Do any fridges actually have produce drawers you can pull all the way out?

Full-extension crisper drawers absolutely exist on regular consumer fridges, they're just not the default. When you're back in the stores, open each drawer and pull it until it stops. If it stops with the drawer still mostly inside the cabinet, that's a partial-extension glide. If the drawer comes out and hangs there supported at the front, that's full-extension. You'll feel the difference imediately, and it's the single fastest way to filter models while you're standing there. The stiffness issue you hit on the floor models is usually the glide type too. Cheap fridges use simple plastic rails that the drawer just rides on, and those get gummy and wear out. Better drawers run on actual roller tracks or telescoping glides, and even the display models with nothing in them will slide noticeably easier. If a drawer fights you empty, it's only going to get worse loaded with a watermelon.

On layout, bottom freezer is generally the better bet for produce access. On a French door bottom freezer, the crisper drawers sit low but they span the full width of the fresh food section, so they're wide and deep and you can acutally see across them. Side by side units have narrow compartments, wich means narrow, shallow crisper drawers where the back half is basically a black hole no matter how far they extend. Top freezer fridges are usually the worst of the bunch, small drawers behind everything else. Two other things to check while you're shopping. Look for drawers with clear plastic fronts rather than solid or tinted ones, since that alone solves half the digging-around problem. And pull the drawer out completely if the floor model allows it and look at how the liner sits above it. Some designs put a shelf lip or frame over the front edge of the crisper, which blocks you from loading it from the top even when the drawer works fine.

Skip the screens and door panels entirely, none of it affects how the drawers perform. Spend your testing time on the drawers and the hinges and you'll be fine.

I've found that even if a unit has the right glides, it's still frustrating if the bin itself is opaque. My previous fridge had those solid plastic produce trays, and you'd basicly need a headlamp to check the stuff shoved in the back. Swapping those out for clear plastic ones, or just buying a small shelf liner with a transparent base, helps a ton. It's a small tweak, but it seriously makes a difference in not having to pull the entire drawer out just to see what's about to go bad.

I totally get the frustration with how things get shoved in the back even with a great extension. Once you figure out the mechanical part, the real issue is the stuff you put in there. I used to just pile everything in, but after things started getting lost, I started using small, wedge-shaped silicone trays in the deeper crisper areas. They help keep things from sliding around or shifting when the door closes.

It was the easiest way to compartmentalize the bulkier root vegetables so they didn't get mashed by smaller items. Does anyone else have a preferred way to deal with the condensation that collects on the lower parts of the crisper after a big defrost cycle?

I really appreciate the breakdown on how to test the drawers at the store. My situation is a little diferent though; I'm more concerned about the weight. When I was looking, the floor models were empty and the slide was smooth, but I wonder what happens once I actually put heavy stuff in there, like a huge bag of potatoes. Does that kind of weight really start to mess up the glide system and make it chunky? I just don't know if the telescoping mechanism is supposed to hold up to constant heavy use without getting sticky over time.

The load bearing capacity of those telescoping glides is a very reasonable concern you raise; while the empty slide may feel substantial, the consistent pressure applied when a densely packed tray is pulled can absolutely stress the internal bearings or glide tracks of a less robust unit. I have observed that cheaper plastic runners tend to flex or bind when subjected to a static pressure exceeding perhaps twenty pounds per square inch across the entire surface of the drawer. It is often the weakest point in the design, not the drawer itself, which is why those higher-end models utilize a more rigid rail system that stays square even under significant applied mass.