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problem w/ jenn-air FD hinges

15 years ago

My fridge was just delivered. It's a CD FD from Jenn-Air's floating glass collection. The delivery dudes left and my cabinet "fixer" continued with his task of installing shelves and adjusting the doors.....until he realized he couldn't open the pantry cab next to the fridge!

The fridge hole is completely the perfect size, but the hinges on the bottom of the doors flare out past the width of the fridge. WHY? They don't seem to be serving any purpose other than stopping the doors from opening more than 100 degrees. Are your hinges this way? If they spec the width at 35 5/8" that should be the widest point of the unit! With the hinge flare, I'm guessing it's more like 37.

We pulled the fridge out an inch or so for now so the pantry cab door can clear. Guess I'll see what JennAir has to say. If they don't help, guess I'll get the grinder out and grind down the hinge flares. Likely at the expense of my warranty.

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Comments (8)

arlosmom
15 years ago
judy, could you please post a picture? That's the fridge I lust over and that I had my fridge cabinet built for. We've been stalling on buying it, but we plan to at some point. Thanks and keep us posted on what Jenn-Air has to say.
smilingjudy
Original Author
15 years ago
My panicked post may have been a bit premature. (say that five times fast.) After cabinet guy left I went and finagled with it a bit. It seems the Jenn-Air designers are a tad smarter than cabinet guy.

It's verrry close, but the angle of the hinge is specifically designed so cab doors can clear it. It __barely__ clears, but it does clear. I still don't get why they're there at all, but whatevs. Everything's okay. I apologize if I caused you any undue distress. At least now you won't panic when yours is delivered! :)

Some detail pics of the potential problem area.....

I think the cabinet hole was actually designed a little too deep and they had it pushed too far back originally. That's when this little nick must've happened (taken with the cab door slightly open so you can see how close):
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patti823
15 years ago
I don't get why they're there either. I have the same fridge in stainless, and I don't have those hinges. Maybe it has something to do with the floating glass?
smilingjudy
Original Author
15 years ago
Maybe people were swinging the doors open too wide and breaking the glass by hitting it against something. See the little lip thing to the right of the hinge? When you open the doors, that catches on the angle of the hinge so you can only open the doors so far. I think they've recently updated the design b/c I didn't notice that at the store.
khat
15 years ago
I think you are lucky your cabinet hinges away from the refrigerator. If the hinge was on the refrigerator side it looks like your cabinet would be constantly in danger of being dented. If you were my client you might then blame me for not realizing this could happen even though the specs gave no indication. That is one reason I lurk on this website so I can keep up with the real life issues like this and hopefully prevent problems for my clients. Thanks for bringing it to every one's attention. If only the appliance manufacturers would pay attention too.
bama12
15 years ago
Judy......Was just wondering if you are pleased with this refrigerator......I had seen it before, and it is really nice. Do you have any pictures of it from the front posted anywhere? Is it hard to keep clean? THANKS
smilingjudy
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes, quite happy with the fridge so far. Apparently I run around my kitchen with dirty fingers because I occasionally get crud on the handles, but the panels have been keeping themselves pretty clean.

Here is a bad pic my brother took during his visit last weekend (but you get the idea): fridge. Kitchen is obviously still a work in progress....
bama12
15 years ago
Looks great so far! LOVE your cabinets!

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