American refrigerator

I am quite happy when the SbS is gone.
As Alex says, the freezer compartment is not great, you can stack pizzas nicely in it, but otherwise rather impractical.
It can do both quite well, but nothing really excellently.

We previously had one of those "normal" refrigerators with a freezer section at the bottom (two drawers).
I would say that the freezer section of the SbS is larger than that of the old fridge.

However, the freezer section was not sufficient in the past and is not sufficient today.
So we had already gotten a second deep-freeze cabinet earlier, which is also currently used intensively.
So far, we have been able to store the abundant yields of our garden well.
This weekend, however, we will raid our frozen food a bit to make room for the products that still have to be harvested.
(we wanted to have a barbecue anyway and make some peas into delicious puree for the first time in ages)

We previously had a "normal" fridge with a freezer compartment at the bottom (two drawers). I would say that the freezer compartment of the SbS is larger than the area of the old fridge.

I completely agree with you! That's why the kitchen will also have a fridge without a freezer. The freezer will be completely separate.

I completely agree with you! That’s why the kitchen will have a fridge without a freezer. The freezer will be completely separate.

That would of course be the other alternative

Yes, the side-by-side offers more volume than a fridge-freezer combo with 2-3 drawers. But it depends on what you want to freeze. A cabinet with shelves is great for stacking pizzas, but it doesn’t really help me with my half deer. For that, large drawers or a chest freezer are better. The latter, however, takes up a lot of space. Something in between would be practical – French door could be that. Or just consistently not using a combo solution at all.

with us, the decision was made quite deliberately to forgo the combination solution.
To a large extent for the reasons you mentioned.

However, if I use the "additional features," an SbS can make sense again, although with ice cube and ice water preparation, a considerable amount of space is lost again in the freezer compartment.

But it's like with so many things, it strongly depends on personal preferences. And last but not least, also on whether I can actually place the thing properly. An SbS also doesn't have the standard depth. Ours, for example, is almost 80 cm deep with handles.

...us too: never again without.

We have been using SBS for 14 years and are satisfied with it. We often use the ice cubes and crushed ice once a quarter.

I'm sure I'm one of the few who also finds such a thing attractive. But OK, a gadget like that has to fit. I planned around it.

The "ami" refrigerator is also my dream, but if then a french door. -no bending down for everyday things like fruit, vegetables, and cold cuts -also the not to be underestimated width of the fridge and freezer compartments. you have the full width, you can very comfortably put large trays for a buffet in, and you can also easily fit a whole leg of meat in the freezer.