I have the exact models. The hinges are designed to close the door when all is level. Mine take very little effort. You do have to get the door on its way with a nudge, but not much. It sounds to me like yours are not level. I installed these myself, and I would say you have a shot that you can get a little wiggle room out of the metal brackets if you wanted to try the feet. Start by taking a level to the fridge body where the door connects. That will let you know top to bottom level, then across a shelf or the bottom of the fridge. It may behoove you to do this at the bottom and top of the box, and both sides. From there you can adjust the four feet to makeup the difference. If two people are present one can hold the level and the other can adjust in real time to see the impact its making. If they are bolted in at multiple points by a non-instruction method, they may not adjust well if you start messing with the feet. Good luck.

When did this problem start? Initial closing which quickly clamps any ref door shut is a function of the air inside contracting upon closure which creates low pressure inside as it is quickly re-cooled. This usually lasts several minutes at least and makes the door hard to open until slight slow leakage equalizes the internal and external air pressure. The first thing you might try as an experiment is to close the door very slowly (1 or 2 minutes) over the last half inch or so and then monitor it to see if there is any change in the problem. Good luck!

Oh, good. It has a lot of potential. : ) Could we please have the measurement of the kitchen from left to right on your drawing: from the dining room edge of the peninsula to the outside edge of the kitchen on the right? I don't see that on your drawing. Your little cardboard and foil kitchen is so cute! You might like to try Lowe's Virtual Room Designer once you get some pencil and paper drawings sketched out. The mock-ups are super realistic. You can switch back and forth from 2D to 3D. A great way to start sketching is to photocopy your room layout that you have pictured above and then start drawing in all the pieces. If it's easier, you can even cut out a 2D sink, stove and fridge to slide around on the sheet to play with placement before sketching them in. You really don't want your dishwasher door and stove door to open into each other. You can plan your kitchen for both now and the future. Someday the little person clinging to your knees will become a big person able to help cook, bake and clean. Leave yourself some room to have those activities happen simultaneously. There's plenty of room in your kitchen to get a functional layout. Here is a link that might be useful: Lowe's Virtual Room Designer

Thank you everyone for their responses! For those that provided pics, your fridges all look so integrated! I love them! breezygirl: The width is 39" wide because if it was narrower, the left side of the cabinet would be too far from the "virtual" edge defined by the left side of the wall that the cabinets are mounted on. Interestingly enough, there's actually more room to accomodate a 42" fridge if the left side of the cabinet is moved out to the left by 3 inches. fori: The cabinets are framed, although the overlay amount is quite narrow in some places. How would this change the filler design? weedmeister: The specs on my fridge appear to require only 1/4" on each side (actually zero on one side, 1/4" on the other, so on average 1/8" per side) itsallaboutthefood: Your situation is similar to mine in that I need to "close" about 3 inches of space. How much space did you actually end up leaving on each of the sides? Nice rice cooker by the way.. I have something similar.. :) Should I leave 1/4 inch on each side? Or should I leave 1/2 inch? What do you guys think?