How to organize your French door refrigerator
Serving as your trusted kitchen assistant in your culinary endeavors, a well-organized refrigerator can help you bring your food creations to life.
French door refrigerators bring sleek accessibility to your kitchen, making them an elegantly versatile option for storing your ingredients. This step-by-step guide offers helpful tips for organizing your French door refrigerator so you can maximize your refrigerator storage space and enhance your experience.
What is the best way to organize a French door refrigerator?
Certain best practices, such as keeping produce in crisper drawers and placing less perishable items in the door, are popular. However, the organization of your refrigerator can also be uniquely tailored to fit your personal needs.
How to organize a French door refrigerator in 5 steps
You can help transform your refrigerator into an orderly space by cleaning the interior, storing less perishable items in the door, designating shelves for certain items, storing produce in crisper drawers and labeling storage containers.
Discover how to organize and clean a French door refrigerator with these detailed steps.
1. Remove food and clean the refrigerator
Before you start to organize your French door refrigerator, you'll want to make sure that its surfaces, shelves and storage bins are clean and tidy.
Cleaning your refrigerator before organizing its contents is also an opportunity to remove expired foods or ingredients you no longer need. As you clean your refrigerator, avoid using abrasive or harsh cleaners to help protect the surfaces of your appliance from potential damage.
The process for cleaning the exterior of your French door refrigerator may depend on the finish of your appliance. Always refer to your owner’s manual for precise cleaning instructions.
To deep clean your refrigerator, follow these steps:
Remove all contents from the refrigerator and freezer and unplug the appliance.
Remove storage shelves and bins and wash with a mild cleanser, warm water and a sponge.
Using a clean sponge or soft cloth and a mild detergent, or other nonabrasive cleaner with warm water, hand wash interior surfaces and removable parts, including refrigerator walls, the door and permanent shelves.
Place the dried removable parts back inside the refrigerator and plug in the appliance.
To clean a refrigerator with a painted surface, you can typically wash the exterior enamel surfaces and gaskets with warm water and mild soap or detergent.
If you have a traditional stainless steel refrigerator without a fingerprint resistant coating, you can use a mild cleaning solution with a clean microfiber cloth to help clean and care for the stainless steel surfaces.
- To clean stainless steel or black stainless steel with fingerprint resistant exteriors by hand, you can use a soft, nonabrasive cloth and a mixture of dish soap and warm water to wipe the surface of your appliance in the direction of the grain.
2. Store less-perishable items in the door
French door refrigerators offer premium door storage that helps free up valuable shelf space. The doors of your French door refrigerator open side-by-side to give you easy access to your ingredients, making them ideal for storing smaller items like condiments.
Because temperatures in the doors are typically slightly warmer than the rest of the refrigerator interior, you can also utilize the split, double-door style of this area for easy access to less perishable items like butter, chili sauce, olives or capers. Avoid storing temperature-sensitive items like milk or eggs in the door, reserving them instead for the cooler interior shelves.
3. Designate items to the upper and lower shelves
As you organize your French door refrigerator, keep in mind the differences in temperature throughout the refrigerator. In general, the lower shelves of the refrigerator are usually cooler than the upper shelves, so it's important to consider placement when deciding where to store various items.
In general, items like prepared foods, leftovers and beverages are best stored on the upper shelves.
The upper shelves also provide an accessible location for storing regularly used items like milk or eggs.
Perishable items like meat or dairy should be placed in designated places on the lower shelves.
- Be sure to reserve storage space on the bottom shelves for foods to be cooked at high temperatures, such as raw meat, poultry and fish.
4. Sort fruits, vegetables and deli items in drawers
Depending on the brand, your French door refrigerator may come with crisper or deli drawers. Designed to store different types of food, these storage bins provide different food items and ingredients with a specialized cooling environment according to their storage needs.
To organize fruits and vegetables in your refrigerator, crisper drawers offer a great environment for storing items sensitive to humidity.
If your refrigerator features multiple crisper drawers, consider allocating one for fruits and another for vegetables to enhance organization further.
Adjust the airflow in each drawer as necessary using the sliders, if your refrigerator has them, to help maintain optimal freshness.
Keep the crisper drawer no more than ⅔ full to allow ample breathing room for your fresh food and ingredients.
If your refrigerator has them, you can use deli drawers to organize sandwich meats and cheese. Deli drawers provide a location for storing perishable items at lower temperatures to help optimize freshness and help keep your refrigerator looking clutter-free.
You can also consider using a replaceable absorbent liner on the bottom of your storage bins for easier cleanup.
5. Label food items and storage containers
Labeling your food items is a great way to keep track of what’s in your refrigerator and how long it’s been there. Labeling items with dates and names can help prevent wasted food, which is particularly helpful when keeping different items in the freezer with longer storage times.
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How to organize a French door freezer
You can help keep the ingredients in your freezer drawer organized and accessible by sorting items by type, using organization bins and stacking items whenever possible.
Group by type: Create designated areas for frozen produce, meats, fish and prepared meals.
Use organizing bins: To help you sort through your frozen items more easily, consider placing similar items together in organizing bins. The bins help keep your items in place and ready to access when you need them.
- Stack items: Items like frozen meals, ice cream containers and boxed desserts like popsicles can be stacked into neat piles.
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French door refrigerator organization tips
Incredibly versatile, French door refrigerators allow you to get creative with your organization to make a storage space that’s uniquely yours. Below are a few additional tips for organizing your French door refrigerator to help maximize the storage potential of your appliance:
Use clear storage and organization bins to easily identify food items and ingredients without rummaging.
Help prevent decreased airflow by not blocking vents with food items inside the refrigerator cabinet.
Create an “eat first” bin to keep track of expiration dates and help limit waste.
For children, designate a storage bin for easy access to snacks and juice.
Adjust the refrigerator shelves for increased storage flexibility.
Research which foods don’t need to be refrigerated to free up storage space in your appliance.
Store leftovers on the upper shelves with dated labels to help avoid spoiled food.
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