I don't have a set-up like the one you describe, but whatever works for you will be great. Try to put some numbers to this before you begin. Be realistic about your estimates. Some families shop for the month at Costco and refrigerate or freeze everything. I shop for what I need for the week and all my produce goes in the fridge (freezer is almost empty). My sis leaves all her fruits at room temp in bowls to get her boys to reach for them more often. What you do will determine what you need, and help you answer the following questions:

What's your cryo budget?
How many cubic feet of 38 oF and 0 oF space do you think you need?
How much of this space do you want "zoned" (i.e, beverage, snack, cooking) and what zones do you need?

You have all sorts of options from fridge/freezer columns, to drawers, to larger flush mount fridge freezers. It all depends on what you need and what you can afford. If you post your layout the space gurus can help ensure you have the right stuff in the right spot.

Last night I was visiting with friends from Athens and they marveled at how "big" my sister's 36" built-in SZ was. My sis has a family of four and often runs out of freezer space. I just said, "yeah...."

We have an all fridge subzero, and separate subzero freezer drawers. We are a family of five. We do not eat much frozen food.

We have an extra fridge w freezer in the basement for things like homemade stock, etc.

We have had the Frigidaire all-fridge..all-freezer combination for 9 years, and are putting the same thing in our new home remodeled kitchen, though the size on their CD units went from 16.7 to 19 cu. ft. Not as fancy as a SZ, but also less than 1/3 the price!

You will NOT have as much space in a CD as you think - but, on the other hand, no biology experiments perking along out of sight in the back of the fridge.

Mtnrdredux, and that set up works well for your family of five?

We will soon be a family of 5, 3 boys, eat mostly fresh food and lots of veggies. We ended up going with a 36" fully integrated all refrigerator subzero and separate freezer drawers, as well as a deep freeze in the garage for frozen produce, meat, etc. We are in the building stage still so I'm not sure it will be the perfect setup, but it wasn't a decision I made lightly. In the end the refrigerator/freezer units simply didn't have adequate produce storage for the amount of full height refrigerator space I wanted, and we really don't use much frozen food on a daily basis so the freezer drawers seemed like a perfect fit. Not sure that helps.

We are a family of 8 with 2 away at college, and I love our all fridge. I wanted freezer drawers but couldn't find the space so our full freezer is a quick step around the corner in the pantry.

We are a family of 5, with our oldest grown and out of the house. I am planning on an integrated 30" sz all fridge with 24" sz freezer drawers. We do have a big fridge/freezer in our garage so I think this will work out for us.

Thank you all! I am going to have to research some affordable models. I know SZ won't work for me, but maybe a Frigidaire or Electrolux.

Don't forget Perlick. Not cheap but the website lists factory seconds.

Thanks, marcolo. I hadn't heard of that brand.

Laura, yes, it works fine. We've been in our house 3.5 years. And to make matters "worse", the freezer drawers are all the way across the kitchen in our pantry.

But as I said, we don't use it much. Frozen fruit for smoothies, frozen yogurt bars, frozen bananas. When we buy ice cream we tend to buy single servings as a treat, so it doesn't need storage for long! We keep some frozen veggies, fish sticks, chicken fingers, veggie burgers, homemade waffles, locally made ravioli, and left over bread. Anything more significant or that we might keep for a long time .... Stock, ice, goes in the basement.

I have the full size KitchenAid Architect II 36" French door refrigerator with freezer drawer. I also have a stand alone freezer in the pantry.

I think many people have supplemental freezer space. Refrigerator and freezer drawers are expensive appliances. I would consider a supplemental freezer located elsewhere. It's a cost effective solution.

I've had the SZ all refrigerator and freezer. They came with the house. I liked them. But, when it comes to planning from scratch, I always find better uses for my appliance dollar.