I made the compromise, too. I am planning a renovation, but I needed a new refrigerator immediately. I had a side by side KitchenAid that I wanted to shoot and put it out of it's misery. It froze everything in the frig compartment. My current cabinetry wouldn't hold any of the built in models. I purchased a 36" KitchenAid Architect II Series French door refrigerator. I couldn't hold out for the Subzero or a Liebherr. I needed a new fridge yesterday. I started to buy the Bosch, but cancelled the order when I researched Bosch's reliability. I've had the KitchenAid for a couple of months now. I'm really happy with it. No problems to date. Plus, the grey interior with LED lights looks like Star Trek. I swear I hear it sing when I open it. Some reviewers complain about the sounds it makes. It does hum a bit, but nothing to loud. My experience has been good and I can recommend it. I certainly think it is a lot better than the Samsung or LG. Ask me in 10 years.

marie_cate: Thanks for the bike-shop suggestion! I was on a road trip w/ DD to visit colleges the weekend after I posted, so I used some of the internet time I had at the hotel to e-mail a bunch of bike shops in Queens. One of them called on the next Monday and promised to save all his boxes. They were perfect! I split them and unfolded them, and they stood up!! and the Nerf party was a genuine success. So I know what to do for next year. We passed out business cards from the shop, and I'm going to e-mail him some of the photos. Thanks for all the ideas. I thought you might want to know what had worked.

Sorry to be MIA - life and keeping an eye on by GC and subcontractors got in the way...I followed this for a little while, then got out my checkbook and wrote a check for the full amount of the bill, not because I felt that it was fair or that I got what I had asked for, but simply because I didn't want to talk to the designer again. And I was really turned off by some of the "scolding" I received, simply for asking what others would do in my situation... And to those of you who were sympathetic and offered their interpretations, thank you for the support and kind words! Here's my thoughts on the entire situation: I was naive about this entire renovation project. I trusted "professionals" and now I know that not everyone has the same ethical nature that I have. I honestly thought that by starting with "professional" architects, having them recommend "professional" GCs, having the GC (and architects) recommend "professional" decorator that I would end up with people who knew what they were doing and who would make sure that I understood the process. I started each conversation by explaining that this is the first time I've ever undertaken a project of this scope/nature and what my goal was. What I found was that the architects would cover for mistakes/omissions made by the GC, the GC didn't check the work of his subcontractors and would often cover for them, and the decorator was completely a joke - recommending that I get rid of furniture, then, 6 months later, recommend that I purchase almost the exact same piece...I end my project much wiser, much poorer, and with not the best opinion of people who call themselves professionals. It's not that the GC hasn't made the subcontractors return to fix their errors/problems and that the architects didn't back me up when I pointed out the GC's errors/omissions, but it was clear that unless I did the research and inspections, no one was looking out for my best interest, although, when explaining what their role in the process was, both the architects and GC proclaimed to be my employee, my advocate and to work in my best interest. Hahaha...I still chuckle when I realize how I swallowed that hook, line and sinker. As to the decorator dilemma, I appreciate those posters who offered insight, advice and were sympathetic. I think I must have struck an extremely sensitive nerve with some, especially palimpsest and marcolo, as I felt they were quite defensive about the situation and I didn't particularly care for what seemed to be a condescending tone in their posts. I didn't ask for an itemized bill from the decorator because I didn't want to be charged $120/hour for the decorator to sit down and list all of the time that was supposedly spent giving thought to my project and I honestly felt that given my experience with the decorator, I'd have about $300 tied up in getting an itemized bill - which still wouldn't have made any difference in the bill. Was I going to say, um, did you really spend 3 hours looking through magazines to select that sofa - you know - the same one that you selected for another client? Rip me off once, shame on you. Rip me off again, shame on me :) What irritates me the most about the designer is that I specifically asked for recommendations for floor stain and paint colors and instead I got a bunch of furniture and fabric recommendations. I can't help but to think that there was more money for a decorator to make by selling me furniture than by recommending floor stain and paint colors, thus the decision to start with the furniture. If furniture and fabric needed to be chosen before paint colors, shouldn't A PROFESSIONAL have educated me to this point? Shouldn't there have even been a discussion as to how we intended to spend time in the rooms and if there were any special pieces of furniture that we wanted to incorporate? I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to have that conversation prior to someone charging me for their time to make recommendations as to what furniture I would like. Would an attorney go ahead and draw up a divorce settlement proposal without asking me what I wanted in it? What assets we had to settle? would a doctor go ahead and prescribe tests and drugs without asking what was wrong...what my symptoms were? Then why should a decorator feel it's ok to recommend furniture purchases when what I've asked for was stain recommendations and paint color suggestions? I'm almost finished with my renovation and have to say that I'm doing a much better job than the "professional" that I hired...Sorry to offend those who thought so highly of the decorator's suggestions, but they weren't appropriate for our family and personally I feel taken advantage of by the decorator. For what it's worth....

I just had a look at AJ Madison to get some hard numbers about the difference between a 36" built-in and a 42" built-in. It's really not much of a difference at all. Most 36" built-ins have at least 20 cu. feet, and Marvel apparently makes a few 36" built-ins with 23-23.6 cu. feet capacity. Most of the 42" built-ins have 24-26 cu. feet. I think the difference here between what is easy (36") and what you want (42") is not big at all -- the same or less than the capacity of a mini fridge. I'd get the 36", and decide later if I missed the extra few cu. feet enough to get a mini fridge to tuck in another corner of the house. If you have room in the dining room, you could build a mini drink fridge into a buffet. And if it's any comfort, this guide says a family of four needs a combined 18-20 cu. ft. of fridge and freezer storage: http://insideadvantage.com/content.jsp?sectionId=44 This guide also pegged a family of four needing around 20 cu. ft: http://www.cnet.com/topics/refrigerators/buying-guide/ (It said you'd not want much less than 20, might want a little more.) And this says 18-22 cu. ft for a family of four: http://www.overstock.com/guides/refrigerator-fact-sheet So you should be absolutely fine with a 36" built-in fridge.