Regardless of whether you live in a house, an apartment, a townhouse, or a condominium, you’re going to need to eat. Unless you plan on surviving on take-out and microwaved meals, you’ll need a stove for cooking and a fridge for preserving whatever you’ve cooked. For a buy-it-for-life 30″ gas range, something like a Thor Kitchen (e.g., the HRG3080U) or Kucht (e.g., the KRG3080U) model will keep you set for the next few decades. But what will you do with whatever you’ve cooked, as well as with perishables like milk, cheese, vegetables, meats, poultry, and fish? If you’re like most people, you’re going to need a fridge and freezer, of course. We’ve been reviewing different styles to help our readers do smarter shopping; we recently looked at the pros and cons of all refrigerators and top freezer fridges; today we’ll look at bottom freezer refrigerators to see if they’re worth paying a bit more for compared to top freezer fridges.

What are the benefits and advantages of a bottom freezer mount refrigerator?

A bottom freezer mount refrigerator, as its name suggests, is a combination refrigeration-freezing appliance where the fridge compartment is located at the top and the freezer is beneath it. Both units will have separate doors–when they don’t, it’s called a single-door fridge with an add-on freezer, or with freezer capacity. The freezer compartment may alternatively be opened by a drawer instead of through a door.

Bottom freezer mounted refrigerators share most of the advantages found in traditional, top-mounted freezer fridges, including a nearly unlimited range of options when it comes to brands, fridge and freezer capacities, finishes and features, and racking configurations. They are also one of the cheapest options for fridge-freezer combination units; while they’ll typically cost more than a top-freezer mount fridge of the same combined capacity, they’ll cost much less than side-by-side fridges or French door models like the Thor Kitchen HRF3601F. The Kenmore Elite 79043 24.1 cubic foot bottom freezer refrigerator in stainless steel is a quality example of the style; it’s available in capacities ranging from 19-24 cubic feet and in steel, white, and black. However, it costs significantly less than a high-end French door fridge like the Thor Kitchen while offering a larger capacity.

The ergonomics in bottom freezer fridges let you use them without stooping or bending

The primary advantage to a bottom freezer mount refrigerator, however, at least when compared to a top-mounted freezer fridge, has to do with ergonomics. Unless you primarily cook frozen foods (and freeze your leftovers afterward), statistically speaking, 95% of the time you spend in front of your refrigerator will be spent moving food in and out of your fridge, vs around 5% of your time spent with your freezer. A bottom freezer fridge matches its design to your behavior; the fridge is at standing height, which means you’ll be able to find, store and retrieve food and drinks without stooping or bending in the vast majority of cases. The freezer, in contrast, is below and out of the way, which will work for most people’s food storage habits.

What are the cons and drawbacks of a  bottom freezer fridge setup?

The main disadvantage of a bottom freezer mount refrigerator take a toll on your back, reduce visibility, and make it more difficult to organize your frozen goods. If you primarily use your freezer instead of your fridge, you might be happier with a top mounted freezer, which would give you standing, eye-level access to your frozen meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, or, if you’re like many of us, ice cream. That said, if you make extended use of a freezer, you’ll want to skip top and bottom mounted options and move straight to a chest freezer, where you’ll get much more space as well as the flexibility of setting it up beyond your kitchen (such as in your garage or basement). Aside from ergonomics, it’s also worth noting that you’ll spend a bit more per cubic foot to buy a bottom freezer fridge than you will to bring home a top freezer fridge due to the fact that people are willing to pay more for the improved ergonomics.

So which do you recommend: a bottom freezer refrigerator or a top freezer fridge?

In conclusion, the question of whether to buy a top or bottom-mounted freezer refrigerator depends entirely on your eating habits and flexibility. If you simply want to get the most fridge and freezer space for your money, you’ll almost always come out ahead with a top freezer refrigerator. But there are a lot of things more important in life than saving every last dollar, and a more efficient and satisfying experience finding, storing, and retrieving food from a fridge and freezer that match your body and eating habits will probably bring more happiness in the long term than the small amount of money you’d save from choosing a style that doesn’t work for you. For most people, a bottom freezer fridge is the better choice.

You can buy the Kenmore Elite 9042 24 cubic foot bottom freezer refrigerator in a range of sizes and finishes here on Amazon. If you’d rather have a top-mounted freezer fridge, buy the Kenmore 71215 top freezer refrigerator in a range of sizes and finishes here instead.

Canadians , unfortunately the Kenmore isn’t available. However, you can buy a close relative, the GE Profile 20 cubic foot bottom freezer refrigerator here on Amazon. For a top mounted freezer option, buy the Kenmore 71215 top freezer refrigerator here on Amazon.

If you find our research on PMC helpful, you can follow our efforts to keep maniacally reviewing home appliances by shopping through our links above. We promise to keep fighting the good fight against every horror children, animals, and grown, yet messy humans can inflict upon a clean home.