rs - I posted a couple times on my elux that I love. Gist of the story - wasn't looking for a fridge but took a peak while buying washer/dryer and then got more serious. Took my favorite serving dishes along and went down the line until I found one that held them "just right". Then looked at price and said NO Sales guy said big sale, so I bought it and love it! I have the Elux with the perfect temp drawer and no ice through the door. Saved tons on food over the past 2 years as everything stays so fresh!

Our refrigerator is on the end of a run in a doorway as well. But, since we have a narrow aisle at that point and our refrigerator is on an outside wall (so no recessing), we went with a counter-depth to save aisle space. As to how to recess into the wall, others have described it pretty well. What isn't mentioned is that some people recess their refrigerator not only into the wall, but into the room behind it. If you need to recess your refrigerator more than 3" or 4", you will need to recess into the next room. However, even those 3" or 4" can help if you have a standard depth refrigerator! Since CD refrigerators are not totally counter-depth, they will stick out several inches beyond the surrounding counters...up to 3" or 4" for the doors and another 2" or so for the handles (depending on the refrigerator). The doors must stick out past the counters to open fully. Because of this, we also built our refrigerator in with end panels (end panels are only as deep as the distance b/w the back wall and the front of the refrigerator carcass/box). Note that a full depth end panel will not make a difference in a "dark corner" b/c the refrigerator will be just as deep so will still create the "dark corner". I.e., whether you have full or partial depth end panels the effect will be the same b/c the refrigerator will be even deeper. One more comment...how deep is the wall next to your refrigerator? If it's deeper than 24" or 25" you will need some filler b/w the refrigerator & the wall...the deeper the wall, the more filler will be needed. If it's no more than 24" or so, you shouldn't need any filler unless there's door trim...then you will probably need filler to clear the door trim.

Ditto on the Maytag. My 5 yr old (which I do not consider to be old) dishwasher started leaking into the basement. Being that we are months into starting the kitchen I didn't want to replace it so I had someone come in to repair it. $235.00 later (I nearly fainted for I could buy a cheapy new one for just a little more money which would tide us over until the remodel) the repairman left and I started to do my first load of dishes - with five adults you can imagine how the dish/pan thing got way out of control... my son tells me that there is water coming through the floor in the basement... again! Repairman returns and notices a crack in the tub that he missed and rewrote the invoice for just the service call - if he hadn't I would have done something unpleasant to him. There shouldn't be a crack in the tub after only five years but I am on the hook because it is "so old".

Hi guys, Sorry for the delay in responding. We have been on the road making other appliance choices. I was thrilled to see so many helpful responses when I got home. Thank you all for your contributions! Here are a few general answers/reflections: 1)Good point about this fridge not being built in so it can be replaced if desired. 2)We have yet to see the fridge in person (we have to drive a hour away so it is a long distance love affair at this point). I will see how the plates match at that time and see how true to cobalt it is. 3)We had thought about painting the island blue, but I think I would prefer a less bright navy colour. We had also thought about a dark walnut colour as suggested above, but not sure how that would look with a blue fridge. I don't think I could go do either perimeter cabinets, nor island in a royal blue. 4)We will be limited in our ability to match other appliances. The only other appliance we could get in the blue would be the DW. They make a range, but we are doing an induction cooktop and separate oven. So if we did the blue fridge it would have to look good with all stainless appliances. 5)We don't want the fridge to be the major focal point of the kitchen, as we thought the glass cabinet would be. The decorative glass we are going for on the glass cabinet is a repeat of the decorative glass we have on the front door (Lexington glass from Trimlite). 6)I agree that others have asked about alternatives to stainless steel fridges on this forum and there are some great options besides the blue. I am having trouble finding any ratings on this fridge, so the fridge itself needs to function well as a fridge, not just look pretty. 7)You are right that I need to consider balance, and one bold coloured appliance may not work alone 8)We definitely want a stained island colour as mentioned to limit dirt as we have a family. I will get my light painted cabinet fix with the perimeter cabinets. 9)The plates could go in my dining room if they look bad with the fridge. I have another collection of Hummel plates that could go on the kitchen plate shelf (the Hummels are creams, brown colours). 10)Thanks to all who posted on how to tie in the blue colourwise. This is an area that I need help with for sure. You have given me lots to think about. What shade of cream would look okay with the blue? Thank you all again for your time and thoughts. Sorry to not be able to respond to each and every one of you individually. Carol P.S. I am going to try to use the helpful suggestions of how to add an image of the Heartland fridge by editing my initial post (thanks for these tech tips).