I've been doing the research on several fridges myself for a remodel and have decided on the panel ready KA KFCO22EVBL. Depends on your cabinet maker as to the costs of the individual panels but 18' appliance handles are about $110 each depending also on the finish. I finally found one on display today and it was a decent fridge. Nothing like Subzero, of course, but less than half the price! There,of course, with difference in the hinge of the Subzero that pulls the door out a inch or two to prevent the door from touching or scraping the cabinetry. Nice, but not worth an extra $3000.

Kieffers_Guy, thanks. It was a custom built home and we used the contactors cabinet makers. They did a good job, even carrying the cabinets to a built in hutch in the breakfast area and a built in entertainment center in the family room. mmhmmgood, we like both appliances. As for the double oven, we bought an additional roll out rack for the lower level. The oven is the upper convection model. We have not used the self clean function and don't plan on using it. All self cleaning is nothing more than a super hot cycle and heat like that is not good for electronic components. I find the inside is easy to clean since there are no exposed elements. Soap, water and a little BKF seems to work fine when needed. The MW is great. It is all stainless inside. You will see where some people complain that it is noisy and has a cool down cycle. If you heat something for more than 4 minutes in it, it will continue to "run" for a few minutes in a cool down cycle. It is basically the same noise level as if it were running. In an open kitchen "great room" environment like ours it is a non issue. I suspect the people who find it most offensive are those with an enclosed kitchen or one where the MW is near the eating/living areas. People who see it at first think it is some sort of small oven and not a microwave, since it basically looks identical to the double oven.

In my remodel I framed out a recessed area 3'1" wide and 6'2" tall for our new fridge, which is a Whirlpool 25.4 cu feet SxS, which is exactly the same size as some of the KitchenAid SxS models. I didn't so much build a cabinet for it, but rather had a tall pantry cabinet on one side, a 24" deep cabinet above it, and a tall panel along one side, and set the fridge into that space. I don't know exactly how deep the space is, I'll try to remember to measure tonight, at the moment its backless (you can look between the fridge and the cabinet above it and see into the powder-room-to-be behind it.) I'm pretty sure that the cabinets next to it are 24" deep and the wall into which it is recessed is 5 1/2" (+ 1/2" drywall) making the space 30" deep.

Seeing your whole layout, I can understand why the refrigerator isn’t on the end of the run. Do you have a plan and purpose for that isolated stretch of counter? Would it be better to move the other tall cabinet up against the refrigerator and leave the counter on the end? When I see those types of counters separated from other kitchen functions, my mind always goes to a coffee/beverage center. A microwave there might be nice for snacks and reheating things from the refrigerator. A bar sink would be great for getting drinks, and making coffee without entering the kitchen and interfering with the cook. Sorry to to mess up your thread with these comments if you’ve already thought all this through.