Where to Find Your Refrigerator Water Filter – Various Models

Your refrigerator water filter is something that many people don’t think of. Your fridge might not even dispense water, only ice, but the filter does need to occasionally be changed. Modern fridges have a helpful light that will alert you when the current filter’s time is up, and we all notice when the little black flecks appear in the ice and water. However, changing your fridge’s water filter includes one final challenge: Finding the filter location.

Refrigerators tend to tuck the water filter somewhere accessible but out of the way. Most often, your fridge’s water filter is in the upper right-hand corner of the fridge compartment, near the back. Wherever that might be on your model of fridge. And if it’s not there, it might be behind the grille at the floor, often on the left-hand side. Unfortunately, every fridge model is different and each door-style of the fridge has a different set of standard locations. This article will break down each fridge style and the best places to look for the water filter. 

What the Water Filter Looks Like

Water filters are almost universally long cylinders with rounded bottoms and a smaller capped top. Your fridge will use a specific brand and model of water filter, with available off-brand options. You can look up the model online or you can simply find the old water filter and buy an identical replacement.

When searching for the water filter location, look for housing and a cylindrical slot. In the fridge compartment, it is oblong or corner-based housing. Behind the grille, it is a circular space with an old water filter slotted inside.  

Water Filter Locations by Fridge Type

Look for your water filter based on the shape of your fridge. The location and size of your fridge compartments will determine where the water filter might be. Check out your fridge shape from the list and we’ll point you to the best places to look for the water filter. Here are all the places in a collected list:

• Top Right
  • upper right corner of the refrigerator compartment
• Top Left
  • upper left corner of the refrigerator compartment
• Left Lower Grille
  • behind the kick-grill under the fridge, on the left-hand side
• Bottom Center
  • in the center bottom of the fridge compartment between the drawers

Top-Freezer Fridge

Filter Location: Top Right or Left Lower Grille

The top-freezer is the traditional fridge shape. It has a large single-door fridge compartment with a smaller freezer on top. It has two-doors.

Open the fridge compartment door and look to the top right corner. If you see housing there, look for a tab or clamp to get it open. Inside should be the water filter. Most water filters remove with a push-and-twist or the press of a button. If there is no housing in the top-right corner, remove the kick-grille underneath the fridge compartment. Inside you should see a circular space and a water filter. Remove the old water filter and insert the new one. Make sure it clicks in. 

Bottom-Freezer Fridge

Filter Location: Top Right, Top Left, or Left Lower Grille

The bottom-freezer fridge is a common variant of the standard model. The freezer opens like a drawer with basket racks for safer frozen stacking. It has two doors.

Open the upper fridge compartment and check the upper-right-hand corner. If there is a plastic compartment there, open it and find the water filter inside. Replace that filter with the exact match or an accepted equivalent.

Next, check the grille underneath the freezer compartment. It should come loose easily. Behind the grille will be fridge components, including a round slot for water filter. Replace the water filter that you find. 

Water Filter Location in French 3-Door Fridge

Filter Location: Bottom Center, Top Right, or Top Left

The French 3-Door fridge has a bottom freezer compartment and an upper fridge that opens from two doors at the center. They are sometimes wider than 2-door fridges. Open both the fridge compartment doors, then look down into the center, near the bottom of the compartment. Between the produce drawers, you will see a round handle which is the old water filter. Twist and pull the old water filter out and replace it with a duplicate.

If there is no center water filter, look to the upper-right corner of the fridge compartment. You may see housing there slightly larger than a water filter in or near the corner. Find a way to open the housing with a tab or clamp and replace the water filter inside.

The filter might alternately be in the top-left corner of the fridge compartment. Check for housing and replace the water filter if you find it to the left. 

Side-by-Side French Door Fridge

Filter Location: Top Right or Left Lower Grille

Side-by-Side fridges are all-vertical. They usually have the freezer in the left vertical-half and the fridge in the right vertical-half. Often, these compartments are close to the same size or identical.

This type of fridge adheres to the two standard places to build a water filter. Start by looking in the upper-right corner for housing that could hold a water filter cylinder. If you find housing, find the release catch and then exchange the water filter inside.

If it’s not in the fridge compartment, the filter is likely in your lower grille. Take off the kick-guard grill and find the round compartment where the water filter resides. Push and twist to release the water filter and make sure the new one clicks in. 

Under-Counter Fridge

Filter Location: Left Lower Grille

Finally, there are short fridges that go under the counter. These don’t have enough fridge-compartment space for an internal water filter, so it’s almost always under the grill near the floor. Pry off the grill and look for the water-filter-shaped space in the components beneath. Replace with a matching water filter and close the grill behind you. Once you find your water filter, you’ll need to replace it with an identical or very similar. Then press the water filter light’s button to reset it for the next water filter alert. Contact us today for more clues on how to maintain and repair your appliances.