Tontam, I am going to be of no help to you. I have a larger gap above my RF -- 6 inches. I thought we were putting a 24in cab up there, but my KD switched to an 18in cab without telling me, I think because the RF manufacturer said I had to have 2 inches of clearance above for ventilation. I would have been fine had I not wanted the light rail. And yes, the gap does bug me.

{{!gwi}}

Yes Red Eared - that's what mine looks like, and to me (in my kitchen) it looks like a mistake.

I emailed my cabinet guy, we'll see what he says. My friend who used the same guy said that I should get him to come back and fix it.

Since my RF isn't in a prominent place anymore, I'm living with the installation, but I'll probably get around to putting *something* there to obscure the view of the cabinet's underbelly.

Since yours were just installed, yes, I'd call that guy up and let him know you want it changed.

I have about a 2" gap at top. One of the workers here (plumber maybe) suggested I call my cabinet guy and get a strip of matching "wood" put there. I haven't done it yet, figuring that the fridge needed to breathe because the sides are very tight fitting. Anyone know if we should leave that clearance there for ventilation?

Hi tontam..

My fridge is a strange size, so when my GC ordered my cabinets, he also ordered pieces to trim around my fridge to fill in the big gaps. Maybe your installer can do the same?

KA:)

My doors cover up the gap.

We had a problem with this wall as the ceiling is 1.5" lower from one end to the other, so we went with a door style that could be used to hide it.

With the doors open, you can see the problem - the top opening of the cabinets is level - very obvious with the doors open.

With the doors closed, you can't tell. The top edge of each door is cut at a slant to match the ceiling, but with the vertical beading, you can't tell.

BTW - this was taken before I changed the doors over the fridge because I hated that gap!

My fridge cabinet has the same filler piece as Kitchenaddict. My hubbie just took a cabinet filler and cut it and glued it into place to fill that aweful 4" gap.

I have a 3'' gap over my refrigerator. I did that on purpose in case my next fridge is a little taller. Fridge heights seem to be all over the place these days. My fridge is at the end of a counter run, so I had my tile installer carry the backsplash tile several inches behind the fridge on the side, and across that top gap, so all you can see behind the edge and top of the fridge is tile and not naked wall.

We will have about a 3" gap over ours. Our cabinet company suggested leaving a decent space both for ventilation as well as future refrigerators. She pointed out that it would be a bummer to have to redo the cabinet if our next fridge were slightly higher.

We may do what kitchenaddict did...just put an extra filler strip there to cover the gap that we could always remove later if the space was needed. We'll see how we feel about it once the fridge and cab are in (a few weeks from now).

We also have about a 3 inch gap. I haven't done anything about it yet because I haven't selected our new refrigerator. (I'm having a really had time paying more money to have less room in a counterdepth SS just so it will "look good!")
We have extra trim to fill in with if we have to.

Our kitchen is still a work in progress......needs tile and wall paint.

Irishcreamgirl - I love your cabinet color - what is it? I hear ya on the getting counter depth just to 'look good'. Just stick with what you really want. :)

This is a pic of our old kitchen which was done 10 years ago. The cabinets were totally custom, so there are no gaps. We are currently building a new home, and that kitchen will be quite different. I will miss this old kitchen, tho, especially the quarter sawn oak cabinets and floor. But looking forward to going back to a gas range and the microwave drawer. The same cabinet maker will be doing the new kitchen.

Tontam,
Don't talk to your contractor until you have figured out how much clearance your fridge requires for ventilation. That info may be in the owner's manual or online or it may be something you need to call the manufacturer about. Long story short, fridges need ventilation at the top; built-ins get around that by having ventilation built into the top (see pictures at link below). If your fridge requires 2" for ventilation, then what your contractor did is exactly what needed to be done.

It may be possible to get a matching piece of wood made that fills that gap but has horizontal slots in it to permit air circulation, so you could have ventilation less obviously, but you can't bring the cabinets down to right on top of the fridge.

Here is a link that might be useful: SubZero built-ins showing top ventilation

Ours is so snug I worry when the day comes to having to move or replace it.

{{!gwi}}

My cabinets have a lip (don't know tec term) around them that recesses up an inch under cabinet. So, although I show a 1/4 inch gap there is 1 1/4" of breathing room for frig on top.
http://s1004.photobucket.com/albums/af170/jterrilynn/?action=view&current=obovefrigcabinet002.jpg"; target="_blank">

Ours fits fairly close at the top, but it was a do-over by the cabinet guys to get it that way. (In the old kitchen, the fridge barely fit in under the cab, and the cab couldn't be used because the doors were blocked by the fridge door hinges!)

I don't have a photo, but there's an almost-3-inch gap between my fridge and the cabinets above. It's a great place to stash my cutting boards.

Hi again tontam...

It is difficult to tell in my photo, but there is a 1 inch gap at the top between the filler piece and my fridge. On either sides there is a 5/8 inch gap.

My fridge manual states:

Allow the following clearances for ease of installation, proper air circulation, and plumbing and electrical connections:

Sides and Top 3/8 inch
Back 1 inch

It also says

DO NOT block the toe grille on the lower front of your fridge. Sufficient air circulation is essential for the proper operation of your fridge.

Of course your fridge may have different specifics but
hope that helps...

KA:)

Check your fridge specs and see if there is a requirement for certain clearance. Of not, it is easy to get a matching trim piece cut to fit the space. Your fridge's hinges will also control just how built-in it all can look.

Our cabinets are IKEA, so we mounted the over fridge cab on the wall so it was basically centered between the ceiling and the top of the fridge. That way we could cut filler pieces of about the same size for top and bottom and the whole thing would look as custom and built-in as possible, given the hinges were what they were.

Here is ours.

Here's mine.

The panel above the fridge is removable so a newer, taller fridge can fit without doing a major reno.

Helen

Wow - thanks everyone for the great pictures! My fridge has a vent at the bottom, not sure if that makes a difference. I will try and take a picture and post, but this is my cabinet guys response:

"You wouldn't believe how many times I get requests to alter cabinets above fridges in order to fit a taller fridge. As a rule I make these openings no less then 69''. Working between floor and ceiling I tend to allow a little more room just to be safe. I don't always know how thick the floor covering might be or how crooked things might be."

Should I insist he fix it?

The advantage of a filler piece b/w the bottom of the cabinet and the top of the refrigerator is that if you do get a taller refrigerator in the future, you can cut the filler down (or remove it completely). Meanwhile, the filler piece covers up the gap. That's what we did...and our KD designed it that way for that very reason. Our gap is 4.5"

Maybe you could paint the wall behind the fridge? If it's like red eared slider86's where the white wall is popping against the darker cabinets. Just a thought.

onedogedie has a great idea and I'm going to use it and paint this weekend......Thanks onedogedie!

I painted/stained my toekicks Espresso so I think I'll paint the space just above the fridge in the same.

Although, I must admit, at 5'5", I don't really notice that space but I asked Mr. Amity about it and he said the manual that came with the fridge had specified it needed a 2" clearance at the top and 1" at the back to account for ventilation and water supply tubing.

I have "Stuff" on the fridge in front of that space so maybe that's why I don't notice it.
The things dangling in the front of the topiary are the pulls to the ceiling fan.
And please excuse the homemade pull-down shades.
Haven't gotten around to ordering the blinds for the windows yet.

Side View (and more "stuff")