we thought we were purchasing a built in fridge, but our "built in" KitchenAid sticks out about 2 1/4 inches. The stainless trim on the door shows. Hope this is helpful.

I think it needs to stick out only enough to allow the doors to swing open. That's the ways ours was in the last house. It actually was a pretty snug fit all the way around. We never had problems, but I'm sure it was built to the proper specifications (you know about clearances, etc.)

you have the cabinet flush with the refrigerator chassis and the door seal showing?

This. The chassis is very slightly recessed, maybe 1/8 inch; the seal shows and the door itself is 2 1/4" thick. We could push it back a little but then the doors hit the cabinet doors on the side.

The fridge we're planning to get actually has instructions to do it any of these ways---the main difference is that, depending on where the chassis and door line up with the panels, you need to allow more room for the door swing. They have a little diagram with measurements for each approach. I suspect you could work the same thing out with a fridge that didn't explicitly tell you how much space to leave, too.

We will have the cabinets flush with the chassis, and the door (and probably seal too, I guess?) showing.

Thanks for the comments. Our fridge is close to a wall on the right side, so we won't be opening the door to a full swing. We thought it would look better with only part of the door sticking out.
Any other opinions about what looks good?

I strongly agree with Juliet. That is much more important than flush or not.

As the others have said, it is very important that you situate your fridge so that the doors can open fully. If they don't, then the pull-out drawers inside will not be usable, and overall you will find everything to be a hassle.

That being said, we pulled our cabinets forward three inches, so that allowed more cover for our non-counter-depth fridge. We have about an inch of the fridge box showing, and of course the door and seal. I think that you have to have something like the Liebherr and its special hinges if you want the doors to be flush with the adjacent cabinets.

Be sure you understand the difference between counter depth (The fridge box is 24" and everything else sticks out), and built in (the whole shebang, except for the door handles occupies about 25", with this you see the gasket and trim piece edges) and fully integrated (the whole fridge is 24" and invisible as a "fridge" and can resemble an armoire or other furniture piece.)

I also agree that your fridge is in a poor location. Many people manage to get at least a 9" broom closet between a fridge and a wall to allow them to open their fridge doors. That's one of several possible solutions. What wouldn't be acceptible would be a lifetime of not being able to access your refrigerator fully.

If your refrigerator is against the wall, you have two options to make it functional:

(1) Place a 9" to 12" tall cabinet (like utility pullout) or cab+counter b/w the wall and refrigerator

(2) Cut the wall down to around 24" deep next to the refrigerator.

We did #2. We also surrounded our refrigerator w/finished end panels that were equal to the depth of the carcass + seal, but NOT the doors themselves.

I have a slideshow that shows what we did that I linked to below.

Here's a pic and an explanation:

The 26" finished end panel covers the entire black side of the refrigerator plus the gap behind the refrigerator. It looks much more finished this way.

The depth of the end panel was determined by the depth of the refrigerator carcass (24-1/8") + the depth of the gap b/w the refrigerator & the back wall (approx 1-7/8").

[The gap was the space needed for the required air clearance, the plug, anti-tilt mechanism, and the plumbing for the ice maker & water dispenser. Only 1/2" air clearance was needed, so whatever was needed to accommodate the other items determined the back spacing.]

Even though there's a wall next to the refrigerator, we still put in a finished end panel. Again, I think it looks more finished with the end panel on both sides rather than just one.

Additionally, the wall is only about 24" deep. While this means we didn't need filler to allow the doors to open fully, it also meant it would not quite cover the black sides of the refrigerator...so the 26" deep end panel covers the couple of inches that would have otherwise shown beyond the wall. [Besides, as I mentioned before, I think it looks better to have the wood panels on both sides. You only lose 3/4" of space to the second end panel.]

Here is a link that might be useful: Building-In a Refrigerator Slideshow

Thanks buehl, that set up looks beautiful, with nice clean lines. Love those photos.

Here is my fridge showing how far it sticks out.

I will agree what others said about the location. I have a small fridge in the laundry room, and it is next to a wall taht limits opening the door fully. 90% of the time it's not a problem but for the other ten, I am able to easily pull the fridge forward about 6" and then I clear the corner of the closet and I can open the door fully.

I also removed the lower drawer unit. I was not able to use it with the distance I can open the door. I don't need it as this is a storage fridge.

But with out the easy ability to pull the fridge forward when I need to, I would have needed to find somewhere else to put it.

MacyBaby...do you have an anti-tilt device connected to your refrigerator? If so, does it disengage easily for pulling the refrigerator out from the wall?

We do not have an anti-tipping device on the fridge. They are not required by code where I live, but in this case it would be physically impossible for the fridge to tip as if the back end came up more than 2", it will hit the 2x4 framing that forms the bones for the cabinets.

We also have the water hook-up underneath the wall ovens. If we remove the drawer, we have very easy access to disconnect the water line. The power cord is long enough that we can pull the fridge far enough forward that I can get behind it to unplug the unit.

Thanks MacyBaby! I haven't tried to pull our refrigerator out yet, but we do have the anti-tip device. I was wondering how easy/difficult it was to move a refrigerator w/the device. I guess I'll find out one of these days! (I will, of course, check the manual b/f I attempt to move it.)

It also has a bearing, btw, on moving the refrigerator to get the drawers out if it's installed up against a side wall like the OP's installation.

I, have had the GE profile counter depth refrigerator, also had the Samsung CD, both fit better than the Kitchen Aid, which I, now have. The kitchen Aid, sticks out more,but the Kitchen Aid,has more room in which I, like. Of the three the GE, look the most built in. So you have to pick if you, like more room or to have it stick out more.

My new Samsung extends from the opening at least 8 inches - my doors do not need clearance to swing open fully - shouldn't it be further back in the cabinet space - my millwork sub contractor said it didn't go back further because of the plug and water spigot for it. That doesn't sound right to me????

Is your Samsung supposed to be counter depth of field is it a standard depth refrigerator? The latter stick out a huge amount.

I don't understand counter depth of field??

I assume that if Peggymeeks' fridge sticks out 8", it can't be counter depth. Peggymeeks - can you provide us the model number of your fridge, or its dimensions? From your brief description, I am thinking you bought a full-depth fridge, but perhaps should have bought a counter-depth fridge, or a fridge not quite as deep as the one you have.

Samsung is known for having spacious fridges, which also means their non-cabinet-depth fridges are deeper than most. Even their "cabinet-depth" fridges are deeper than other brands. A Samsung standard depth is about 34" deep, and a Samsung counter-depth is about 29" deep, which includes the doors.

It's flooding here in H town, and I can't get to my papers in the car - it's a Samsung french door with the drawer in the middle and freezer below - has computer on the door

If it's something like this one, this is not a counter depth fridge.

http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/refrigerators/RF28HMELBSR/AA

It's a full-depth fridge, Samsung web site says the depth is 36" including doors and handles. But I think it may be possible to confuse with a counter-depth fridge because the drawer is described as a "counter-height drawer"?

Have a counter depth Samsung unit. Made the cabinet about 1.5 inches deeper so I was able to push it back so just the doors show. The Samsung CD measures 24 inches (the main box that should be hidden), but the extra room allows you to push it back a bit more for a better look because it hides some the seal and still allows you to open the doors. Some make the mistake of getting a 24" cabinet, which will not allow you to properly push back the unit being you need room for air circulation and your water hook up lines.

My cabinet depth is 26 inches - that means if my unit is NOT a CD model, I just have to accept it pushing out as far as it does??

peggymeeks, since the fridge is 36" deep and cabinets 26" deep, it is going to stick out like that unless you change something. I guess you could change the fridge, change the cabinets, or cut into the wall behind the fridge to recess it?

If you post your kitchen layout, I bet you will get some good suggestions of options.

You mentioned the water spigot being an issue. Does it stick out from the wall? When they installed our water line, they put it inside a recessed box so we could push the refrigerator back further.

My refrigerator is 24" x 30" depth. It will sit in a built in cabinet that is 26" depth, therefore 4 inches of the refrigerator will stick out. Do you see this as a problem? I feel like most refrigerators only stick out to show the door hinges so that it will open easily. We just remodeled a condo and this is my situation. There is no way for me to push it back further. I don't want it to take away from the beauty of my cabinets. Is 4" acceptable? If I get less depth, the refrigerator space gets smaller, which I don't want.