What Size Refrigerator Do I Need For A Family Of 4

Refrigerators accept long been thought of as the boxy, boring behemoths of the kitchen, and buying one used to exist as simple as choosing between eggshell and off-white. Well, times accept changed. Industry stalwarts similar Whirlpool and GE accept spent the final 100 years adapting to intense contest from names like Samsung and LG, and a growing focus on the smart home is forcing manufacturers to get creative and more "gadgety" with the way they remember nigh these appliances in the first place.

Equally a result, today'south shopper will notice an ever-increasing range of color and style options, cleverly designed units designed to disappear into your decor and a broad multifariousness of new smart features, including ones aimed at transforming your kitchen into an entertainment hub. Information technology's enough to make you wonder if the ol' icebox might exist going through a flake of an identity crisis.

Read more:Repair pros tell all: Whirlpool, Maytag make the nearly reliable appliances

This reinvention of the fridge comes with an affluence of new models to choose from -- plenty to make the process of picking 1 out a little bit overwhelming. Fortunately, you've come up to the right place: a handy overview designed to aid y'all narrow downwards the endless options and come out confident that the refrigerator you're buying will give you the about bang for your buck.

In the end, finding the right fridge is all about understanding your ain needs and asking the right questions, then allow's get started with:

What type of refrigerator do I want?

Stylewise, you've got iv options to cull from, and each comes with its own pros and cons. Figuring out which one is best for you is the first, virtually obvious footstep toward making a final buying conclusion.

Height freezers like this Samsung model aren't too flashy, only they offer a lot of value.
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Pinnacle freezer

When I say the word "refrigerator," chances are skilful that this is the manner that pops into your head. With the bottom two-thirds dedicated to fresh-food storage and the freezer unit sitting on top, most of us probably struggled to reach the Popsicles in a top freezer unit when we were kids, or mayhap we used one in our starting time flat.

Tastes accept moved on since then, so if you lot're looking for something modern, high-end and characteristic-rich, then a top-freezer model probably isn't for you. If mode isn't every bit much of a business organization, all the same, you'll find that top freezers offer some of the all-time bargains on the marketplace. Plus, at that place are all the same plenty being fabricated to offer a solid diverseness of choices.

Price: $479 to $ii,199
Average dimensions: Width: 29 inches; depth: 31 inches; depth with door open up ninety degrees: 58 inches; peak: 66 inches
Best suited for: Deal shoppers who aren't looking for annihilation as well flashy.

Lesser freezers like this Whirlpool model offer easier access to fresh ingredients.
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Bottom freezer

If y'all're looking for something on the simpler side, and would enjoy slightly easier access to your fresh foods, then a bottom-freezer unit of measurement might be correct for y'all. Bottom-freezer units aren't much different from top-freezer units except for the fact that the freezer is located -- y'all guessed it -- on the bottom. This ways that you won't accept to hunch over while rooting around for ordinarily used ingredients.

Of course, this also means that frozen foods will exist located down effectually your ankles -- though a majority of models now come with drawer-fashion freezer doors, which tin can make getting the ice cream out a petty easier. Bottom-freezer units tend to be just slightly bigger than pinnacle freezers, simply there's also less multifariousness of models to choose from.

Toll: $999 to $1,899
Average dimensions: Width: 29 inches; depth: 32 inches; depth with door open ninety degrees: 59 inches; height: 67 inches
Best suited for: Home cooks who don't listen bending over to get into the freezer.

Side-past-side models are skilful for narrow kitchens, and some will offering high-end features like the door-in-door compartment in this LG model.
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Side-by-side

Side-by-side units split your fridge right downwardly the middle, offering yous frozen foods on the left and fresh foods on the right. Some models offer equal existent estate for both sections, but almost allocate an extra couple of inches for the fridge. This can make for an specially narrow freezer section, and so frozen-pizza aficionados might desire to consider something a little less limiting.

Side-past-side units come up in a wide diversity of models and tend to showcase more features than their horizontally minded top and bottom freezer counterparts. Many of these features are aimed at saving space, especially when it comes to the shelving within the doors. Side-by-side units as well don't need equally much clearance to open the doors, making them platonic for narrow kitchens. Due to the vertical split, y'all'll probably desire to go with the widest model that will fit into your kitchen, and your budget.

Price: $1,149 to $three,099
Boilerplate dimensions: Width: 35 inches; eepth: 30 inches; eepth with door open 90 degrees: 45 inches; acme: 71 inches
Best suited for: Space-witting consumers who still want a feature-rich fridge.

French door

Highly popular, French-door models combine the drawer-mode freezer of a bottom-freezer unit with the depression-clearance doors of a side-by-side unit. This means that you'll have a full-width, double-door fridge with enough of storage space. With your fridge door effectively split into two, it also ways that you won't exist letting quite as much common cold air out when yous're opening just ane door to grab the milk.

With the high need for French-door refrigerators, you're sure to find a huge diversity of options, including models with top-of-the-line smart features you won't find with other styles. You lot tin can too upgrade the look of your fridge to match your kitchen or fifty-fifty become one that camouflages itself entirely among your cabinets, but be aware that you'll likely be tacking a few thousand dollars onto the already steep price.

Price: $1,599 to $3,999 ($4,500 to $8,000 for a built-in cabinetry appearance)
Average dimensions: Width: 35 inches; depth: 29 inches; depth with door open up ninety degrees: 48 inches; elevation: 68 inches
Best suited for: Stylish homeowners who want lots of space for groceries and the almost advanced features available.

Selecting the way that'southward right for your kitchen is half the battle, and should requite you a much clearer idea of what you desire from your new refrigerator. But don't run off to the department store just nonetheless, considering you still have some very important questions to ask yourself, including:

How big do I really demand my fridge to be?

The bigger, the ameliorate, right? Not necessarily!

It varies, but a full general rule of thumb is that you'll desire 4 to 6 cubic anxiety (cu. ft.) of refrigerator space per adult in your household, forth with a petty bit of extra contingency room. With total-size refrigerators ranging from 10 to 32 cu. ft., this ways that a family of four probably won't desire anything much less than twenty cubic feet, and might adopt something even roomier.

Of course, the biggest limiting factor is your kitchen, and so exist certain to measure to see how much width, meridian and depth you've got to work with earlier yous start shopping around.

If yous don't need a lot of infinite, you could consider a compact model.
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All of that said, a bigger fridge means a bigger energy bill, so be careful not to splurge on extra infinite that you aren't actually going to need. You'll exist paying more both upfront and downwards the line as y'all continue paying the power company to refrigerate that wasted space alongside your nutrient.

If y'all're looking for something on the minor side, you'll probably desire to stick with a superlative or bottom freezer, as none of the other types of refrigerators come up in sizes much smaller than 20 cu. ft. If your kitchen is particularly cramped, or if yous're merely looking for something small for a garage or a dorsum room, you'll find compact models in both styles, too.

lg-lsxc22436s-refrigerator-product-photos-10 — This counter-depth side-by-side refrigerator from LG is designed to run flush with your countertops. Just the doors stick out.
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Practise I need a counter-depth refrigerator?

You lot're likely to hear this term quite a scrap every bit you shop effectually. As the proper noun suggests, "counter-depth" refrigerators are simply refrigerators that are designed to align perfectly with the edges of your countertops, leaving simply the fridge door sticking out. This gives your refrigerator the advent of an expensive, custom-designed unit that'due south built straight into your kitchen'southward cabinetry -- without annihilation actually being custom-built.

Since they shave a few inches off the front of the fridge, counter-depth refrigerators are slightly less spacious than their normal-size counterparts. They likewise tend to cost a footling bit more. Whether or not you're willing to sacrifice that space and pay extra for a more than fashionable fridge is totally up to you, just for my money, information technology's a characteristic yous should consider skipping.

And hey, while we're on the subject of features...

What features should I look for?

Refrigerators have come a long fashion since the debut of the egg holder and the butter bin. These days, yous'll find a wide variety of features designed to bring a whole new level of functionality to your refrigerator. With the countless parade of trademarked names and bold claims, finding the features you actually want can rapidly become overwhelming. So, which ones are worth it?

Accept intendance of the foods you love

First, call up about the things you like to melt and/or eat, then look for features that take really good care of those things. Information technology'south a safe bet that those are the features you'll savour using the almost. Are you a devoted foodie who e'er wants a multifariousness of fresh ingredients on hand? Many models offer sectional climate controls for the different compartments in your fridge or even dedicated, temperature-adjustable drawers. Do you alive off of Television receiver dinners and frozen leftovers? Look for avant-garde defrosting features designed to help eliminate freezer burn. Dearest a nice glass of pinot grigio? Look for a fridge with a built-in wine rack.

This Frigidaire's top shelf slides in and folds up to make room for large items.

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Get sneaky with your storage space

If you're constantly rearranging things in your fridge to make space for groceries, and then look for storage-minded features designed to requite y'all a hand. Shelves that slide in or fold up volition brand information technology a lot easier to make room for tall items, and the increasingly common door-in-a-door feature can transform your in-door shelves into a makeshift mini-refrigerator for kitchen staples like beverages and condiments.

Ane storage consideration you might not have thought of: the ice maker. Some fridges situate it upwardly on the height shelf -- the ice drops down through a chute in the door into your waiting drinking glass. That'due south all well and good, simply the icemaker eats up some obvious space inside of the refrigerator, and the bulky overhang of that in-door chute will tend to block off the in-door shelves underneath information technology.

That's why I tend to adopt fridges that clasp the entire icemaker into the door. They tend to make less ice, but they'll also give you more usable space inside of the refrigerator. That's a off-white trade-off in my book.

Consider the water dispenser

I trend that we've seen over the by few years: creativity from the water dispenser. GE has been leading the pack here, with French-door models that can serve the exact amount of water you want, and even ones capable of shutting off automatically once they detect that your drinking glass, pitcher or pot is total. You lot'll even find neat features in GE's less-expensive peak-freezer models -- most notably, ones that come with an Autofill Bullpen that'll fill itself back up whenever you place it back in the fridge. Samsung's in the mix now, too, with an autofilling water bullpen of its own in itshigher-end French door models.

This GE refrigerator comes with a special bullpen that fills back up with water whenever you dock information technology in place.

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The brand'southward Cafe Series line of fridges can dispense hot water at a variety of temperature settings. The newest models even add in a mini Grand-Cup brewer that'll let your refrigerator brew upward a quick loving cup of coffee on demand. It's a surprisingly sensible addition, given that refrigerators take dedicated h2o lines -- that means you won't e'er accept to worry nearly keeping a reservoir full.

Of course if you keep shopping around, you'll also find refrigerators with touchscreens and built-in Wi-Fi, and plenty of bold manufacturer claims about smartening upwardly your kitchen -- which brings us to one last question:

First introduced in 2016, the Samsung Family unit Hub Refrigerator is basically a concept car for the continued kitchen of tomorrow. Only should you buy in today?
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Do I need a smart fridge?

You lot can certainly live without one, if that's what y'all're request, particularly if affordability is your master business organization. Simply put, smart fridges don't come cheap, and whether or not the actress price is worth it is really up to you.

For some, smart technology gives refrigerators a whole new cool gene, and the fact that nosotros use our refrigerators every day makes these features a sound investment. For others, "smart" but seems like some other word for "gimmicky." If this includes you lot, then spending an extra $i,000 or more in society to accept a cutting-edge kitchen probably seems similar a waste of coin.

That said, don't be as well quick to slam the door on so-called "smart" features, because there are plenty of them that live upwards to the name, and a growing variety of options to cull from, too. In 2017, LG even went and then far as to say that it plans to start putting Wi-Fi radios into each and every refrigerator that it manufactures.

In other words, we might exist quickly approaching a point where smart refrigerators are the norm, non the exception.

So what do smart fridges actually practice?

Glad you asked. Here's a quick rundown of what'south currently out there:

Free energy monitoring : More and more, we're seeing connected refrigerators that are capable of syncing upward with the smart grid in cities where information technology'south available. Fridges similar those can automatically schedule costly defrost cycles for the times when energy rates are at their everyman. One model from Whirlpool will even sync upward with the Nest Learning Thermostat ($195 at eBay) to have advantage of Nest's Rush 60 minutes Rewards feature, or transport your phone an warning if the ability ever goes out.

Smart multitasking : Some smart fridges aim to make your kitchen routine more efficient. That Thou-Cup-brewing Cafe Serial refrigerator from GE includes Wi-Fi at present, which lets you lot tell it to outset heating the water upward remotely, from your telephone.

Vox control : Smart fridges are also trying to have advantage of the electric current surge in popularity of smart-habitation vocalization command platforms. GE's smart fridges offer their ain Alexa skill, which lets you ask Amazon'south vocalization-activated assistant to make a quick temperature aligning, or allow you know if the h2o filter needs replacing. Samsung and LG have each gone i step further, building voice control directly into their flagship smart fridges. You'll find native Alexa controls in LG's Smart InstaView fridge, while the Samsung Family Hub fridge offers vox controls through Samsung's own Bixby vocalism assistant. It's non hard to imagine HomeKit-uniform refrigerators that piece of work with Siri in the well-nigh future, too.

Kitchen command centers : Speaking of Samsung and LG, both brands envision their smart fridges as the primal command centers for the connected kitchen, if not the entire smart dwelling house. That'south why each i has a huge touchscreen on the door, complete with its ain set of fridge apps. Whether you want to set a cooking timer, follow forth with a recipe, update your family's digital agenda or just stream some music while you cook, smart fridges like these want to handle all of it.

Fridge cameras : We're likewise seeing more and more than fridges that feature built-in cameras that'll let yous check what's inside remotely, from your phone. Yous can also typically drag little countdown timers over the top of your food to aid go on track of expiration dates, which is a surprisingly nice little feature. Moving frontwards, manufacturers like Samsung programme to make use of artificial intelligence to teach these smart fridges how to identify foods on their own without any input from you.

The bottom line

Again, the question is, "Do you demand any of this in your kitchen?" And given that people have done just fine with dumb refrigerators for generations now, the answer is clearly no. None of these smart fridges comes cheap, and none of the smart features is quite compelling enough on its own to justify the extra expense.

That said, most manufacturers are doing their best to tempt you by giving these fridges premium designs and filling them with additional features beyond the smarts: things like door-in-door compartments, temperature-adjustable drawers and fifty-fifty meet-through panels that allow you lot peer within without opening the door. You don't need any of these fridges, simply I certainly couldn't arraign you for wanting i -- or ownership i, for that matter.

Fortunately, you don't need to spend thousands on a peak-of-the-line fridge in order to feel similar yous're getting an upgrade. With a growing diversity of options across a broad range of prices, there'due south nix stopping you from buying a refrigerator that you'll love, provided you're willing to put in a trivial bit of legwork outset. Do your homework and shop smart, and y'all'll be happy with your fridge for years to come.

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