The benefits of buying a bottom-freezer or French-door refrigerator

Written by Monica Petrucci

Updated August 31, 2023

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If you're in the market for a new refrigerator, one of your first steps will likely be deciding what fridge style you want. But not all options are created equal.

While all styles, including top-freezer refrigerators, have their upsides, there's a lot to love about fridges that have flipped the script—including bottom-freezer refrigerators and French-door refrigerators. That's especially true in the latest models from brands like Bosch, Whirlpool, and Samsung, which come with modern upgrades to help you get the most out of this paramount appliance.

If you're still on the fence about fridge styles, here are some perks of bottom-freezer refrigerators to consider while you make your decision.

The benefits of a bottom-freezer refrigerator

Better visibility

A kitchen with blue cabinets and a stainless steel refrigerator with a see-through panel in the door. — Credit: LG

If your family tends to stock up on fresh foods regularly (think produce, meat, and dairy products), a bottom-freezer fridge will keep all of that conveniently at eye-level.

A top-freezer fridge can make it difficult to see all the contents in your refrigerator, since the lower shelves and drawers require crouching down frequently in order to get the full picture.

With a bottom-freezer fridge, all of the fresh foods are at an easy-to-access angle. This also makes it easier to avoid food waste, since you'll always be able to see what's inside without letting anything get forgotten.

The LG Instaview refrigerators take this feature up a notch, with double-knock technology that allows you to look at all your fridge's contents without having to open the door (and let the cool air out).

LG Instaview refrigerators

The LG Instaview refrigerator features double-knock technology that will help you keep an eye on your fridge's contents.

$2,000 at Best Buy

Storage for larger items

The inside of a silver Bosch refrigerator, featuring drinks, bowls of fruit, and a plastic tray filled with eggs. — Credit: Bosch

Many bottom-freezer fridges—especially French door refrigerators—offer more storage space than top-freezer options, thanks to their inherent wider build.

That makes it easy to store large items in the fridge without any fuss, like pizza boxes or party-sized platters.

The Bosch B36FD50SNS, in particular, blew us away with its extra-roomy storage space. This French door refrigerator delivers 12.71 cubic feet in its fridge and 4.92 in its freezer—which is significantly larger than even a typical spacious French door fridge.

Bosch B36FD50SNS

The Bosch B36FD50SNS boasts plenty of storage space for large families.

$2,499 at Best Buy

More organization opportunities

A silver Whirlpool refrigerator featuring a freezer drawer that is open with frozen food inside. — Credit: Reviewed / Whirlpool

Typically, top-freezer fridges are pretty limited when it comes to personal customization and flexibility for storage.

Bottom-freezer refrigerators often allow for greater storage customization to better suit your personal grocery haul, especially in the spacious freezer drawer. Our favorite bottom-freezer fridge, the Whirlpool WRB322DMBM, offers two freezer drawers with removable dividers for optimal organization of frozen goods.

The Whirlpool WRB322DMBM also offers customizable fridge shelves and door bins to best suit your family's preferences, making it easy to adjust for things like tall wine bottles and birthday cakes.

Whirlpool WRB322DMBM

The Whirlpool WRB322DMBM offers two freezer drawers with removable dividers for optimal organization of frozen goods.

$1,400 at Best Buy

A sleeker design

A Samsung and Bosch refrigerator side-by-side in a kitchen setting. — Credit: Samsung / Bosch

There's no denying that the look of a bottom-freezer fridge—especially in a French-door design—has a more modern aesthetic that will level up your kitchen. That's part of the reason why these fridges often come with a higher price tag.

A popular example is the highly sought-after Samsung Bespoke refrigerator line, which features mainly bottom-freezer and French-door designs with the iconic customizable panels that will bring personality to your kitchen space.

But even simpler designs, like that of the Bosch B36CD50SNS, offer a quiet-luxury style with stainless steel finishes, a through-the-door water dispenser, and temperature touch controls.