I have had a fridge in my unheated garage for about 6 years. I really needed the extra fridge space like others have mentioned. I live in western Washington where it gets fairly cold in winter and fairly hot in summer, but neither for extremely long periods of time. Here's what happens with mine. The temperature sensor is in the fridge apparently. In the winter, the garage can get cold enough that the fridge part of the unit doesn't need to run to maintain the correct temp. Therefore, the unit doesn't turn on the cold air. The freezer, however, needs the cold air to keep completely frozen. Sometimes certain things in the freezer get a little thawed out and then refreeze. I get some freezer burn occassionally. But the fridge part of the unit is completely fine. I don't have any issues with it during the summer, but I'm sure that thing must run hard to keep everything cool. This is a small trade-off for me as I absolutely need the extra fridge space. Oh, and as to the counter-depth issue. Have you checked the actual cubic foot size difference in the fridge spaces? Some counter-depths have almost as much as some of the standard depths. Go on ajmadison dot com and check them out.

Refrigerator carcass/box depth is only part of the story when determining the depth of a refrigerator and its impact on an aisle. You need to measure the full depth - including: (1) Box + Doors + Handles (2) Amount of space you will have behind the refrigerator for air circulation, power outlet + plug, and water line (if you have a water spigot and/or an icemaker). From my experience, CDs need less recommended air circulation than standard depths. Check the refrigerator's specs for the minimum recommended - but be aware that your installation may need more space, depending on your setup (e.g., do you need more space for the plug or water line than is recommended in the specs?) As Lisa mentioned, you need to measure from the handles when determining the aisle width and you need to determine how busy that aisle will be. You also need to take into account what is in front of the refrigerator - is the Prep Zone in front of the refrigerator? the Cooking Zone? If the Prep or Cooking Zone is directly in front or it is in any way "shared" work space, you will need more space in that aisle. So, measure from the refrigerator's handles to the counter edge of an island/peninsula or whatever is in front of the refrigerator, determine what you will have directly across from the refrigerator, and determine how busy that aisle will be.

The biggest issue with counter depth (paneled or not) is that are not really counter depth, they stick out past the surrounding cabinets by three or more inches. When I first remodeled our kitchen back in 1986, I used a panel ready Amana that was 27" deep, plus the door thickness. I built the whole surrounding cabinet wall 27" deep all the way to the end of that run, so only the doors stuck out past the cabinet. The first photo is what it looked like in late 2012 just before my last makeover. This also made for nice 27" deep pantry pullouts on the left end, and extra deep uppers. Another benefit, is that the counter overhang (butcherblock) has a place to die into on the side of the refer cab. The next photo shows my fully integrated 30" Liebherr a couple months later, the old Amana was 32", so I had to add to the face frame, and the Liebherr is a foot taller, so the upper needed modification as well. There is now 3" dead space behind the fridge, but who knows, or cares? The big 27" deep drawers where the oven was ended up being one of the best windfalls in the recent makeover :) third drawer down is a warming drawer ....

This is a freestanding fridge, so it does not affect the value of your house (or can be swapped out for the pictures if you have to sell). That care taken care of, measure carefully. Remember that many full depth fridges still need air circulation in the back, so make sure you're looking at the full footprint numbers, rather than the box depth. Draw it out on the floor with masking tape. If you're not in the space yet, do it where you are, and make tape versions of the nearby cabinets and island too. Fill with boxes. See if walking around the stick-outy fridge bugs you. See if you bump into it a lot. Because that wall is there, no matter what depth fridge you have, it's going to have to stick out so a left-of-picture hinged door can open completely or have a single door opening between you and the working part of the kitchen. This can actually be useful, because you can dump things on the island, but snack raiders and condiment snarfers can be more or less outside of the kitchen while they root around in the fridge. Play around with the possibilities and the tape and boxes, and you'll soon figure out which you want. There are pluses and minuses of each, but it's how you and your family with use it and what will please or annoy you that matters. That's different for everybody.