It's purely an aesthetics issue. In my case I have a standard depth fridge but it's an the end of the run of cabinets so to me it looks fine - I'm not sure how it would look in the middle of a run of cabinets. Can you rearrange your design so the fridge is at the end? As in your case, I really didn't want to spend a lot of extra money for a smaller fridge. You can see pictures of my kitchen on my home page or in the Finished Kitchens Blog.

You may be able to recess the fridge into the wall slightly or use extra deep counters (with cabinets to match of course). In the middle of a run, it usually looks a little nicer to have the fridge counter depth, but that doesn't always mean you need a counter depth fridge!

I prefer the cheaper standard depth too. More food space!

I would like to second what fori said. I could not bring myself to pay more $$ for less space! I would have loved to have deeper counters on my fridge wall, but that didnÂt work out. However, my handy hubby was able to recess the fridge, so it looks counter depth. One of the many great ideas we got from GW! :-)

Thank you all for your responses. The house has an open floor plan and since the living room leads into the kitchen,we thought having the fridge on the end as you enter the kitchen might make it appear twice as large
as it would be the first thing you see. Conversely,
we thought placing it towards the middle would make it appear less massive as you enter the room, in that,
you would first see counter space with upper/lower cabinets first. Not sure if this makes sense but that is what we are currently considering. Thank you again for your input.
I, too, hate the idea of spending more $ for less fridge.

I think I understand your plan and reasoning. You might be able to make a standard depth fridge look built-in by encasing it in tall cabinets that are bumped out to fridge depth. Even just a plain box around it neatly trimmed--complete with full depth cabinet above it--will make it less obnoxious. I recommend running your plan by the kitchen forum. I'm sure folks would be pleased to offer suggestions (and photos) of ways to make a fridge fit in.

We are ordering the standard depth Jenn-air and recessing it into the wall with a cabinet built around it so only the door panel will show. I am with fori, who would want less fridge and pay more $$$? I have talked to several people who bought a cabinet depth (retired no kids) and they wish they had their old reg depth fridge.

Maybe I'm a sucker for aesthetics, but I have a counter-depth fridge and I absolutely love it. I'm also happy I got the Kitchen Aid fridge. It is sooooo quiet, you can't hear it going--important since our kitchen is part of our overall living space. If only I could say that for the Kitchen Aid dishwasher. . .

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheryl's Fridge

I understand your preference , but if I might, I have to say I am a bit surprised when people opt for a standard depth fridge. They take up more floor area and interrupt the cabinet and floor plan. Also, deeper shelves may hold more food in a shorter squattier fridge, but cabinet depth models can hold just as much by being slightly taller. Deep shelves are nice for holding large items, but things can be harder to organize on them and might even be out of sight and go stale/rancid before they are noticed. As far as price, many average priced fridges are now manufactured in the counter depth format, not just the high end stuff.
I like the counter depth with the full width door on top, and the freezer drawer on the bottom, because I keep most of the frozen stuff and pop/beer in the garage fridge. I got my counter depth at Sears and the garage fridge at Lowes.

Hericles, I put a 36" wide CD fridge in my last kitchen. I'll put a standard depth in my current one because my limiting factor is cabinet frontage, not floor area. If I can't install it so that it will not interrupt the cabinet and floor plan, I'll probably go CD again. And I'll have considerably less space for food storage. And it's not even a frugality issue: we were going to go with a Thermador built in but alas: for the same amount of kitchen real estate, doesn't hold as much.

You seem to have missed that the point of this thread is in fact dedicated to how to use a standard depth fridge in such as way as to NOT look weird!

Paying more to get less storage is not one of my favorite things to do. In a previous home long ago we had 30" deep counters, and if that is possible for you, I highly recommend it. Make sure the counter or tall cabinet panel doesn't interfere with door swing! This time we are recessing our fridge 3" -- the door will still stick out, but not the body of the fridge.

i'll never go back to "standard" depth fridge again in the kitchen. stuff sat in there for years, begging to be eaten or tossed. kids would sit and stare endlessly, wondering where stuff went.

counter-depth took some getting used to. makes you plan ahead, buy fresh, shop more frequently.

we have 2nd standard fridge in utility room, but we rarely fill it up except pre-party. even if we didn't have the 2nd one, wouldn't go back.

We rebuilt our kitchen keeping a standard depth refer, placing it second on a wall that started with an over deep pantry of roll out drawers and then essentially a box for the refer (it still sticks out a little) followed by normal counter. It looks fine and you get the advantage of a deeper pantry and high storage for seldom used items.

This is true. That is why we recessed the wall back so the full depth will only take up the same space as the counter depth. BUT, not all people have the option to recess the wall.

My wife wont even consider a standard depth fridge. Frankly, me either. Cabinet depth or nothing. We are only a small family of 3 though. And I like what someone said about standard depth being so big you cant see stuff in the back of the fridge. Great point.

Well, I certainly don't like fridges sticking out and I wouldn't have one sticking out myself. Um, well, I do, but I just moved in and it's not going to stay!

It's what, 5 inches deeper? I don't lose stuff. I DID have a little trouble getting stuff off the back of the top shelf in my CD fridge though, but I'm short. I also couldn't quite see inside the butter compartment. They're a little taller.

I'm not fanatical either way. Don't like it sticking out but don't care how it manages to get flush. All depends on the kitchen layout, to me.

I have the perfect opportunity to push the wall behind my fridge back to get the standard fridge flush with counters. Standard depth Fridges seem to be around 31" deep and we are planning 24" counter depth- so a 7" pushback seems to make sense. Now my kitchen designer has warned me that the fridge doors will likely not open properly . Any experience with this? Special hinges? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

We got a standard depth French door fridge and it did stick out quite a bit. That did not work for us. Not because of the look but because there is a pull-out pantry located in the cabinet right next to the fridge. Access to that pantry was quite limited with the fridge in the way.

So we built a recess in the wall and gained about 2". That made quite a difference already. We couldn't get more as there was a pipe for the built-in vacuum system in that wall which could not be moved. That's something to consider when planning a recessed fridge: be sure that there is no plumbing or similar in that wall!