12 Best Counter-Depth Refrigerators of 2025, Tested by Our Experts
These top-rated refrigerators earn great scores for thermostat performance and cost a lot less than built-ins, while sitting almost flush with kitchen cabinets
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Refrigerators have grown much larger in recent years. That’s great if you need to store food for a big family, but not so great for smaller kitchens. Counter-depth refrigerators provide a budget-friendly solution.
“The deepest refrigerator we’ve tested is 37 inches deep,” says Breann Chai, CR’s lead refrigerator test engineer. “That means it sticks out 12 inches past a standard 25-inch-deep countertop.” (Kitchen cabinets typically measure 24 inches deep, plus a 1-inch overhang for the countertop.)
- Best Counter-Depth Refrigerators: Top-Freezers Bottom-Freezers French-Doors Side-by-Sides
- How CR Tests Refrigerators
Best Counter-Depth Top-Freezer Refrigerators
These top-tier top-freezers are all 28 inches deep or less, but they make up for their small footprint by getting taller, with some options approaching 6 feet in height. All of our picks come in a stainless steel finish and earn respectable marks for temperature uniformity and energy efficiency.
Best Counter-Depth Bottom-Freezer Refrigerators
These bottom-freezers, which measure 27 to 28 inches deep, aren’t as feature-rich as some bigger models. Bottom-freezers tend to be more reliable than French-doors and side-by-sides, though, and all of our picks come in a stainless steel finish. These models earn strong scores for thermostat performance and very good marks for energy efficiency.
Best Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerators
French-doors are one of the most popular types of refrigerator. These counter-depth options are all 30 inches deep or less, and receive top scores in our temperature tests.
Best Counter-Depth Side-by-Side Refrigerators
Finding a side-by-side at counter depth can be tough; there aren’t that many options on the market. All of our picks are 28 to 29 inches deep, feature through-the-door ice/water dispensers, and garner excellent scores in our thermostat performance test.
How CR Tests Refrigerators
During testing, we outfit each refrigerator with thermocouples in a climate-controlled chamber and monitor it for more than a month, collecting more than 5.4 million temperature readings that identify warm and cold spots, to determine which models will keep your food fresh longest.
We also factor in survey data from thousands of CR members to judge brand reliability and satisfaction. All of that—and then some—informs CR’s refrigerator ratings and each model’s Overall Score.
Get more details on how we test refrigerators,
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