With its two sets of double doors, one on top of the other, a quad is technically a type of French-door fridge, but with side-by-side DNA. (The Quatro Freedom, Samsung’s breakout quad model, was designed on the body of a side-by-side fridge, and it was named a “cool must-have gadget” in 2006 by Time magazine.) I dig the quad’s pleasingly gridded design, which is a departure from the asymmetrical look of many French-door styles with doors on top and drawers on the bottom.
French-door fridges have long been the most popular style of refrigerator sold in the US, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA), and I understand the appeal. That expansive, behold-my-culinary-kingdom view at the top is pretty sweet: Look at all of those snacky leftovers, soda-pop options, and sandwich supplies!
But a traditional French-door model’s freezer — basically a deep black hole of a drawer — can be a downer. It’s heavy to pull open, and items tend to get forgotten in the depths, wasting your food.
The freezer is exactly where quad models excel and innovate. The two separate lower compartments provide superior organization, with door pockets and drawers for easier sorting and storage.
With most quad models, that separation allows you to adjust the temperature of the bottom-right compartment (from the fridge’s control panel or, in some cases, with a connected app) to suit your needs.
For example, the Café quad, from GE Appliances, lets you tinker in three temperature zones: freezing (-6 °F to 5 °F), refrigerating (34°F to 40 °F), and chilling (41 °F to 43 °F).
The most current Samsung quad, meanwhile, has five settings: true freezer ( -8 °F to 5 °F); soft freeze, for, say, scoop-ready ice cream (23 °F); frozen meat and fish (30 °F); fresh fruits and vegetables (36 °F); and drinks (39 °F).
This 28.3-cubic-foot, 36-inch fridge has a handsome platinum glass finish and copper accents, and it’s available in counter depth. The interior is beautifully lit, and its fourth compartment switches between fridge, freezer, and chiller (and it has an optional wine rack). The company also makes a less expensive GE Profile model.
This 29-cubic-foot, 36-inch fridge has a water dispenser, makes two kinds of ice, and has a fourth compartment that toggles between a standard freezer and four fine-tuned temperature zones. It’s available in a few variations, including a model with a white glass finish and a counter-depth option.
