That looks fabulous, malhgold! And I love the lighting.

Here's mine. I want to find a fabulous piece of Italian or Spanish pottery to put in the niche.

Mine has a wine cabinet above, but is otherwise dry-walled in. There are pieces of trim on either side.

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What do you do when it's time for a new fridge down the line? Hope to find one with the same dimensions? (Not being snarky, truly wondering; I know there has to be an answer because boxing in fridges is so popular nowadays.)

You may actually end up with more flexibility by boxing it in with drywall. When I have done it, we made the enclosure deeper than we could've with just cabinetry, + the width of the studs plus drywall is thick, so if you got a wider fridge you may need to redo the opening but at least you have those inches to play with as opposed to a 3/4" panel. In any case if you plan it for a 36" wide fridge you are pretty safe because they will always make those (probably).

We added trim to ours too, but painted it the same as the wall.

Thank you mahlgold, houseful, and lolauren for posting your photos.

Lolauren the layout is like ours except the pantry will hold the W/D and have two doors.

DH asked about the size issue. I never want a bigger frige. 36" is big enough and fits the size of our house.

I am amazed they are so tight in their space. Is it hard to pull out to clean or repair?

Do you paint inside the area? If so what color the wall color? or in our case black to match the refrigerator?

Most standard refrigerators don't run over 36" wide. Ours is under that width, but was one of the largest, in terms of cubic feet, on the market. If the fridge breaks, almost every standard fridge at HD/Lowes/etc. should fit just fine.

Our opening is 36" ... I would recommend slightly larger than that... even just 36.25" or 36.5"... since paint/texture does reduce the rough opening just a tiny bit. Our fridge, unfortunately, is a very tight fit. I remember fighting with the GC on this when they were framing and he said we would be fine as that was their standard. *sigh* Oh well. Slightly larger would help with ventilation as well.

Inside the fridge area is painted the same as our walls. You wouldn't be able to see that in our situation. I think that is up to you.. black to match your fridge might have a nice effect.

Thanks natal for the photo and lolauren for the size information.

Anymore photos would be helpful. Trying to decide what if anything to put above. DH just asked, do we have to have something above? I know it is good storage space but I try to make things as easy as possible for DH. I pick my battles : )

I did it here with at least an inch on each side because this was not a counter depth or build-in type of fridge that needed only 1/2" of breathing room on each side. You need to *check * the *manual to see how much space is needed on each side and top for ventilation. Some fridges need Several Inches and if you enclose it too tightly you will void the warranty.

This fridge did get a cabinet above:

This fridge has about 3" on each side: also a cabinet above. The larger gap can be covered with trim as long as the breathing room needed exists. Its pulled closer to one side of the opening to allow for better door swing.

Try to avoid wine storage above. It's too warm up there and one of the worst places for those precious bottles.

lolauren,

Your kitchen is very nice. Do you mind sharing the details on the flooring, wall color, and countertops that you used? Is that a honed granite? The flooring is beautiful.

CCinTX - Thanks! My finished kitchen thread is at the link below.... It should have all the details. If not, send me a message and I'll answer any questions. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Lolauren's Kitchen

Mine is drywall for 2 refrigerators (samsung 36inch), and then we trimed out the drywall to make it look like built-in cabinets. The trim is not finished yet.

Here is a link that might be useful:

My Kitchen Fridge is enclosed in cabinetry, but my pantry fridge(pic) is enclosed with drywall. DH's idea to frame with trim.. ok for pantry.. but not my idea.

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Here's mine.

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Debra,
We are also trying to decide if we should drywall in our fridge, and if so, do we need to do a cabinet, or can we leave it open on top? I am also finding it hard to visualize how that would look. Like you, it will be at the end of a run, next to a doorway.
Good luck!
Pamla

I know you specifically asked about drywall, but am thinking maybe that's because you're looking for something easy to DIY and inexpensive... if that's the case you could consider using plywood. We did that in our last kitchen. Paint grade ply, cleat on floor inside the alcove, poplar edge to cover the raw ply, sanded and painted. We left space above to accomodate other size fridges. one side is a bookcase, Ikea cabinet above matches rest of kitchen.

stacyneil, I would vote for your idea as it takes up less space and looks nice. Unfortunately DH has to run some electric in the outside wall.