No bad options on your list. Expect you've looked at most of them. Miele fridges are now made by Miele. xedos or deeageaux can fill in where they are made and which components come from where. Cannot recall the details. Thermador and Liebherr should be kinder to the budget. I had an excellent experience with my Liebherr fridge. Loved it and loved the two drawers and the ice maker as well. Some people feel the interior looks flimsy but it's not. Very tough. And the door is 0 clearance. My girlfriend's intergrated completely in her cabinetry and looked great. SZ and Miele are gold standard. SZ may have the most options in terms of configuration. I have a permanent crush on the 36-inch glass door fridge with drawers below but there's a premium for it. DD has the 36" Miele, bottom fridge. 0 issues. The lighting is amazing. Upper shelves in that fridge are very high so if it's a shortie house then that may rule out Miele. But the quality is very evident and they have an electronic module that monitors the fridge. DD also has 2 SZs with freezer drawers on the bottom in the house as well and both are paneled, look great, 0 issues.

No, problem at all about the screen name, ILoveRed (I keep wondering if that's a person, pet or color :) ). I'm happy to help and respond to whatever. Thanks for the kind words about my kitchen. No, the columns aren't easier to integrate, per se, than any others (though the Miele (mine) does have a very easy to follow template and bracket system for the overlay that the installer and cabinetmaker were thrilled with). If it's meant to be flush, and you follow the directions, it should integrate fine, especially if the person doing the work is well trained and experienced. What the columns have is a stepped hinge which pulls the whole door away from the box when open. That makes it easier to live with than some others. Rococogurl's Liebherr had the advantage of being able to be installed right against a wall, which would be important in a European postage stamp kitchen. I haven't seen enough of SZ's integrated line to know how the doors go. A decade ago, in some installations, the door only opened to about 110°, and the full overlay option on the old style that wasn't designed to be integrated in the first place, only opened to 90-95°. It worked. It just felt wrong. I grew up with a full pivot SZ that we had to keep from banging against the counter. ALL of them work. All of them are beautiful when flush integrated. Which suits you best depends on all your feelings and requirements. Liebherr should be available in any major city, but probably not if you're well away from one. Everyone I know who has one likes it, but one factor that they always express is how much they like the price difference. It is an excellent choice if you have limited space. The interior isn't as flexible as I'd want, however. Technically, it's a notch lower on the the scale than SZ or Miele, but think of it as the skinny cousin--just as smart and pretty as the other girls, but a bit awkward and shy. :)

It is so funny I keep finding your houzz post as well as your blog post about the fridge from 2 years ago and still both are the best source of info. This fridge topic is so complex and i am set on this true frameless build in/integrated look you have achieved! congrats. Thank you for confirming I don't need the cabinet enclosure for the fridge. Your kitchen looks FANTASTIC! and i love the minimalist look. If you don't mind i have a question or two based on your choices and experience. I am trying to finalize all my choices (or at least the most important ones) before ordering my kitchen cabinets, i also don't have KD so have educated myself real well but still have few things i am trying to nail down on and avoid potential mistakes. 1. I love your choice of fridge finger pulls. that was my original choice but everywhere i read that you need good gripping power to pull the cabinet. what's your take? are you happy with the finger pulls or you would choose differently now? 2. i see your installation is all flush. my kitchen will be similar in the layout , all on one wall, with the center cavity for the gas cooktop and 2 uppers. My fridge however will be right next to the counter. Will add a tall panel to its side as well as filler before the panel on my uppers to live space for hardware. I think you counter is sticking out a bit? I have an option to do a 25" deep tall cabinets or position them an inch off the back wall. What's your opinion on the counter. OK to stick out or better to make the tall cabinets/fridge flush with counter? 3. Last one is on your exhaust hood. I am set on strong CFM power ( either 900 or 1200 CFM with external blower for noise reduction) but my enclosed hood pops out to 24 inches . What is the hood you chose? I love the all same depth look on the uppers ? What height are all your uppers installed that they all are same level to meet the min height of hood requirement. Thank you for the post and thank you for your help.

As ringreation mentioned, SZ fridges need a real tug to open them. Quite a hard tug. I recommend you go to an appliance store that carries them and see for yourself. I doubt the finger pulls you linked will give you enough grip. There’s a ton of minimalist kitchen photos online with SZ fridges. Look at those for inspiration. Your zeal for minimalism may get in the way of functionality.