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Affordable Refrigerators with Wood Panels

11 years ago

Hi. We are building a new kitchen and I'm trying to select a new fridge. The floorplan of the kitchen/eating area/living area is very "open" and I would like to buy a fridge that will accept wood panels that match my cabinets. This must be out of style since nearly every fridge in the stores seems to be stainless steel. Upper-end appliances, like SZ, will not fit into my budget. I'd love to hear from anyone who has recently purchased a panel-ready fridge that they really like.

Many Thanks.

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Comments (3)

1929Spanish
11 years ago
I found a Kitchen Aid french door/panel ready fridge at Sears Outlet for 70% off. I stalked it for a number of months until it fell in my preferred price range.

If you have an appliance outlet near you, you might be able to find something that will work. For those in Southern California, there's a Pacific Sales outlet in Torrance too.
friedajune
11 years ago
Hi 39york. It's not that panelled fridges are out of style, they are actually very in style. It's that the panelling on a fridge which is not "integrated" is out of style right now. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't get it; it just means that you won't see as much paneled fridges that are not also "integrated" fridges. And as you've noted, those integrated-fridges like Subzeros are expensive, and the "fully integrated" fridges even more so. An integrated fridge means it's completely flush with the cabinetry, though you will still see a toe kick or and the panels will not be seamless from the cabinetry. A fully-integrated fridge is completely seamless, and you cannot tell there is a refrigerator behind the panels. I will link a thread below with pics so you can see what I mean.

A less expensive option to an integrated fridge is simply to apply panels on a "panel-ready" fridge, which is I think what your OP is about. Some people do not prefer this because you can still see the fridge's trim, the fridge handles, and the water dispenser if there is one. So given the expense of the panels, and that nothing is being hidden or integrated with the cabinetry, people think it may not be worth the expense and the effort to panel a non-integrated fridge. A lot of people feel it's fine to have the fridge look like a fridge in the kitchen, or at least they prefer it to having panels plus the fridge trim showing. Others don't mind the fridge trim, like the look of panelling, and they don't want to deal with fingerprints on stainless steel.

If you want to panel a non-integrated fridge, I recommend the Kitchenaid panel-ready fridges. They perform well, and while expensive, are not nearly the cost of Subzeros and Thermadors. You can also go to the ajmadison website, and sort for fridges that will take panels, and then sort by price.

Thread called Pictures of Built in Refrigerators

ajmadison website- sorted for panel-ready fridges
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Live wire, you're right about the white, of course, and I wish someone made a less expensive built-in refrigerator at 84" tall (it wouldn't even need dual evaporators or compressors, just fit the soace right :-)), but they don't. We have to buy something that will be a resale advantage, and around here, a fully-integrated paneled fridge is almost a requirement. Palimpset, it is a bottom freezer, but the top of the freezer would not line up with the top of the bottom cabinets, which would make me crazy! Gotta be one or the other LOL!
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"They're more expensive, and really do not look as nice as a simple stainless model." I've had both SS and now I have a built in a paneled. To me , it looks great, and is sooooo much easier to keep looking nice than my former GE SS fridge. My built in sits flush with the adjacent cabinets, but it does have an SS frame that does not bother us in the least. Some like to play the game, "Let's hide the fridge", yet I've never seen a kitchen where I can not tell immediately where the fridge is, (Integrated or not!). I in fact, watch a lot of home buying shows, and you wanna hear some complaining by potential buyers, listen to them when they discover there's no fridge in the kitchen!!! So, if you like your's integrated, great, but don't run down built ins for those of us that like those!!! "Different Strokes for Different folks" (Next time just say "really don't look as nice as a simple SS model, to me.) Gary
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Interesting idea. But, per your first question, the answer is as Helen says: there do not appear to be any 33" panel-ready fridges. I just ran a quick search at the AJ Madsion and Lowe's sites and found panel ready fridges available in 30" and 36" widths but not 33" widths. Beyond that, there is the practical consideration is that your louvered door is two to three times thicker than the cabinet panels for which "panel ready" fridges are designed. There's another practical limitation with setting a 33" wide fridge inside a 33" door frame. Almost all fridges need extra clearance on the hinge side for the fridge door (s) to open wide enough to fully access crisper drawers and such. There are (or at least used to be) fridges which had thin doors and what were called "zero clearance door hinges." That allowed full access to interior drawers etc. with the door opened to only 90° but did not t find any current models when I ran a quick search. I suppose you could do what a friend of mine did when working on the kitchen in his retirement home -- he put a 30" fridge inside a closet with a louvered door. (actually, bi-fold doors.) The louvers allow for necessary ventilation for the fridge motor and cmpressor but YMMV on how inconvenient you would find that kind of set-up.
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darbuka... yes, fridge sticks out a littler farther than i would like, but it was a workaround that I could live with. Cabinets were built off-site and this type of fridge was new at the time. Also, much nicer than layout that was there before in my 1860s house.
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angie_diy
11 years ago
Like 1929 Spanish, I also bought a panel-ready KitchenAid fridge from Sears Outlet. Scratch and Dent is okay if you are going to cover it up with panels!

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