no one can/should say you NEED at $8k refridg. However, i know a number of people who have SZ's from the 80's that look and work wonderfully today. As someone about to redo my kitchen who can't wait to get rid of my 8 yr old, noisy, often in need of repair at my expense, terribly irregular temperature control, Amana fridge I bought for $1600 and paid another $1000 in repairs I am taking the leap to Sub Zero land with excitement. That said, I'm sure I'd do just fine with something of lesser price/quality but I plan to live in my home a long time and feel this makes it WORTH IT to me.

Last fall I shopped for counter depth refrigerators and was so disappointed that I didn't buy one. I didn't want a side by side, and was told that all the mainstream bottom mounts, except for a new GE were made by the same manufacturer. Molding, hardware, and outer appearance are what differs. The crisper drawers are useless. They can hold one head of leaf lettuce and little more. The ubiquitous shallow drawer (is it supposed to be a meat drawer?) is of no use to me. I also disliked the abundance of white molded plastic inside. I grocery shop every 5-6 days and buy mainly produce. There is simply not enough room inside. There are just two of us using an old counter depth side by side Amana. I am prepared to pay twice the price of KA, JA, etc., but haven't found the ideal product. I was disappointed that the new 36" Liebherr is a FD with two freezer drawers, but I'll revisit the 30" (I think it's about a thousand more than the others) and check out the pricier new model. I love the simplicity of that 30"; super tall, though.

We have had the 42" KA SXS built-in for a little over a year now (the re-vamped model, came out last May-June). Ours has the in-door ice/water dispenser. We like it very much. It works well; keeps our food cold, and I'm not filling ice-cube trays anymore, so I'm happy! We actually waited for the new model to come out (hounded KA for months to see pics and get specs/measurements before the new models were even released), because we didn't like the look of the older model (did not like those "C" handles on the doors). We opted to wait for the KA for a number of reasons. The biggest was cost differential. Our fridge wasn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination--it's still a 42" built-in after all, but it was still cheaper than the SZ's (which had a poor repair record when we were doing our research), and the Thermador (which is/was the same fridge as the KA, but with nicer handles and nicer shelving trim than the older model KA, at a much higher price). Also, our previous two refrigerators were Whirlpools (also the parent company of KA), and we were happy with both. If Whirlpool made built-ins, we'd have considered one in a heartbeat. This was the next-best thing for us. Most appliance store sales people, whether they sold the KA's or not, had only good things to say about them, as did the people working on our kitchen, and installers and svce techs who have been in our home. It might not have as professional or industrial a "look" as the SZ's, IMHO, but it seems to impress every person who walks into our kitchen, and garners as many compliments as our (beautiful) Wolf range does.

I'd think it's because they are new, people want them and they know they can get the higher price. and they had to reconfigure things to make them. I lose things in the back also. I've decided that when I move (and it's emptied out and cleaned etc) I'm going to put some 'things' in it that i can put stuff in and slide in and out. like i have a plastic egg holder that came with mine. in 11 yrs I've never put my eggs in it - but I could put my water bottles in it (or salad dressing, ketchup etc) and it'll slide in and out. and I saw (at W) the white plastic ice bins - and I can get a few of those to put things in which will again allow me to slide it out, put stuff in, slide it back in...and back out. I've also been thinking that just the bottom of some rectangular plastic containers could be used. having a CD fridge isn't something i'm interested in, nor would I pay extra to get it. losing stuff in the back - I care about - lol!