Alcove 38 in+, household of 2–4 | 36-in, 25–27 cu ft, in-door ice | Best capacity per dollar; in-door ice frees ~3–4 cu ft of freezer shelving |
| Alcove 33–35 in | 33-in, 22 cu ft | The only class that fits with proper airflow; expect a 10–15% price-per-cu-ft penalty |
| Cabinet run 24–25 in deep, or fridge faces a sightline | 36-in counter-depth, 22–23 cu ft | Near-flush look; costs $800–$1,500 more and 2–3 cu ft |
| You buy bulk frozen food, sheet pans or 16-in pizzas | Not a side-by-side — consider French-door or top-freezer | A 9.5–10.5 in freezer column and a 14.5–15.5 in fresh-food column can’t take wide items |
| Second fridge in an unheated garage | Budget 25 cu ft with a “garage ready” ambient rating | Most refrigerators are only rated above 55°F ambient; garage-ready models go to ~38°F |
| You mostly eat fresh, rarely frozen | 36-in side-by-side with in-door ice | Eye-level fresh food and a small freezer is the right shape for that diet |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “best side by side refrigerator consumer reports” actually tell me?
Consumer Reports is an independent, subscription-funded publication that combines member reliability surveys with its own lab testing, and its ratings are one input among several. This article is not affiliated with it and does not reproduce its scores. The most useful thing that kind of data gives you is a failure-rate pattern by brand and by feature — particularly around ice makers — which you can then check against owner reviews for the specific model you’re considering.
How much usable space do I lose with a side-by-side versus a French-door refrigerator?
At the same advertised capacity, expect roughly 2 cu ft less fresh-food volume, because the side-by-side splits the width into two narrow columns and gives the freezer a larger share. You gain easier reach-in access to the freezer. The bigger practical loss is item width: about 14.5–15.5 in in the fresh-food section versus roughly 24 in in a French-door.
Do in-door ice makers fail more often than in-freezer ones?
Owner surveys and service-forum patterns generally show more service calls on in-door dispensers, since they add an auger motor, a dispenser actuator and a longer water path that can freeze. The payoff is real, though: moving the ice bin into the door frees about 3–4 cu ft of freezer shelving. If reliability is your priority over convenience, the in-freezer design is the lower-risk choice.
What’s the minimum alcove width for a 36-inch side-by-side?
Plan on 38 inches: the body is 35.5–36.25 in wide, and you want about an inch on each side so the doors open fully and the condenser can breathe. Separately, the narrowest point on the delivery path must be at least 36.5 in, because removing the doors reduces depth, not width.
Are counter-depth side-by-side refrigerators worth the extra money?
They’re worth it when the refrigerator is visible from a living area or sits at the end of a cabinet run, where 6 in of protrusion is the thing you notice every day. They’re usually not worth it purely for storage, since you pay $800–$1,500 more and give up 2–3 cu ft. Check the actual depth with handles fitted — many “counter-depth” units still measure 27–29 in.
How long should a side-by-side refrigerator last?
Published owner surveys generally put service life at 10–15 years, with the ice maker the most likely early failure around years 5–8. Sealed-system parts warranties commonly run five years, and some brands extend to ten or twelve on parts only, so read what the warranty excludes before deciding whether an extended plan is worth buying.
