Try opening your fridge to just 90 degrees (have someone hold the door that way if you need to) and take out your drawers and shelves. Can you do it easily for cleaning? If not, beware!! Stuff sometimes spills in my fridge and ends up underneath my produce drawers (what is that stuff??). I have to be able to take them out to clean them, and to clean underneath/behind them.

When we ordered our last new fridge, we measured our space and took the measurements to the store. Our peninsula is quite close to our fridge, so we were quite concerned about being able to open the door all the way. The salesman assured us that the model we'd chosen would fit, but upon delivery, we couldn't get the door open to 90 degrees, so we couldn't take out the produce drawer. That's not your situation, but I'm telling you because we realized that we had to be able to open the door *past* 90 degrees to get the drawer out. We had to send that fridge back and get another one.

I would DEFINITELY do what you need to do now. Even if you can get your drawers out now, you never know what configuration your next fridge will have...maybe go to an appliance store and test different models to see how many allow you to take out the drawers at 90 degrees.

It may not seem important now, but be careful...

Looks like I might be in the same situation. We are planning to buy the Electrolux FD CD frige. I tried it at the store and I can get the drawers out far enough (all the way, I think) to get stuff in and out. Not sure if I will be able to get the drawer out to clean though... In our case, if it really doesn't work, it will mean making a doorway wider than we want to -- not the end of the world, but obviously a major pain if we have to do it after the cabinets are in. I think I'd better go back to the store and do some more experimenting...

I have a subzero that only opens 90 degrees. I did this so my children would nt open the door and hit the soapstone counters. So far no issues and no chipping of my counters. Here is the link to my kitchen so you can see the placement of fridge.

Here is a link that might be useful: Subzero opens 90 degrees

kaismom - I took some photos to help you see how important more than 90° is for the placement of refrigerators. (I'm a visual person so photos help me 10x more than explanations.) We built cabinetry around our refrigerator and put a 5" spacer to the right next to the wall. The molding around the opening into the dining room juts out 1" so in reality, the space between the refrigerator and wall is 4".

This will show you the space to the right:

Two shots of the right door opened and against the wall - I have no problems getting things out of the refrigerator because I can fully extend the produce drawer with the door opened (and I can fully extend the larger deli drawer when I open the left door).

The last photo is a close up to show you the angle of the door and how little space is available to maneuver the produce drawer out for cleaning.

...but, I need to wiggle the produce drawer a bit to get it out to clean behind it, and that is with the door opening a few degrees more than 90. The left door opens the full amount and it definitely would be more handy if the right door opened more. I agree with scooter mom and strongly suggest that you go to the store and only open the door 90° to see if you can remove the drawers. If not, I would either make changes to the layout or spend the money to move or remove that wall so you don't limit your choices of refrigerators now or in the future.

Hope that helps.

Just a possible talking point, The cost of the ref required to work with the opening will likely exceed the cost of moving the plumbing. Actually the difference in the cost of the ref could easily be more than the nana wall.

Good luck in your next round of conversations!

I have a wall to my right, and it drives me NUTS!!
I wrestle that thing every time I need to clean it. Not to mention fitting a pizza box in there!

I had something similar in my old house, although it was slightly greater than 90 degrees. I didn't mind having to pull my refrigerator out to clean the drawers (which I admit I only did a couple times per year) but I hated the dents I'd get in the door from hitting the chair rail trim on the corner of that wall to the right. They didn't show up too horribly on my old white textured fridge but they would be really clear on stainless.

It depends on your fridge. A side-by-side or french door fridge may give you trouble since the door width is shorter, creating a smaller opening at 90 degrees. Out home came with a side-by-side where each door opened 90 degrees. As soon as I could afford to replace it I did. Getting into the left-side freezer that had a smaller door was too difficult.

We replaced it with a single door/top freezer and its great - no issues at all. Both doors open 90 degrees, but the openeings are more than wide enough for access and cleaning.

Hope this helps!

It depends a lot on the fridge, but a 3" filler with most fridges won't be enough. It used to work better with older fridges but they had shallower door storage. 5-6" is better.

With a 36" Subzero pricing out in the $6000+ range, even if you spent $2500 and $2000 to move the stack, you would still be $1500 ahead.

I put fridges pretty close to the wall on a regular basis, particularly if I can get the end of the doorswing in a doorway, but I don't think it is ideal if you have the ability to do a good design with it elsewhere.

My pre-reno kitchen had the refrigerator next to a wall (the door swung toward the wall.) Every time I cleaned the fridge, I had to pull it out past the counter and then angle it so that I could open the door wide enough to pull out all the drawers. As a consequence, my refrigerator didn't get thoroughly cleaned as often as I would have liked, and it created some extra wear on the wood floor in front of the ref. Sometimes you just have to remove the drawers in order to really clean out the refrigerator, and that is hard if the door doesn't swing wide enough.

I'm not familiar with a Nana wall but if you can somehow get your ref door to swing a bit wider, it's money well spent IMO.

We have a side-by-side integrated refrigerator in a beach cottage that does not open all the way due to the spacer being too narrow - and no way to change it as it abuts a wall. I do have to pull out the refrigerator completely in order to take the bottom drawers out and to clean beind them. It is the only design flaw in that tiny galley kitchen - but it is a definite pain! The advice above about checking the door opening in the showroom is a great one!

Look at Liebherr. It has a 0 clearance door. Mine is 1/2 inch from a wall and that's all it requires.

Ah, Rococogurl, you beat me to it. Liebherr has a fabulous hinge that allows the door to swivel 180ð with no clearance. And I adore this fridge for its efficiency and quality like no other I've ever had, for what that's worth, if you're still searching for a brand.

What's a Nano wall?

this is such an eye-opening thread for me .. soOOoo .. I take it those rascals at the appliance store are fibbing to me when they say (with a straight face) that it is very, very simple & easy to pull out the fridge for cleaning ???

sigh, I realize the job of a salesman is not the easiest in the world ... & I guess sometimes they just hide their crossed fingers behind their backs & say whatever is necessary to make the sale .. such naughty devils .. (grin)

the new fridge is being delivered tomorrow .. sure hope it *slides* out the way he showed us in the showroom ..

Thank you so much for your replies. The plumber already came by and looked at it. The estimate is 1K. We are doing it.

I guess a wife in a panic mode makes things move.....

The refrigerator is spec'ed for Thermador Freedom 36 inch bottom freezer with fully integrated panel. I am already spending a fortune. It has 90 degree hinge per installation manual I read on line. By the time all is said and done, my guess is this will be a ten thousand $ refrigerator. Egad!

Rococogirl, on the side, I think I am leaning toward a KWC Suprimo. I saw a mod Eucalyptus kitchen with the faucet in your blog and it looked great. Thanks for your blog. This is a very functional faucet, IMHO that is also nice looking.

http://www.atticmag.com/2009/09/modern-eucalyptus-kitchen/

I wish I could have a window like that in my kitchen, but I can't. Maybe the next house. Alas.

I have a regular refrigerator, freezer on the top. It's very easy to pull out from the wall.

It must be all these fancy expensive refrigerators that are causing problems (wink).

Pulling a fridge out from the wall is simple. But it only pulls straight out. It will not turn. And it is very likely that if you have wood floors you will scratch them up. Remember that a full fridge weighs over 300 lbs, depending on size.

I vote for the nana wall

I find that there is some play in that bottom shelf when the other drawer is removed. Once the other drawer is removed, it can be angled a bit.

kaismom-- good reports on Freedom columns on Appliances.

I'm very happy with my KWC which stands equal to the Dornbracht IMO in terms of quality and cleans up perfectly. That's a great looking modern faucet.

Yes, that kitchen window, sigh. Very few of those, I'm sure. Thanks for the kind words about the blog.