That CD Electrolux FD model that akchicago linked to --- I think that is the one for which holiday weekend discounts or rebates took the price at or below $2k a few months ago. On akachicago's suggestion to look at Samsung CD fridges: Consumer Reports gives Samsung fridges high marks for quietness, temperature performance, etc. Samsung's fridges seem to have average reliablity in the membership surveys. Note that the LED interior lighting is not to everybody's taste. Good idea to get a look at it. (LEDs are theoretically more energy efficient than other appliance bulbs, but the actual improvement in efficiency of the fridge is going to be negligible unless you have teenagers who hold the doors open for use as kitchen lighting.) AFAIK, the biggest benefit to LED lighting is that the "bulbs" do not get hot. No chance of a broken door switch leaving the light on and heating up your fridge or freezer compartment. (I forget whether it was LG or Samsung, but two or three years ago one of them had a spate a problems with defective swtiches and a lot of very irate owners of SxS fridges. A few of the units reportedly overheated and caused fires. A lot of irate postings about that problem, as you might imagine.) I do not know anybody with a Samsung SxS model, let alone a CD version, but several friends do have CD Samsung FD models and have been very pleased with them. Pretty much everybody who buys a Samsung fridge likes it unless and until they happen to need service. Samsung's warranty service and support practices have been uneven and have sometimes generated a lot of ire. Check them out on www.consumerafairs.com. Check for regional patterns, too, because service and support might be better in NYC than, say, my neighborhood in rural Montana. One of the attraction of the Samsung fridges is having dual evaporators and separate fans. Not quite the same as dual compressors but theoretically the dual-set-up lessens the chances of freeze-ups in the venting system and theoretically makes for better temperature regulation. I say "theoretically" only because I haven't seen any testing or data that shows that they are noticably "real-world" better than the current good WP/KA and Frigidaire/Electrolux models. AFAIK, all of the SxS Samsung CD models have through-the-door ice and water dispensers (TTDDs) which may be an issue given your preferences. This is definitely a YMMV thing, however. As I have said before, TTDDs are so important to some of my friends that, for them, fridge storage is merely a nice accessory to the TTDD. As for akchicago's points favoring FD over SxS, I pretty much agree that FD models have more usuable space and give more flexibility in the use of space. Of course, if those were the sole criteria, we'd be buying top-freezer models. :-) A couple of places that I sorta differ. First, while I can see gary dodge's point -- cited by akchicago --- about some of us older folks maybe having trouble pulling on a bottom-freezer drawer and therefore preferring a SxS model, that point strikes me as a six of one and half dozen of the other kind of thing. I says this as a certified chronic old fart. Us oldsters are as apt to have bending problems as problems pulling on a freezer drawer. My personal preference is for FDs in order to have the crispers and deli-drawers up closer to waist level because those are the things I will use the most frequently. Also, my perception from fridge shopping last fall was that bottom freezer models (including FD fridges) seemed to have a bit more crisper space than the drawers in SxS models. WIth the freezer drawer in my KA FD fridge having a couple of sliding compartments inside the drawer, I haven't had any trouble finding and retrieving frozen goods. Although the capacity is slightly less than the freezer compartment of the top-freezer fridge it replaced, I actually find it easier to sort through and find things. OTOH, freezer capacity in FD models will be reduced -- at least compared to a top freezer model --- by the space needed for the compressor and other sealed cooling system components at the bottom rear of the fridge. In top freezer and SxS fridges, that space reduces the space for the bottom mounted crisper drawers. If you go by specs, the specs for SxS freezer compartments may seem a little bit larger than the specified capacities of FD models. But, when you talke usable freezer capacity, I think FDs are a better buy. (Mind, we are talking about 36" wide units here. It hink it is a completely different story when you get to 48" built-in SxS models and the "twin tower" combos.) For me, the problem with freezers in 36" wide SxS fridges is that they have a series of narrow, small compartments. I call it the "card catalog" effect. Handy for folks who like that arrangement but, for me, however, the full width freezer drawer in an FD model results in more spacious, flexible and useable capacity. All the more so because I don't use the ice maker. This post was edited by JWVideo on Sun, Jun 16, 13 at 16:03

Yeah, it makes sense to expect longer servicing of major devices. OTOH, personally I have never heard of anybody who has had problems with a new fridge, except for internet posters. I may not be the best person to sympathize with the need for long-term servicing as part of an included price. I have a lot of insurance on myself not on things. I never buy extended warrantees. About EnergyStar, which is a dumb rating system, we can agree it will get replaced with some other method one day. The good thing that EnergyStar and EnerGuide have done is to make our society think more all the time about consumption, and in so doing the net result is less consumption. Manufacturers got swayed to get involved without being fed money to do so. Sounds like it worked up till now. According to one EnergyStar site I perused last week, average annual energy consumption of new refrigerators, in kWh/year, was 1984 1990 1997 1999 2004 1457, 1044, 664 , 664 , 465 This was for top-mounted Refrigerators in the size range of 16.5Â18.4 cu. ft. which I believe was considered normal size back in 1984. Today's refrigerators are much better energy performers than older models. This came about without a scandal and without wasting a billion or two on incentives. So even a dumb measuring system can make a positive impact in the right direction. Let's open a new thread to discuss the ideal criteria for an ideal future rating system for refrigerators. David

Be careful when buying non-standard sizes. Many fridges only live less than 10 years (with the exception of some higher-end models that have a reputation for living 20+ years). If you need to replace your fridge in, say, 7 years, you might find that nobody makes a replacement with the unusual dimensions that you require. The other question is whether you really need a single unit that does it all. From what you are describing, you might be happier with a separate all-fridge column and a freezer column or drawers. You also mention ice makers. If you don't absolutely need a through-the-door ice maker, try to find an internal icemaker without a water dispenser. Takes up less space, is more energy efficient, has a lot fewer parts that can break, and if it does break, it usually is much easier to repair. In fact, in our case we are completely forgoing the ice maker in our main kitchen, as we know we only go through about one container of ice per month. We can do this, as our house has another fridge in the in-law unit that does produce ice. And I can just refill a storage container whenever needed. But this is a very specific solution that probably won't work for you. Having said all of that, maybe start your search by trying to figure out how many cubic feet of storage you actually need for both fridge and freezer, and then narrow it down from there. Finally, I have a hard time envisioning a kitchen layout that has a 14ft wall with only a single appliance. On the surface of it, that sounds like an inefficient layout. Of course, without actual drawings, it would be impossible to judge that, nor to make suggestions. Maybe you could post a blue print? This forum can be quite creative (albeit also opinionated) on efficient kitchen design.

We're in the middle of a full kitchen/master bath, laundry remodel, and have been heavily researching appliances and other components. We've narrowed our refrigerator vetting down to Bluestar, Sub-Zero, and Fisher Paykel. We've spent a lot of money over the last 25 years replacing sub par appliances every 8 months to a few years. Our full sized FP refrigerator in our recording studio has been performing exceptionally well over the last 12 years, needing only one repair when something happened and it froze everything, instead of cooling it. It was an easy fix, it's a nice modern looking workhorse. But it doesn't have that "pro" look or heft of being all stainless on the inside, which is what we want for our main kitchen. With recent supply and vendor issues, although frustrating, we've actually benefited from the delays in that we've had more time to compare and weigh specs, and visit the showrooms of the 2 main upscale home appliance and fitting suppliers in our area more than once to look at things first hand and ask a lot of questions. We've had absolutely nothing but problems with the big box stores when it comes to the quality of appliances, customer service, warranties, installations, etc. We were originally going to order the BS 36" PRO built-in fridge. We liked that it was all stainless steel and solid. We did not like that the interior butter/egg doors were heavy, and did not have hinges. The doors fell back down hard and fast, catching your hand if you didn't move it away quick enough. The doors were also glass and steel, so the glass had the possibility of shattering. The other interior door baskets were kind of harsh, with sharp edges. Then we started seeing that BS had overall quality issues in their refrigerators, so we removed BS refrigerators from our list. After our add'l research, numerous visits to the showrooms, and talking in depth to our respective reps during this vetting process, we've made our final decision to order either a Sub-Zero 36" PRO refrigerator for a built in w/ a separate set of under counter fridge/freezer singles or drawers, or a 48" PRO refrigerator period, because it has ample fridge and freezer space and no add'l units are necessary. The deciding factor will be if we have enough headroom to stand the 48" upright before it slides into the slot in the kitchen. Do run the numbers on space tolerances if you're considering different sizes! Lastly, Sub-Zero, from what I've read, has very good customer service, longevity, and a quality product. I also read on a houzz discussion forum that someone had a SZ and it kept their food fresh for 10 days with no electricity during a hurricane and its aftermath. We live in a hurricane prone area, so this was a great point for us to consider.