Product review (4 stars): First impressions and observations
**UPDATE PT 2** New fridge arrived. Works great. The noise I complained about is gone--this fridge is as quiet as I would expect any fridge to be. Something was wrong with the first one. So ignore my complaints about noise! If this holds up for the long haul, it's a 5-star fridge for me.**END UPDATE PT 2**
**UPDATE** Noise: A couple of times a day, for about 20-30 minutes, there is a fan or motor of some kind that comes one and is fairly loud and high-pitched. The rest of the time, when the compressor comes on, it is very quiet. I'm guessing it might have to do with a defrost cycle, but I really don't know. We can live with it because it's really not that loud (no more than our old fridge) and it's not very frequent. We have put felt carpet padding under and behind the fridge to help reduce the sound.
Reliability: Well, this refrigerator arrived with two problems: a broken leveler/roller, and a stuck damper that causes the fridge to stay at a temp of around 25 even though it is set for 47 (yes, everything is freezing!). The roller I really think is on the big S where I purchased this; the damper issue is one that a tech told me could be fixed. However, when a tech came out from Sears/A&E, they declared the fridge irreperable. Then they told me they would send a replacement. Then they refused. I had a horrible experience with Sears, but an excellent experience with Frigidaire. I contacted Frigidaire/Electrolux, went through their replacement review process, and was just told that we are getting a new refrigerator, all expenses paid. I would give Frigidaire 5 stars for customer service, and the fact that Sears will not even assist Frigidaire with the replacement process and instead they are going through a store about 2 hours away from us should tell you something about exactly how helpful Sears has been. Also be aware that Sears/A&E is not a factory-authorized servicer for Frigidaire/Electrolux. This goes for Bosch as well, and perhaps for others. The advice I was given is to go through the manufacturer when you need warranty work!
Overall: I haven't changed my opinion about this Fridge--I still like it. If the replacement has problems when it arrives, maybe... But sometimes, issues happen, and are most likely to come up when an appliance is new. It is good to know that there is a company standing behind their product when issues arise. **END UPDATE**

I couldn't find any reviews for this fridge, as it is listed as a new item on Frigidaire's website, so I'm going to share my observations even though I've only had it for a day. I determined that it is virtually identical to the older FGHC2342LF except for the doors; this new fridge has curved doors (instead of flat) that are deeper and extend further into the room (overall depth 31" vs 29 5/8" including handles; more about that below). I did find many reviews of the old fridge on google shopping (79, 4.5 stars overall; also gets good marks from a somewhat objective site called Bestcovery). One of the complaints about the old fridge is that it lacks gallon door storage and the door bins are narrow. Well, Frigidaire does list gallon door storage on the old fridge, but I can see from pics that the new doors offer more room on both the fridge and freezer sides (hint: use google images to search for both models. I had a hard time finding any pictures of the interior of this fridge until I did that). For me, this extra room is a plus, outweighing the drawback of extending further into the room. However, see DIMENSIONS below for further discussion...

My overall impression is of good looks and reasonable quality, although in our somewhat dated 70's-vintage kitchen it does look as though Scotty beamed down a stainless steel slab from somewhere in the future. The most important things to me in a fridge are 1) reliability; 2) usable space; 3) quality/durability; 4) elegant, intelligent design; and 5) noise (lack of);  - that, and price, of course. I'm always looking for that elusive quality of value where the combination of these elements becomes irresistible. I generally find it at a place like an outlet store (one of the major chains starting with an S has a good one, with a good website listing local availability; I've literally been shopping for a fridge for 3-4 years, educating myself so that when I found the right scratch and dent item at the right price I would be ready). But unless you're patient, just look for a good sale at a reputable dealer; this model seems to be one of the best values in a counter-depth fridge.

As for my list, I can't speak to reliability from my experience, but I did find info posted on a refrigerator forum (see RELIABILITY below). I do rate it highly for usable space and design. Even though I basically lost a shelf compared to my old fridge, I seem to have enough room. This is partly because the produce and deli drawers are huge: the largest crisper drawer available in a side-by-side, according to Sears. My old fridge had two crispers 6" high and a 5" deli; this has 8" crispers and a 6" deli, and they are also wider than the old ones. The bottom crisper is cut short in an angle at the back to accommodate machinery, I'm sure, but it still seems huge--swallows up a 4# bag of oranges, 3# onions, and 5# potatoes with room for more (though that's enough weight!). I worry about whether the plastic bins will hold up over time; but these look as good or better than others I've seen. They're also usable, as they open up 9" to the stop, and move past the stop easily if you need it (better than some others--cough*SAMSUNG*cough). A little dry lube helps them slide smoothly enough. They have ventilation sliders for humidity control (high for veggies, low for fruit), and the deli drawer has something new to me and not listed as a feature on Frigidaire's web page. It's called a chill drawer, and it has a vent in the side that connects directly to a cool air outlet from the fridge, with its own adjustable temperature slider, so that you can keep meats and cheeses cooler than the rest of the fridge. As far as durability, I like that the doors and spaces are narrow (compared to a single-door fridge); I know with my old fridge that there were issues with bins and shelves that spanned the full width of a single door, with plastic and supports sagging and cracking from the weight. This design also keeps the weight of items in the door bins closer to the hinge, so there is less pressure on the hinge and less likelihood of the door sagging as I have heard happening on full-width doors.

Also worth mentioning is the finish and exterior; it really is a fingerprint-resistant finish, and it really is magnetic--didn't know that was possible with stainless. My wife will be thrilled to have her bulletin board back. The finish feels tough, but because there is some kind of coating, it may be somewhat prone to scratching--there is a very small scratch on the upper corner of this fridge that looks to be just on the coating. Of course, uncoated stainless is also prone to scratching, so I don't know which is worse!

As for initial quality, there are two issues I have had so far. One was very simple to fix--the deli drawer was not installed correctly at the rear, causing it to ride too high and the drawer to misalign with the vent on the fridge--though it was easy to miss and I might have if I had not noticed the vent. The other is that one of the front rollers/feet had a retaining screw fall out and is now loose--the fridge sort of bounces up and down a bit with weight on that corner. I have a block under it right now to keep the weigh off the wheel. I think the screw actually came loose and fell out in transit and got caught in the vent grille, because I found it just sitting on the floor right in front of the fridge under the door, and when the installer removed the grille to show me the adjustments it must have fallen out (this fridge had been installed and returned, put back on the floor, and then delivered to me, so it had experienced more than usual amount of handling). We didn't notice it at the time, and when I did find it, he was gone... Now I am waiting for a service call, because it can't be tightened! The foot was held on with a " self-tapping screw that has now stripped its hole. I can't help but wonder why a 300 pound fridge has its weight resting on a single half-inch self-tapping screw, but there you go... and I hope this is not indicative of the general grade of components in the fridge--that is, barely adequate and impossible to fix. This is a long way of saying I recommend checking these retaining screws next to the height adjustment bolts under the hinges when you take delivery.

Some reviews of the old fridge complained about the lighting; Frigidaire now describes this as, "bright, dual-level," as opposed to, "standard, dual-level." OK, the basic issue is that the fridge is tall and each shelf tends to shade the one below (or above) it. So even though there is a bright light at the top and bottom back, the center looks a bit dim--it's not something I would have thought to mention, so I don't think it will be a problem for me. As far as noise, some reviews describe it as noisy, some as quiet; I think it must depend on how loud their old fridge was. This I think is a little noisier than our old one. I'm not sure it actually makes more noise, but it has a low, powerful hum that carries and a kind of high-pitched whine that is penetrating. Neither is very loud, but I noticed when they stopped. NOTE: If you have this issue with a noisy fan/motor coming on two or three times a day, there is something wrong, because our replacement does not have this problem.

There were also complaints about the water and ice dispenser in the older model. I couldn't care less about water dispensers and ice makers, mostly as we do not have a water line to the fridge nor are we ever likely to have one, but also because I don't like cold water, never use ice, and have a good filter for drinking water at our sink; thus I can't comment on the complaints about the water and ice dispenser in reviews of the old fridge and whether this is any different. Caveat emptor.

DIMENSIONS: If you're looking at a counter-depth fridge, you're going to be concerned about overall depth and also how far the fridge extends into the room. Yes, those are two different things, which I had never really considered, but here's the scoop: the depth of the refrigerator cabinet, excluding the doors, determines how much clearance you need in order to fit flush with your cabinets or counters (if you don't have walls or counters on either side of your fridge, you can ignore this part). In my case, there is a wall that extends out 28.5" on one side of my fridge. The important part here is that you CANNOT recess the fridge any further than the depth of the refrigerator cabinet, excluding the doors. Otherwise, there will be no clearance for the doors to open and close. For both of these fridges, that depth is 23 7/8" (call it 24). So in my case, the fridge sits 24" back along the side wall, leaving 4.5" at the rear (which is nice for air circulation, less than ideal for space utilization). Even though I have that space, if I push it even 1/4" further back, the doors will hit the wall at the hinge. The take-away is that you want at least 25" clearance in back for the fridge to sit flush with your counters or cabinet, leaving 1" in back for air circulation (required clearance is only 3/8" on each side and 1" on the rear according to the owner's manual).

Now that you've figured out how far back your fridge can sit, you'll want to know how far it extends into the room. This is where the depth of the doors comes in. For the old fridge with flat doors, this distance is 5 3/4" including handles; for this fridge, it is 7 1/8" (handles are 2.5").  This is the distance in the middle; the distance at the edge is 3", the difference being the curve of the door and the handle. You'll have to determine for yourself how you feel about that extra inch and a half on the new design and how far it extends into the room. The other takeaway from this is that the wider (fridge) door will extend 21" from the edge of your cabinet or wall when open; you cannot put the fridge any further back and still open the doors, regardless of how much clearance you have behind the fridge. (I know I'm repeating myself, but it's nice to figure out these things BEFORE you get that new fridge into your beautiful newly remodeled kitchen!)
As for the width, it measured 35.5" at the top rear (just under the 35 7/8" listed by Frigidaire). This just fit into the 36" space I have between overhead cabinets and the wall. Just. Had to take a hacksaw blade to the anchors for the cabinet and counter unit on the floor so I could move it over "; bottom line, if you have anything less than 36", it's not gonna fit; 36 exactly might work--it helps if the floor is level! A little extra clearance goes a long way.

RELIABILITY (via gardenweb.com): In terms of longevity and reliability, the most recent membership surveys from Consumer Reports show that SxS models are significantly more likely to have problems than the other fridge designs but, within that category, there are such slight differences between most brands that you really cannot use reliability as a basis for choosing between them. For example, the KitchenAid SxS fridges have a 16% defect rate and the Frigidaire models have 17% rate. CR says that differences of less than 4 percentage points in the survey results are not meaningful. The only exception was LG: with a 22% defect rate, it seems to be the brand to avoid for SxS fridges. Do note that roughly half of the reported defects seem to be with ice and water dispensers.

Overall, I'm very happy with this fridge, but you'll have to decide for yourself if side-by-side will work for you. Drawbacks to the design are that spaces are narrow (you'll never get anything wider than 17" in there, and 12.5" for the freezer), and it's not the most energy-efficient compared to other styles with the same capacity. I could never imagine having a side-by-side that was any narrower (like the 32-33" models available), but for me, this size works. I like it more than I expected to.