I have the KA counter depth french door fridge with water on the side of the inside door- love it! The freezer holds a ton and the top has a deli section that holds a full tray of apps. We also have all GE other than that fridge since we got the employee discount and couldn't pass it up. We got Cafe for our double convection ovens(LOVE), Cafe cooktop- works great, Cafe dishwasher- so awesome- everything sparkling, GE profile micro hood- seems fine and works well. Also got their beverage fridge and contrary to reports, it keeps everything plenty cold. No complaints yet but we are still in honeymoon stage:)

I have the KA counter depth french door fridge with water on the side of the inside door- love it! The freezer holds a ton and the top has a deli section that holds a full tray of apps. We also have all GE other than that fridge since we got the employee discount and couldn't pass it up. We got Cafe for our double convection ovens(LOVE), Cafe cooktop- works great, Cafe dishwasher- so awesome- everything sparkling, GE profile micro hood- seems fine and works well. Also got their beverage fridge and contrary to reports, it keeps everything plenty cold. No complaints yet but we are still in honeymoon stage:)

Sorry for the triple post!!!! :(

I have the KA French door with no water or ice on door as we just didn't ever use it and on our last ancient fridge it was the first thing to break although after many years. I don't mind going into the drawer for the ice at all because they provide a nice scoop and you can just quickly scoop a big amount of ice and be done with it. There is ice water spout inside the fridge on the side wall. I didn't want to sacrifice fridge space to have it on the door but everyone has different needs and wants. I have been happy with my KA and have had it for about two years plus. It's stainless and once I got the hang of how to keep it looking good I love it.

I have stayed in condos on vacation that have all GE and I was very impressed with the appliances. The dishwashers did a great job and I liked the washer and dryer so much I sold my Bravos Maytag set that I loathed and got a GE front load that I love : ) My sister did a huge kitchen reno and has the GE ovens and she is happy with them. I have to tell you there really isn't that much difference in appliances unless you get up in the stratosphere of price and even then they all keep food cold, freeze ice, cook food. If you have a limited budget just stay in a price range that works for you and don't get too caught up in worrying about this that and the other thing. I admire you for trying to keep it in the 3K range but I don't see how you are going to be able to do that with the number of appliances you need and the brands you are looking at. I am wishing you all the best and absolutely YES I would say that the counter depth is definitely worth it. It made such a difference in my kitchen with not sticking out in the pathway and gave us so much more room and utility. We have a small fridge in the basement for overflow and still since our family is small I have plenty of room. Sometimes the freezer can be a problem but with the extra space in the other fridge it's workable.

Update: Wound up going with an all Kitchen Aid package. We got a good discount buy buying 4 appliances from the same package.

Went with counter depth b/c the difference was less than $600 - and we felt that we would always be worrying about the depth.

Hoping we love it - got all 4 pieces for under $3600! (before tax). Would have liked to go with the local appliance place, but with more than a $1K difference out of pocket (and no rebates to deal with!) - I had to go with the big box store (Best Buy).

Thanks for all of the advice I got here!