I was excited to shop for a new fridge for our new home build, until I actually started shopping. My current fridge is a GE Profile SXS in white and will be relegated to the garage at the new house. It has served us well but I need SS counter depth and I want a built in look - no ice/water in the door and no SXS. I love the sub zero and it fits well with my cheffy aesthetic and mindset. But, out of the budget at 9K. Leibehrr is very nice and a good alternative but again too spendy at 5K. Also, we would have to modify the upper cabinets to install a taller fridge. Too many other things yet to purchase with our new house build. But definitely the look and function I am going for. I also wanted a single door but not readily available in counter depth and freestanding models. I actually considered a fridge only single door model(love all the space for the fresh foods I cook with) and could live with a freezer in the garage, but living in the central CA Valley, we would miss the ice. Then I thought we could install an ice maker in the kitchen but again, the cost factor and uncertainty of where we would install it - it is a new house but not custom and we would have to retrofit it somewhere in the kitchen(BTW if anyone has done that please chime in....) I narrowed it down to the KA, Jenn Air and Viking SS CD French door models with internal water dispenser. They are essentially the same inside - all made by Whirlpool - with minor differences including the handles and the KA and Viking have removable liners on the door bins. Viking is the cheapest at our appliance dealer($2899) and I like the looks of it with the pro handles. Jenn Air is $3249 with $300 rebate and KA pro handle style is $3199. Viking carries a 3 year warranty which is very good since we tend not to purchase extended warranties. We will be moving in the end of December and need to decide and buy a refrigerator soon. I appreciate all the information I get on this site!

The first version of my new kitchen layout needed a CD FD fridge. After much research, I had decided on the KA pro. Now, my layout has changed to being better with a single door bottom-freezer. I chose the KA again. It's sitting in my garage right now awaiting install next month so I can't give it a review. KA is well-regarded here. During my research, my trusted family friend/appliance salesperson told me she does not recommend Elux appliances because of reliability issues. I was planning on the Elux non-icon ovens despite her advice. She said whatever I do, don't buy one of their fridges. Hard to know as many here like their Elux fridges.

This is hard to resolve. In the far distant future, kitchens will have one wall with a deep counter, i.e. 28" or 30" deep. Not today. Too many people cutting a 4' by 8' sheet in half to make "standard" size cabinetry.... Are you aware of Cabinet depth and Counter depth ? These are two different terms for what you want. One meaning the entire appliance including door is flush with your 24" deep counter -- but that loses So Much space I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Another term means the box before the door is 24" deep, and a thin door adds another 2 or 3 inches. If your layout lets you use a French Door fridge without making you open both doors all the time, you have one more option and a more regular depth. The minute you look at a shallower depth French-door fridge you have to spend $500 more just for a basic model. French-door fridge-bottom-freezers LG and another brand too, but I forget which one it is right now. Single door fridge-bottom-freezers that are not as deep as Amana Whirlpool etc : Miele KF1801 (84" tall). Summit FFBF285SS 26" deep (75" tall). Only 28" wide so the door doesn't need as much space as a 30" door. Liebherr has a couple. Fisher Paykel is about 31" wide and 26" deep Consider cutting into the wall to make a recess to stick the back of the fridge into. -David

"...36" between cabinets and island I believe..." I hope you're not saying it's 36" between the cabinets on the perimeter and the cabinets in the island. If so, you don't have a 36-inch aisle, you have a 33-inch aisle. What I hope you mean is that it's 36" between the items that stick out the farthest into the aisle on each side (other than the refrigerator, as you've already admitted you forgot about). Note that even that's 6" narrower than the minimum recommendation of 42" for a one-person (and always a one-person) work aisle (48" for two or more people working at the same time) -- assuming you're talking about a work aisle. The actual depth of a standard perimeter is 25.5" -- that includes the cabinet boxes (24" deep), doors/drawer fronts (1" deep), and counter overhangs (1.5" deep). The counter overhangs 1.5", so it covers the doors/drawer fronts. 24" + 1.5" = 25.5" The same counter overhang is on the non-seating sides of the island. Seating overhang should be a minimum of 15" of clear leg/knee space. If there are no workspaces or appliances behind the seats, there should be at least 44" behind the seats if you have a 15-inch seating overhang, more if the overhang is less than 15". If there are appliances or workspaces, then the aisle behind the seats should be 48" to 54", depending on how much thru-traffic there is.