A refrigerator is either a built in, as in it MUST have cabinet sides and sit on a cabinet, or a free standing as in it sits on it's own little roller feet and can be rolled in and out to clean behind. You can have a paneled front freestanding one, but putting panels on it doesn't make it look built in. It's like those houses which only brick the front. It doesn't fool anyone at all that it's a brick house. Even some "built in" ones aren't fully integrated looking, which is what most people think of when they think of a built in refrigerator. A very common situation these days is just putting side panels on a regular old stainless steel freestanding fridge. For most people, unless you're doing a 100K kitchen, that's a fine look.

I would get a few more estimates. A KA compressor replacement kit should be less than $300. $750 for labor is pretty standard for hoity toity places. I would check your local craiglist. In my area there are a few guys not paying commercial rent/huge overhead that work with a truck and cell phone and know what they are doing but charge a lot less. BTW I have not seen someone put a 36" freestanding fridge into a 48" cutout that looks good.

Okay, I'll give it a shot, based on my limited knowledge on the subject. Major differences...first off built in fridges are often smaller in size to their free standing counterparts because of the cabinet design. That is why you'll see a lot of 42inch+ BI fridges. My SZ is quite a bit smaller when compared to my old freestanding Kenmore. Also, the fancier BI fridges come with multiple compression units/vacuum sealing functions, heavier insulation, and usually (which is a pretty important factor) a very solid warranty for years. Also, the price differences. There is a much much much larger market for free standing less expensive fridges. It would be safe to assume that for every built in fridge that is sold, the major players (Kenmore, Whirlpool, GE, Samsung) probably sell 10 or 20 units. Supply and demand is a huge factor. The major brand fridges also make their products overseas to keep the costs down. A SZ, Viking, or Northland fridge would be made in the USA and that adds a lot to their price. Also, the major built in manufacturers sell primarily to high end installations where people are throwing around $100,000 or more for a remodel. These companies have a brand image of being good quality and, more importantly, expensive, the SZ pro48 is like 16 grand. You take someone who knows high end kitchens and show them one with a sub-zero, viking range, and what not, and they will automatically assume the remodel was expensive. Compare that to walking into a house with a Kenmore freestanding, a GE range, and a Samsung microwave. That looks more "pedestrian" (I am not using that word as a put down by the way). I like to put it this way to people. Think about it like cars. Sure you can buy a Toyota Camry for 25,000, it'll run well, fit all the stuff you need, and get you from A to B for years to come. That is the best selling car on the road so you'll see a ton of them. Now imagine buying a car that does same thing, but paying $150,000 or more for it (think a Bentley or something). It will do the same thing as the Camry, but it'll be more powerful, handcrafted, and look incredible while doing it for years to come, and you'll rarely see one on the road. People will know it does pretty much functionally the same as any other car, but it has an image, and people will know it's expensive. All fridges do one thing, they keep your stuff cold. Some preserve food fresher for longer if they have vacuum sealing like SZ, and I can tell you from experience it DOES keep veggies/fruit fresher a lot longer than my basement fridge. Sometimes extending the shelf life of the food for a week or two more, sometimes even longer. Anyway I hope that this helps answer your question.

I went from a free-standing style to a slide-in mostly due to looks, but also because I didn't like reaching over the pots to adjust the controls. Here's my observations: Slide-ins stop spills om the sides, but free-standing ones stop spills in back. Front controls are easier to reach, but they also result in more accidental control changes. Mine is angled, but I don't notice any effective difference in cooking real estate. In fact I think I have more than my old free standing one. The angle also makes it really easy to operate the controls. 30" slide-in is not the same as 30" free standing. Make sure you have your stove before installing cabinets and counter tops. We didn't and now our range sticks out farther than it should. Here's what it looks like as of now: From Kitchen as of July 12 2009 (Obviously we're not done yet...) I will have an OTR micro-hood (it arrived today!) and felt like the free-standing model would just make things look way too crowded and cramped. We'll be doing a piece of our granite in the space between, so no stainless steel or grout worries.