12 Best Counter-Depth Refrigerators of 2025, Lab-Tested by Our Experts
These top-rated refrigerators, from brands such as LG, Miele, and Samsung, 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-freezers are all 28 inches deep, but they make up for their small footprint by getting taller, with some options approaching 6 feet. All 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 all measure 27 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 our picks come in a stainless steel finish. These models earn strong scores for thermostat performance and energy efficiency.
Best Counter-Depth French-Door Refrigerators
French-doors are one of the most popular types of refrigerators. 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. Our picks range from 25 to 29 inches deep and receive strong scores in our thermostat performance test.
How CR Tests Refrigerators
We rate refrigerators based on their thermostat performance, temperature uniformity, noise output, ease of use, energy efficiency, crisper performance, and icemaker performance (if they have one).
Every refrigerator we test gets wired with 15 temperature sensors. We then monitor those thermocouples for more than a month in one of three temperature-controlled chambers, collecting more than 5.4 million temperature readings for each fridge we test. The results tell us how well a refrigerator maintains a set temperature and how temperature varies in different areas of a fridge, so we can determine which models will keep your food fresh longer.
Our testers measure the noise when the compressor starts up and the steady hum while the fridge is running. For ease of use, we examine the fridge’s layout, controls, and lighting.
Our process includes tests for icemaker performance based on how much ice a fridge produces per day and how much it can hold in its reservoirs. We evaluate crisper performance to judge how well the crisper drawers retain moisture to keep your food fresh for longer periods of time.
We also factor in survey data from thousands of CR members to judge brand reliability and satisfaction. All that data and more inform CR’s refrigerator ratings and each model’s Overall Score.
Get more details on how we test refrigerators.
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