Bump for Buehl!

I did my oven cabinet inspired by Buehl's sensible fridge cabinet. Shelf as high as possible while still being able to reach it, and dividers on that shelf. The trick is to get that shelf low enough to be able to grab the bottom corners of cookie sheets and cake pans and whatnots but no lower so as to use all the space possible on the big flat space below it. It wouldn't have worked as well for me on a fridge cabinet because I'm short, but was great over the oven. Buehl, if I recall correctly, is not short.

Not Buehl, but I can probably walk you through creating a basic fridge surround if that's what you are asking here.

Do you have an extra deep over the fridge cabinet (what size is it?) and 3/4" thick 30" deep x your cabinet's top alignment height side panels plus some scribe molding, and a touch up kit?

The place to start is your fridge's utlity connections. You want a recessed box for the water supply and the power supply. If you are on an outside wall where you can't afford to compromise the insulation, you can always inset the box into the adjacent base cabinet in the run. This will keep the plug and water line from interfering with pushing the fridge all the way back into it's cubby.

The next place to start is with your fridge's specs. Some fridges are 35 3/4" wide and meant to go into a 36" space. Some require more space. Check the clearance required at the top as well. Some brands need more than others. If your fridge is one that needs a larger opening than 36", you will have to attach fillers to the 36" cabinet box until you have the recommended width.

Start with the first tall 30" deep panel next to the base cabinet. Attach the panel to the adjacent base and wall cabinets. If you are using a counter depth fridge, the panel only needs to be 24" deep. Ideally, the panel should cover the entire box of the fridge, but as some are deeper than others, check your fridge's specs. 30" is a good "standard" depth that pretty much covers most fridges sold today.

You will now need to install blocking at the top back to push out the over the fridge cabinet to the actual depth of the refrigerator. The bottom alignment height of the cabinet should be 72", so that is where you take a 2"x6" on edge and pre-drill for lag bolts to screw into the studs to extend the depth of the studs. After you have the studs extended, cover them with 1/2" plywood. You want the overall depth of the blocking plus the cabinet box to equal to the depth of the side panel, and if you custom cut the side panel to match your fridge, you may have to do some fiddling with the blocking here. The overall plywood covered blocking should equal the width of the fridge cabinet. I have had some installer use the build up area where the blocking is located to install the recessed power and water supply. It's often better to do that than to impinge on the storage in the adjacent cabinet. It all depends on how you have to run the electricity and water.

Now you're on to the other side of the enclosure. Take the second panel and attach it to the blocking. If you have a second cabinet on the other side of the recess, then attach the panel to the base and wall cabinets there. If you don't have cabinets there to stabilize the panel, then you may want to install a bit of very small blocking into the interior at the rear wall to give you something to nail the side panel to.

OK, now you've got your cubby. Using a jack or several grunt labororers, lift up the fridge cabinet and attach it to the blocking at the rear. If you've done your job right and made sure everything is plumb (that's a BIG deal for a cubby) then it should just slip between the side panels perfectly and be level without any shims or tweaking. Then attach it to the side panels just like you would attach wall cabinet to wall cabinet (behind the hinge plate to disguise it), making sure to use short enough screws so as not to screw through the panels.

Cover the front cut edge of the panel with scribe molding as well as where the panel joins the wall between the base and wall cabinets. Some people will use scribe molding at the floor level against the floor and others will use 1/4" round or baseboard molding. It's an aesthetic choice, but you want to cover the panel/floor transition. Install the crown molding. There will be an approximate 2" gap between the bottom of the cabinet and the top of the fridge (because standard fridge height is 70)-71") and you can attach light rail molding to the cabinet or a horizontal filler on a piano hinge that you can flip up in order to store some cookie sheets or something on top of the fridge.

Use the touch up kit's fill stick to fill any of the pin nails, and then you're ready to plug in the fridge and attach the water line and roll it back into it's cubby.

I hadn't thought of a horizontal shelf below the vertical cookie sheet dividers. I'm short too.

Could you post a photo of your over-oven shelving?

I'm trying to remember how she built the sides of the cabinet. Trying to search by "buehl's kitchen" is bringing up tons of posts and I don't know how to find it.

Thanks holly springs. I didn't check back to see that you had posted at the same time. My last post above was to fori.

Those are great instructions. I will be moving the fridge to an outside wall, so can't do the in-the-wall plumbing. In fact, I'll be running a line through the back of the lower cabinets to get water to the fridge.

In case anyone else searches for buehl's pictures, I found them on a google search, but will put the link here along with search terms that (hopefully) the gardenweb search can find.

buehl's kitchen, buehl's refrigerator cabinet, buehl how to build in refrigerator, buehl's built in refrigerator

photos and descriptions here

My installation instructions say to have 3" on top and sides. Buehl's must be different as she has the fridge up against the plywood side. I'll have to put in some stiles on each side for the air space I guess.

How deep are your cabinets above the fridge? Currently, there is a soffit above that part, but it was added after the kitchen was complete, so can easily be taken down, if there is any use for that much space.