French door refrigerators are named after the architectural structure of French doors: they are refrigerators with the same features of French doors. These machines also have a bottom freezer door with a separate handle.
French door refrigerators are fairly new in terms of appliances since they didn't become widely available for sale until 2005. The main advantage of this type of refrigerator is that only one side of the fridge needs to be opened at one time. Most of these types of refrigerators have glass shelves that run the entire width of the fridge. Of course, it requires organization to know which side of the refrigerator the desired food is on to avoid opening both doors at once. There is a small energy savings created by consistently opening only one door to access the French door fridge rather than two.
A French door refrigerator may have one or two bottom freezer drawers. Bottom freezer drawers allow easier access to foods than many fridges with freezers on the side, but some people prefer the access allowed by traditional fridges with a top freezer section. The storage capacity of these refrigerators with bottom drawer freezers many be a little less than the top freezer refrigerator type. However, if the food items are organized well, they may be easier to access than freezer items stored in top or side refrigerator freezers. Also, the types of French door refrigerators with two bottom freezer drawers allow for better organization since items such as meat can be placed in one drawer, while foods such as vegetables, fruits and desserts can be stored in the other freezer drawer.
Ice and water dispensers are included on most French door refrigerators. A typical French door fridge has four shelves that fit across the width of the refrigerator, plus two clear acrylic fruit and vegetable crisper drawers under the shelving. The glass shelves are usually adjustable and there are fridge door storage compartments just like in traditional refrigerator doors. The bottom freezer drawer has separate door access so that neither of the refrigerator's French doors has to be open to access the freezer.
