Dunno. There are a lot of "it depends." And I'm not talking about diapers and senility, thank you. :>) [EDITED TO ADD THIS PARAGRAPH] First thought: is the whole cabinet 71 and 15/16ths or will your fridge be one of the current crop with the max height is for the doors but the rest of the fridge is not so tall? If so, you might be able to work that space with the fridge sticking out an inch or two into into the room. Some new fridges have doors that are a bit taller that the fridge-box. Almost like a false-front on an old-west building. For instance, on my new KA, the tops of the doors are almost exactly 70." The tops of the hinges are about 69 and 1/2" and the actual top of the rest of fridge is 68 and 3/8." If were trying to set it into cabinetry, I could fit it into a 70" tall space if the doors were about an inch proud of the cabinets. If your proposed SxS is similarly designed (and many seemed to be when I was looking last fall), you might well have enough clearance for venting, as discussed below. BUT, if the main box of the fridge is 70 and 15/16" tall, don't try this unless you can cut some venting slots in the surrounding cabinetry. That front vent on the CD unit is not the same as the louvered system on a built-in unit. At least on every fridge I've ever seen (other than a Sunfrost, that is), the front vents on freestanding fridges are only part of the venting system. It allows air flow for evaporation tray (for any moisture that drains down in there) while also providing make-up air for venting the machinery in the back. The main venting on freestanding fridges is almost always at the back of the fridge. Because of that, almost every manual will tell you that you need clearance at the back and the top. For my FD Kitchenaid, the manual specs a minimum back and top clearance of 1/2" FWIW. Read the manual for your proposed model to find out what the minimum clearances are. . If you can't put vent slots in the cabinetry, I've heard of people using small, quiet computer fans to route hot fridge air out of cabinets but I have no first hand knowledge of this. If you can figure out how to vent the unit, the top clearance is still very tight. Like the thickness of credit card tight. Even if your house is new and museum-quality furniture-grade perfect, it may not be so in a few years. It is not just the floor that needs to be (and stay) pefectly level. Your cabinets cannot buldge, swell, shift or move in any way. Never seen a house where that doesn't happen to some degree. Personally, I'd be thinking about some cabinet modifications. Your question about doors is probably covered in the manual, too. Different fridges spec different side clearance requirements. This post was edited by JWVideo on Fri, Apr 5, 13 at 13:43

Most likly suspect would be defective solder connections on the main circuit board. This is a common problem in "all electronic equipment", more so in equipment that generates a fair amount of heat. The expansion/contraction of the circuit board will eventually cause microscopic cracks in the solder, around the component lead. This effectivly takes some parts out of the circuit. A large resistor, with high current, will even crystalize the solder, in some cases. When the solder is crystalized, its resistance increases, causing the voltage to drop. This problem will increase, due to EPA ruling that "lead" based solder will no longer be allowed. There are several "no lead solders" available, but their connection properties have not been tested over time. Eventually a good lead free solder will be developed, but untill that time, the customer is the "guinea pig". pw

It's funny because this is our 3rd house, 2nd major kitchen renovation, and 2nd major renovation in this house, but we still have quite a few firsts... This will be my first major renovation with GardenWeb's help, which I am really excited about. I first discovered GardenWeb 3.5 years ago when I was looking for a new range. The one that was in this house when we bought it was horrible, so I decided that if we had to replace it I wanted it to be something amazing and requested a high end one as my 30th birthday present from my DH. These forums were invaluable to me in helping me decide which range was right for me and I'm so glad I found them! Unfortunately, it was also shortly after finishing our 1st major renovation in this house, which was a complete redo of our master bathroom, which included completely reconfiguring the space, stealing some space from the master bedroom, and moving the laundry room upstairs so that it's right outside our master bedroom. I absolutely love it and think it turned out great, but I do wonder sometimes if I had discovered these amazing forums earlier if it would have been even better... :-) This is our first time doing a kitchen renovation with kids. When we redid our kitchen in our last house we did everything ourselves except for the granite countertop install and we were able to come home from work and work on it until we went to bed, and then work on it all day on the weekends. With 2 small children (5 & 2) there is no way we could do that again so we are hiring professionals to do it for us this time. Plus we are expanding the kitchen with a small addition which is something we couldn't do anyway, which leads me to my next first... Another first with this kitchen renovation is that it will be my first time putting an addition on. We were in townhouses before this, so this is our first time owning a home where we can actually expand the footprint of the house (not that we could have afforded to before, lol). It's kind of terrifying and exciting all at the same time. The last first that I can think of is that this is the first time we are doing a renovation with a full service design/build firm. In the past we've always been the ones either doing the work ourselves or hiring people we needed to do the work but doing all of the design, coordination, etc ourselves. I'm an engineer and a type-A personality control freak, so although I'm excited to get help with this (I can't do it all with 2 small children and a job) I'm also kind of terrified to let go of some of the control. Our first design meeting is on Tuesday so hopefully it goes well. I am really glad I have the help of everyone on this forum to help though!

Im looking forward to a cross country drive when DH retires. Glad you enjoyed it. Would love to spend an extended period in and around SoCal...i grew up there. We were there for a few days last year but it wasnt long enough!