Your question seems to be a common one. I know I struggled with the same issue. We recently went from a side-by-side (36") to a 36" French door. I couldn't get the drawers out from the side-by-side without pulling the whole fridge out from the wall. I've decided it's based on the exact design of the specific fridge, depth of its doors, design of the drawers, your clearance dimensions, etc. I don't think any sales person could have told us with 100% certainty that any specific fridge would have no door clearance problems. In the long run, we're satisfied with the Viking 36" French door fridge we have now because it looks wonderful, works great, and we can get its "pantry" drawer fully open. I still ended up putting a little round sticky "carpet-like" protector on the edge of the wall where the door could hit it if someone threw the door open. It looks fine and my fridge won't get banged up. I'm not sure if this has been any help? Good luck.

Thanks, nlion. Approximately how far is your fridge from the wall?

I totally get that it's appliance by appliance specific (especially if there's ice/water, etc, which is of course on the wall side), but I was hoping for at least a general rule of thumb or real success stories (like yours - although I'm not sure that we're prepared to spring for a Viking!).

I just measured: I have 2.25" of space on the right (our wall side) and 1" on the left side (our countertop/cabinet side) of our fridge. I can open both doors

We found the fridge we wanted (a Samsung FD/CD) and measured how much clearance was required to fully open the doors. In our case it was 15". So that's how wide we built the panty cabinet next to the fridge.
Here's a not so great shot.

Thank you both! willtv - the picture helps. I was thinking that most of the ones that we saw (primarily Samsung and LG) would require about 15" to fully open. Ugh. I don't want to give up that much space to a storage closet. I may need to look at Viking as I've heard Viking, SubZero, etc require much less clearance to open.

Maybe you should reconsider getting a FD and going with a two door, bottom freezer and have the door open opposite the direction of the pantry. Like nlion I have to pull out my side by side in order to clean the freezer. Since we are remodeling I won't have to do that anymore but it has been a PITA for over 10 years. BTW, mfrs have drawings and measurements on their websites showing the door clearance needed.

Thanks for the suggestion meek, but we have that now and I can't stand it. No landing space for the fridge and it just adds to the non-functionality, which we're trying to eliminate in the new space!

The Viking is a "rebadged" fridge. I don't know what the other brand is...maybe someone on here can help. It may be the same as a Kitchenaid? I'm really not sure, but if you find out what the other brand is, you'll surely save some $.

The Viking is a "rebadged" fridge. I don't know what the other brand is...maybe someone on here can help. It may be the same as a Kitchenaid? I'm really not sure, but if you find out what the other brand is, you'll surely save some $.