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Reviewed / Michael Elderbee
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Credit:
Reviewed / Michael Elderbee
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
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This model offers substantial storage, excellent temperature control, and a cleverly designed beverage center. Read More
The Frigidaire FRSS2623AS is a great value. This side-by-side has solid temperatures, lots of storage, and a through-the-door dispenser. Read More
We rarely see a side-by-side with such high consumer ratings. This one is loved for its roomy feel, PowerCold feature, and beautiful blue interior. Read More
If you are looking for an excellent fridge with tons of storage and won't miss smart features, the Samsung RS27T5200SR is a great place to start. Read More
The Frigidaire Gallery GRSC2352AF has steady temperatures, a through-the-door dispenser, and ethylene gas filters to keep your veggies fresh. Read More
While they may not be as grand as French-door refrigerators, the best side-by-side refrigerators offer elements like through-the-door water and ice dispensers and smart features, often at a more affordable price.
The structure of side-by-side refrigerators is unique from other styles, with tall compartments for both the fridge and the freezer.
After testing so many refrigerators of all styles, our favorite side-by-side on the market is the Samsung Bespoke RS28CB7600 (available at Samsung) . It has lots of modern features, excellent temperature consistency, and impressive storage capacity while still being a great value.
The Samsung Bespoke RS28CB7600 is the best side-by-side refrigerator we've tested.
The Maytag MRSC6636RZ is one of the highest consumer-rated side-by-side fridges we've encountered in our refrigerator evaluations.
Steady temperatures
Lots of storage
Shelves and bins don't have many options for repositioning
Excellent smart features
Stable fridge temperatures
Tons of storage space
Few storage customization options
Inconsistent freezer temperatures
Interior organization options with adjustable shelves
Lots of deep storage on fridge door
Crisper drawers are not humidity-controlled
Before purchasing a refrigerator, it's important to determine which type best fits your needs.
Side-by-side refrigerators: These fridges, which typically position the freezer on the left and refrigerator on the right in a one-third/two-thirds configuration, can often fit in spaces with less door clearance. This style often has more technical freezer capacity, although the narrow shelving presents problems for storing items like pizza boxes and baking trays.
French door refrigerators: This style offers a modern look, wide shelves for storage, a reach-in drawer freezer, and many feature options, but they often are more expensive than other types of fridges, and freezer space may be limited.
Top freezer refrigerators: The old-school classic style, these are diminishing in popularity for a reason. They may be less expensive, but they’re harder to organize and the low fridge placement is much harder to see into, potentially increasing food waste. Some might also find them lacking in the aesthetics department.
Bottom freezer refrigerator: These fridges are the reverse of a top freezer, with a single refrigerator door, and a pull-out freezer drawer. This puts your fresh food at eye level, and typically comes with better organizational options. This style freezer typically has more storage space and better organization as well, but you’ll have to bend over to access it.
If door clearance is an issue, a side-by-side fridge may be a good solution, as the doors are narrower so don’t take up as much space in the kitchen when open.
The tall, narrow interior set-up of a side-by-side refrigerator can cause storage complications. If you need space for things like frozen pizzas or serving trays, you may have to reorganize or remove shelves, or consider a different fridge style. However, some side-by-sides offer storage solutions that alleviate those issues, such as the wider freezer in the Whirlpool WRS321SDHZ.
A side by side could be a good option for people who plan out their meals or have lots of leftovers, as stackable containers can be easily seen in most models.
Extras like through-the-door water and ice, or the more updated interior water dispenser and beverage centers, unique finishes, and smart connectivity all add value to a side-by-side refrigerator.
You’ll find most modern refrigerators come, at a minimum, with door-open alerts, but most have some level of smart features that increase energy efficiency and user-friendliness.
Organizing a side-by-side refrigerator efficiently helps food last longer, reduces waste, and makes meal times easier. Here are a few tips to remember when organizing your refrigerator.
Group by zones: Assign specific sections for dairy, meats, condiments, snacks, and produce (typically in crisper drawers). For example, use the upper shelves for ready-to-eat items and the lower shelves for raw ingredients. For food safety, be sure to store fresh food above raw meats and items that need to be cooked.
Use Clear Bins and Baskets: Invest in stackable, clear containers to corral similar small items (like yogurt cups, deli meats, or snacks). Label them, if necessary, for quick access.
Follow the Cold Air Flow: In most side-by-side refrigerators, the colder zones are toward the back and bottom. Store meats and perishables in these areas. Even though doors are equipped with gallon-size bins, it may be best to keep temperature-sensitive items like milk away from the door.
Ideally, your side-by-side fridge should be exactly 37°F and your freezer should be 0°F, from top to bottom.
If your fridge drops to 32°F—just 5°F below the ideal temperature—some food in your refrigerator will start to freeze. On the other hand, temperatures of 40°F and higher are dangerous. That's the temperature at which bacteria start to proliferate quickly.
If your freezer gets warmer than 0°F, it means your food isn't being truly frozen. Consistency is key: if temperatures in your freezer bounce around, freezer burn can become a huge issue.
Maintaining good air flow is particularly important in a side-by-side refrigerator and freezer because the columnar design can make it challenging for the appliance to maintain consistent temperatures throughout.
While the lifespan of any appliance can vary wildly due to several factors, you should expect your fridge to last about 10 years.
Most manufacturers will at least cover the first year in a refrigerator warranty. Some companies will offer more robust programs that will cover specific parts up to five years, 10 years, or for the lifetime of the product.
There are options of side-by-side refrigerators from nearly every manufacturer, and the experts are all nearly as varied in their opinions on what’s the best side-by-side fridge. To save you some time and trouble, we’ve gone ahead and done the research for you.
User comments around the best side-by-side refrigerators display the typical vitriol of brand preferences and appliance shopping headaches. We’re pulling these user reviews from some of the largest consumer sites and appliance retailers.
AJ Madison: Side-by-side fridges are often rated lower than other fridge styles, but customers at this giant online appliance retailer give our favorite side-by-side fridge, the Samsung RS28CB7600, an average of 4.6 stars, which is on par with many of the highest rated fridges at AJ Madison.
Lowe’s: The Hisense HRS290P5FSE is exclusive to Lowe’s and has garnered a four-star average rating from consumers reviewing their purchase. Owners are happy with the large capacity, adjustable storage features, and modern design.
We’ve tested side-by-side fridges in our labs for many years, paying special attention to any temperature variation within the fridge and freezer compartments, as their columnar design can allow warm spots to form. Our metrics create a comparable landscape of the fridges we test—and it's what we base our rankings on.
In addition to scientific testing, we also use appliances as normal people would in the course of their daily lives, which means that we have a great sense for what refrigerators are bargains at their price points, and which have really useful extra features.
Reach more about our scientific approach to testing refrigerators.
Our refrigerator lab keeps both temperature and humidity levels even, to ensure our results are comparable all year, regardless of external conditions.
To judge overall performance, we measure each refrigerator in five areas:
1. Temperature. Our ideal temperature setting for the fridge is 37°F. As 40°F is the start of the bacteria “danger zone”, fridge temperatures higher than 37° and you may have to start worrying about bacteria growth. With freezers, our ideal temperature is 0°F because food isn’t properly frozen at temperatures higher than that. Once each refrigerator is at those temperatures, we collect data over our week of testing to tells us how close the fridge and freezer are to ideal temperatures and how close the air temperature stayed to those values.
2. Humidity loss. Fridges need to strike a balance with humidity—leafy greens will dry out in a crisper that loses too much humidity, but too much humidity will cause fruit to rot. During testing, we add water to a floral foam ball, and measure how quickly it dries in a refrigerator’s veggie crisper.
3. Freezing time. Once a refrigerator is plugged in, we measure the time it takes for the freezer to cool down from room temperature to 32°F, the freezing temperature of water. This is a good measure of how quickly your fridge and freezer can cool down food or beverages that have just been placed inside the refrigerator.
4. Usable space. One of the most common refrigerator specs is the total capacity in cubic feet. While you may think that a higher capacity means more storage, that’s not always the case. Shelves, drawers, and ice makers can eat into that capacity. We measure the usable space, which is how much space is actually available for storage.
5. Energy use. Using an electric meter, we measure the fridge’s energy usage over the week of testing. The less energy used, the more efficient that refrigerator is.
We also use each fridge in a more casual sense so we can answer usability questions about the fridge’s specs and features, like the doors, shelves, controls, water/ice dispenser, and extras like smart connectivity, or flexible storage options, etc. If a refrigerator is difficult to open the doors and the control panel makes no sense, we’re going to penalize that fridge with respect to its ease of use.
Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.
Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.
Freelance Editor, Kitchen & Appliances. Danielle has a B.S. from Syracuse University and a AAS in Culinary Arts from Newbury College. Previously, Danielle was a Test Cook and Associate Editor at America's Test Kitchen, as well as a freelance recipe developer and food writer. She’s the mom of two boys and loves making pizza on Friday nights.
Our team is here to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and experts obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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