The stickers all have text and graphics to represent the range of operating costs within a category look for a model with a cost on the lower end of the scale.Maybe you’ve always been one of those people who plans ahead-making an extra pan of lasagna and sticking it in the freezer or stocking up on groceries at the warehouse club.

When in doubt, check the yellow Energy Guide sticker on any model to get an idea of its energy consumption and estimated costs of operation.

These fridges are big enough to help minimize shopping trips, they might reduce the amount of time you spend looking for items, and they are compact enough to save some energy.

Wide but shallow fridges, like counter-depth French-door models, might represent a happy medium.

You can find a few models with door dispensers on the Energy Star Most Efficient list, but they’re the exception. It’s usually a difference of a few dozen kilowatt-hours per year compared with fridges of a similar size and style.

Through-the-door ice and water dispensers tend to make a fridge less efficient, partly because they’re essentially a hole in an otherwise insulated box, and partly because the ice maker has extra work to do.

Side-by-side fridges are the least efficient style.

You can take the doors off the fridge to get a few extra inches, but there are some fridges that you just cannot get inside of certain kitchens. A single-door fridge (like a top-freezer or bottom-freezer model), with the hinge on the opposite side from the wall, might be your best bet. If your fridge will sit close to a wall, think about whether the door will be able to swing open wide enough for you to pull out crisper drawers or deli trays. In this situation, a counter-depth model, or one with half-width doors (like a French-door or side-by-side model) might make the most sense. If you have a kitchen island, measure the distance from the wall to the edge of that counter to account for the door swing. The layout of the rest of your kitchen matters, too. That can hurt its ability to hold the proper temperatures and might wear out the cooling system faster than its intended lifespan (usually 10 years, according to most manufacturers we’ve talked to). If you jam your fridge in tighter, the fridge’s heat exchange might have to work harder than it was designed to. Make it about 1 inch on the top and sides and at least 2 inches at the back.

Build in some buffer space for ventilation.

Remember to measure any baseboards or trim.

Seriously-take multiple measurements of each dimension in case your floors turn out to be crooked. Take multiple measurements of your space (rather than the existing fridge) to find the maximum width, depth, and height.This guide will be most useful for people who are shopping for a full-size, freestanding refrigerator that costs up to $4,000. We’ll walk you through some of the major choices you need to make, and we’ll point out some of the brands, designs, and features that real-world owners tend to like. We’ve also found that shallower, counter depth–style fridges with less capacity (and that tend to use a bit less energy) are big enough for most households.īeyond that, it’s mostly a matter of homing in on what fits your space and budget, followed by many other individual preferences. Among the most popular fridge styles, the French-door design (with half-width fridge doors and a pull-out bottom freezer) is the most beloved type.

LG refrigerators seem to make the most owners the happiest, at least among major-brand models, which usually cost less than $4,000.

We haven’t done rigorous hands-on testing of any fridges in this guide, but we have touched most models we mention here at appliance showrooms.

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