The author of "The not so big house" would be proud of you. I can't speak to the specific models you mention, but I think your rationale makes perfect sense given your needs and the kitchen's limitations.

Go for it, and tell us the unintended consequences in 6 months or so. :-)

PS frozen dog food?

segesta, are you KIDDING? I'm a Sarah Susanka (of "Not So Big House" fame) NUT! I own and have devoured all (6 or 7?) of her books!! lol!! Do you know that from one of my previous posts on the Kitchen Forum?? haha! Thanks for the vote of support! (okay, I'll bite!: What "unintended consequences?" Maybe I'm just slow...)

Re: the frozen dog food: we have a 100 lb Bernese Mountain puppy with digestive issues (plus, the breed is prone to cancer,) so we baby her and she does beautifully with a raw organic diet; hey, who wouldn't? So, we buy prepared raw frozen diet for her. She eats better than the rest of my family. No kidding.

Does no one here have an all-fridge? I'm surprised not to hear from some GWers who are proponents of all-fridges and all-freezers. It IS a holiday weekend, though. I can be patient... davidro1, you there?

I have one. It's under the counter. That really maximizes counter space. It really makes the kitchen bigger. Really. Nobody who visits can believe it. They seem to think we increased the size of our urban footprint. Put no upper cabinets on one wall, and add a few big mirrors here and there, and some people wonder if you combined two condos together and doubled your space. No kidding.

A freezer can go in a utility space. A chest freezer is also very efficient.

I have an all fridge and all freezer. Miele 30" each. Not the same thing. I also have Marvel fridge drawers. They're not quiet--I think Perlick does better on that--but the bottom drawer fits all kinds of tall bottles. And vertical celery.

I think you have a good idea, except possibly for the shape of the 100 lb. bag of dog food. Oh, wait! It was 10 lb. Much easier. Will it fit in the Liebherr? I've heard good things about it. It should fit fine in freezer drawers.

Pros of all fridge: Only one system, one compressor, one unit. Though mine has three temperature zones anyway. :) Everything in one place.

Pros to the fridge/freezer and fridge drawers: You don't have to have the drawers by the fridge. You can have them near the breakfast area/coffee area/snack zone, for milk, juice and butter, cream, beans and chilling pitchers, beverages and fruit. Or you can do as I have, and have the drawers in the prep area, so you can just take veg in and out and in and into the pot, plus have milk, butter, etc. right to hand.

Basically, the drawers give you design flexibility, and that has more benefits to the fresh food than frozen.

I have a small galley kitchen and decided to give up some entryway closet space to make more room for fridge freezers. I dont have a basement or anywhere for extra freezer so absolutely could not consider the drawers. I did start out with the liebherr 24" side by side pair, but determined the fridge space would actually be smaller than the kenmore top freezer model I currently am using. Then i moved up to the subzero 27" side by side but decided I didn't need a 27" freezer.

So finally I came to the 30" miele fridge which pairs with an 18" freezer. Another consideration to keep in mind is that with a 24" fridge it will be near impossible to put a tray of food in there or store a large bird without completely emptying the fridge. For this reason I'm really happy about my decision to go with the 30" fridge.

Yes very Crazy idea, though with the caveat that I do not know your kitchen design.
Taking into account your basement storage, you are jamming a McMansion's food storage into a city apartment? It's the corpulent suburbanites who need that kind of storage, not you. All of these many many appliances are a waste of electricity as well.

So here are my suggestions. Dump all the basement equipment today, and only if you really need, replace with a small chest freezer down there. Chests are much more efficient.

6" - 12" of space doesn't seem like enough space for all this effort. Dump any extraneous counter top appliance like the can opener, move the toaster to under cabinet. Move the microwave to a Sharp drawer. Install a pull out under-counter work spaces or have your cabinet guy suggest some clever workspace solution.

Solving this type of problem is EXACTLY what a kitchen designer does, and this sounds like a small job.

Here is a link that might be useful: ApplianceAdvisor.com

Advisor, this corpulent suburbanite--though I prefer the more efficient term "fat guy"--resents that remark. :-)

FWIW, we have a refrigerator only in our kitchen. We have a large freezer and a separate ice make in the garage

Ooops. I thought I was using an unbreakable code!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: ApplianceAdvisor.com

Obviously you've been so busy searching your thesaurus you've missed the whole parade of corpulent urbanites.

Nobody, svelt nor zaftig, wants to be dictated to. Most people here are happier asking for opinions, on a sounding board basis, and making up their own minds, and not being sneered at and steered to someone else's website.

If you do fridge drawers as the supplement
".... a 24" Blomberg (?) fridge/freezer ... and supplement with kitchen aid or perlick fridge drawers "
then you have split into two the places where the milk might be. Could be confusing until you have a new routine that everyone follows.

If you plan for freezer drawers, and leave that space empty, you will see how much it disrupts your life to have the freezer elsewhere. Not much.

If you get new freezer capacity, recycling old refrigeration equipment can be done in eco-friendly ways.
".... Dump all the basement equipment today..." I'll agree that it's hard to see why someone might keep multiple old freezers. But that is not the case here. Not yet.

I agree that having a large expanse of counter is good.

One of the main reasons explaining why all-fridges are huge is that there is no separation wall (3" thick) around the freezer and between the freezer compartment and the fridge compartment. Fridges have slimmer walls since they don't need as much insulation.

hth

I would love to go with an all-fridge in my kitchen. I've got a small upright (freezer on top) in the laundry room, and three chest freezers in the basement. As far as I'm concerned, I don't need any freezer space in the kitchen.

My problem is not with counterspace - it's with fridge space. I've got a side x side and there are many times I have something that is too big to fit easily on those narrow, deep shelves.

But DH loves the ice maker and door dispensor, and he hates the idea of the ice cream in the laundry room - though I think a bit of a walk before eating the ice cream would do him good!

He likes that now he can take out the ice cream, grab a bowl and spoon, dish up and put the ice cream away without actually taking one full step to do all this.

That's an easy one! Devote a drawer or basket in the laundry room to scooper, ice cream bowls, and spoons. And napkins. Maybe an old, lined picnic basket to turn it into an event.

The dispenser is a harder thing. Could you put the sxs in the laundry room instead of the freezer top? Would it be a problem running the water line? You could put a few water glasses in the picnic basket...

Davidro, the two milks isn't a problem for me. The new milk goes in the big fridge. The old one that hasn't spoiled but no one will drink moves to the fridge drawers for cooking. Any old, old milk goes in pancakes. Makes it easier for the non-milk people (i. e., moi) to tell the difference, too. :)

I'm back. With my same dilemma. My husband actually LIKES my crazy idea of using a narrower all-fridge and supplementing with freezer drawers. Or he is humoring me REALLY well, without my catching on.

I'd like to do a 24" Liebherr all-fridge, but sadiebrooklyn scared me a bit with: "Another consideration to keep in mind is that with a 24" fridge it will be near impossible to put a tray of food in there or store a large bird without completely emptying the fridge." However, I do have a second fridge and freezer in our basement, so that's not the hugest concern.

I could also, instead of a 24" all-fridge, use a well-designed 30" fridge/freezer, and either use supplemental fridge drawers, or my basement fridge/freezer, but, I worry about the redundancy of the freezer space, when I could put it to better use (more counter-space, feeling of spaciousness, etc.)

Much of this is about making our kitchen feel more spacious (as well as not duplicating freezer function). In our upcoming renovation, the one thing that couldn't be changed is the length of one of our 2 kitchen counter runs (10.5") (we're in a small "L" shaped kitchen) ; it is unable to be changed for various reasons that are too boring to anyone but me. So, in lieu of lengthening that counter run from either end, I'm trying to make it more spacious from within, so to speak. Does that make any sense?

If I'm coming from a 36" "counter-depth" (really, 27" depth) Amana side by side, any thoughts about whether a 24" Liebherr all-fridge will be equivalent in fridge storage? Certainly it will be more efficiently designed. But will I be decreasing my storage capacity? I'd rather save my pennies and NOT go with 30" Miele or 27" Subzero all-fridges, if possible. But I don't want to regret my purchase and wish I'd gone with a larger all-fridge, or a larger fridge/freezer.

Thoughts?

joeboldt, what size fridge-only do you have, if you're still around?

I think you'll be pleased with the Liebherr compared to the side-by-side. A lot of it depends on how much large scale entertaining you do, and how comfortable you are, and will be in the foreseeable future, with hauling stuff up the stairs. How are you going to keep things from slipping off of made up platters for instance? A good tray with sides would help, but then you have to store the tray. Are you going to want to defrost the gigantabird downstairs and then carry it up all squishy and leaking?

My own preference for small kitchens is full sized appliances, with the dry storage dislocated to other parts, rather than more cabinetry and the appliance function dislocated, but I can see how you might prefer the opposite.

I don't know about the comparative capacity of the fridge portion of various 30" over/under fridges with the 24" Liebherr. I think the SubZero has more fridge vs. freezer than the Miele, for instance. I can tell you that the drawer in the Miele will hold a platter. One problem with built-in fridges is that the shelves are usually no more than 12-13" deep, making platters a difficult proposition. One of the things I love about my 30" Miele all fridge is that the drawers are full depth and I can fit platters in them. I don't know if there are any other 30" units that cost less though.

Since you have a decent sized kitchen, rather than a bijou one, I think there's a lot of merit to the 30" unit if you can find one that suits you. For that, the best thing is to go to the showrooms and see how you like the interior layouts. Take along your big pieces.

Personally, I'd think that the 30" fridge/freezer would give you more flexibility, but if there isn't one in your price range, I can see how the Liebherr with the freezer drawers could do the trick. Just go check them out in person before you commit.

I know a couple of people who have the Frigidaire all refrigerator units and they have coupled it with the upright freezer. They have been extremely happy with the arrangement, although personally I prefer a manual defrost freezer because they preserve food much, much better. One friend bought an under counter ice machine and loves that as well.

We have a Frigidaire all refrigerator unit in our barn and it has been wonderful. I have actually stored bushels of apples in there that were awaiting processing. Kept them in prime shape for a few months because the day the apples were delivered in October I fell and broke my ribs. I just made them into applesauce and canned them last week. Superb applesauce. It has also come in handy for storing large kettles of stock that I've made and ended up popping it in there kettle and all until the next day.

We also have freezers....all manual defrost. The chest freezers are more efficient and hold colder temps a bit better than the upright. I use the upright freezer mainly to hold normal supplies of things in the house that I will be using fairly quickly and to store grain. (I grind my own flour and bake breads, etc.) I plan what meat I will be cooking and bring a weeks supply into the upright from the chest freezers. So, like you, I don't use the freezers that come with refrigerators for much....usually only for ice and to store those reusable "ice things" you freeze for coolers, because in my opinion they just don't keep food very well. They heat up and cool down too much while defrosting.

I was glad to see this thread as we are building a house and I have been debating whether to have just an all refrigerator unit in the kitchen. I currently have a refrigerator with a bottom freezer that I like as well, with a good ice maker. (I plan to have two refrigerators in the house, though the second one will be located in a pantry type area). I will also keep the upright freezer convenient as well.

You MAY want to consider going with a slightly wider refrigerator unit than 24". I know you said you have other larger ones, but you may not want to have to go to a basement for your turkey or larger items at some point. You may also evolve with what you cook as time goes on and you may wish you had ever so slightly more width. I find when things aren't convenient things don't get made very often, even if initially you don't think it would bother you. (Been there, done that).

I think your ideas are great. This type of thinking isn't McMansion at all. It's called being smart and storing food and cooking healthy yummy meals, like people used to. It's called not being dependant on grocery stores for your needs. With today's energy efficient appliances, they don't cost much to run at all, and in the event of a disaster, you have food! We have a back up generator and also solar panels for power, so we can keep them going if the grid goes down.

I'm anxious to see what you decide and how you change your kitchen. I'm almost at my kitchen design phase.

Sandy

Yeah, you might want more, just in case you ever have a turkey too big to fit inside a 24".

When you go see them, remember the turkey. And you might have something larger than a turkey too. Other fridges are too far away; storing a turkey or even large item over there doesn't keep it close by. Now, see, that's not optimal.

Just in case, why not oversize it? Your all-fridge, I mean, not the turkey.

Hth.

Thanks, plllog, sandy and davidro1!!

plllog, you're right, per usual. I think the Liebherr 30" fridge/freezer WILL give me more flexibility, and I'm going to go check them out.
Thanks for the reminder to bring my big pieces with me, as well.
I also like the idea of having full-size appliances in small kitchens (does 30" count as full-size?)
Additionally, it was extremely interesting that the shelf depths in the built-ins are SO shallow; that is terrifying to me! I may have to bite the bullet and buy a Miele, but need to check out a Liebherr first.
It also makes a lot of sense to relocate dry storage vs relocating appliances. I hadn't thought of it that way before, and am SO glad you pointed it out. Thank you!

Thanks for the support, sandy; I AM trying to make it more convenient, now.
I think all of you are right-on with that advice regarding convenience.
david, sometimes I just can't tell when you're being sarcastic...or sardonic...or not; however, I always appreciate your insight and your vast fund of knowledge.

I think I'm going to go look at the Liebherr 30" fridge/freezer today or tomorrow. I've heard it's really efficiently designed, and since I'm very dependent on under-counter space for storage, it may be wiser to take the more conservative route of fridge/freezer, rather than eating up under-counter space with fridge/freezer drawers. (Plus, then I can save money money for something else in the remodel, like a speed oven or amazing range or ...)