Built-in refrigerators are designed to blend in. They sit completely flush with kitchen cabinets and, while they’re available with the ever-popular stainless steel finish, they allow you to install custom paneling to match your cabinetry. Taken together, those two traits provide a chameleon effect that may fool unsuspecting visitors.
Freestanding refrigerators are just that: They stand freely (often within a space just wide and tall enough to fit them), but they don’t offer the same cohesive appearance. That doesn’t mean they can’t look suitable next to your countertops and cabinets, especially if you choose a counter-depth refrigerator. Stand-alone fridges make up the lion’s share of the refrigerator market and include most of the best performers in our ratings.
Another big difference is cost. Freestanding refrigerators are a lot more budget-friendly than their built-in counterparts, which are made chiefly by high-end manufacturers such as Dacor, Miele, Sub-Zero, Thermador, and Viking, and range in price from around $5,000 to well over $10,000.
As with freestanding refrigerators, built-ins come in various configurations, including bottom-freezer, French-door, and side-by-side. But because of their shallow depth—only 24 inches—some built-ins are as wide as 49 inches to maximize storage space. (By contrast, the largest freestanding refrigerator in our ratings is 37 inches wide.) Some manufacturers offer built-in column refrigerators and freezers, which are separate appliances that you can place either next to each other or in different areas of your kitchen.
Built-ins look good, but there are trade-offs. “With a built-in, what you’re really paying for are the style and premium finishes,” says Breann Chai, who oversees CR’s refrigerator testing. “Compared with stand-alone fridges, built-ins cost a lot more but actually offer less interior storage space.” And some features are missing from those models. Every built-in currently in our ratings has a freezer light, digital controls, and an icemaker. Most have spillproof shelves and air filters. But water dispensers are rare, and shelves that can be adjusted without clearing them first are absent altogether.
