Refrigerators

Best Side-by-Side Refrigerators of 2024

Easy access to fresh food and freezer compartments make these top-performing models appealing

By Daniel Wroclawski

Updated by Daniel Bortz and Kala Herh

Updated January 2, 2024

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Amana ASI2175GRS refrigerator in white and grey kitchen with doors open showing food inside — Side-by-side refrigerators, with their tall and narrow compartments, work well for small kitchens and often need less electricity to operate.

Side-by-sides were once the refrigerator style Americans favored. But in 2022, about 37 percent of Americans who purchased refrigerators bought a French-door model and only 29 percent bought a side-by-side fridge, according to the market research firm TraQline.

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Why Should You Consider a Side-by-Side Refrigerator?

There are plenty of reasons to consider a side-by-side refrigerator, as they are distinct for their dedicated tall and narrow compartments for fresh and frozen food.

Cost: Side-by-side refrigerators are usually less expensive than French-door models. From 2017 to 2022, members surveyed by CR paid a median price of $1,274 for side-by-sides with icemakers, less than the $1,946 for French-door refrigerators with icemakers.
Features: More and more side-by-sides are equipped with many of the premium features typically found in French-door refrigerators, such as door-in-door designs.
Size: The narrow doors of side-by-sides are easier to open in tight kitchens.
Maintenance: They often cost less to repair, with a median out-of-pocket cost of $209 vs. $250 for French-door fridges, according to our 2021 member survey. (Find out whether you should repair or replace your broken refrigerator.)

How CR Tests Refrigerators

To test each refrigerator that enters our labs, we outfit it with thermocouples in a climate-controlled chamber and monitor it for a month, collecting more than 5.4 million temperature readings that identify warm and cold spots. This helps us determine which models will keep food fresh longer.

We also factor in survey data from thousands of CR members to judge brand reliability and satisfaction. All of that data and more inform CR’s refrigerator ratings and each model’s Overall Score.

For more information on CR’s refrigerator tests, see our How We Test Refrigerators page.

Daniel Wroclawski

Dan Wroclawski is a home and appliances writer at Consumer Reports, covering products ranging from refrigerators and coffee makers to cutting-edge smart home devices. Before joining CR in 2017, he was an editor at USA Today’s Reviewed, and launched the site’s smart home section. In his spare time, you can find him tinkering with one of the over 70 connected devices in his house. Follow Dan on Facebook and Twitter @danwroc.