Hey there, with a 36" opening you'll have a 36" wide fridge. You'll have to decide if you want a shallower "counter depth" model that is usually 24" deep and wont protrude past your cabinet depth. That gives a nice built in look. Some people prefer counter depth because you can see what's in your fridge without digging around the back. Others find them not to have enough space. Depends on your needs you can get something deeper also. Go to an appliance store and look around. Just make sure the refrigerator isn't deeper than that side wall. You may get better responses on the appliances board.

Thank you for the reply,

So what type of refrigerator should I get? should i buy something that has depth upto the wall and then door projects in the walkway?

The other limitation you will need to watch for is the height. A lot (the majority?) of refrigerators are taller than 69" which means you may have to modify or remove the cabinet above.

Given the wall, you may want to look for a one-door, bottom-freezer, refrigerator. The door would have to open to the left and you would just have to clear the cabinets.

Congrats and good luck.

I always wanted french door, so counter depth will not work for the given area?? i am new to all this, appreciate all the replies

You won't be able to fully open doors and drawers in a 36" French door fridge. Go with a single door shown above. Or find something around 30" and add a filler. Have you closed on the house? If it's part of a planned community and the builder is on site I'd let them know that this set up is problematic and see if they can suggest a solution.

We just went through this at the office. We have 3 kitchen spaces all with the wall issue. Luckily our new space I had the builder make the cutout big so I can adjust the fridge to open. I would go with a fridge top, freezer bottom that the door swings to the left, there are not many options if you want in door water (Fisher and PaykeI I think might be the only one and the reviews aren't that great). If you have it swing right you are dealing with the handle hitting the wall and not fully opening. Most stores like Lowes will let you exchange if they do not fit. My employees wanted the in door ice and water so we went with side by sides by GE, not counter depth because of cost Model
#: GSE25HSHSS . For whatever reason this hinge design works with the wall issue.

Its not a new house, its a old house and we will closing end of the month. Looks like french door is not an option there. Can I get a standard one that will project into the walk way by any chance?

If you go to ajmadison.com (not necessarily recommending buying there, but they have a great, easily searchable website and sell just about everything), you can search for the configuration you want and see pretty much all your options, including dimensions. When you find one you like, click to download the owners/installation manuals and check the necessary clearances.

ETA it's not uncommon for a fridge to require 4" clearance next to a full wall, so you may need to go down to about 30", or do a single left-hinged door which would put the door between you and the counter when it's open. Personally, I don't find french doors very practical on a narrow fridge where you need to open them both most of the time, only on wide fridges.

To give you the basics...

There are three general types of refrigerators:

Standard-depth

• These are generally the least expensive
• They are around 36" total depth - including refrigerator box, doors, handles, and required air space behind them
• Widths will generally range from 30" to 36"

Counter-depth

• These are a bit more expensive than standard depth but much less expensive than built-ins
• They're usually around 31" deep
  -- The refrigerator box is around 24" deep
  -- The doors and handles add another 7" or so to the total depth
• They don't usually need as much air clearance on the sides & back as standard-depth

Built-ins

• These are usually the most expensive refrigerators - often by quite a bit, especially if it's fully integrated
• They're usually 25" to 27" deep

For standard-depth and counter-depth, the refrigerator doors and handles must extend out past the surrounding walls, cabinets, counters, other appliances, etc. This is so the doors can be opened fully for full access to the interior as well as the ability to easily remove drawers and shelves for cleaning. In situations like yours, we usually recommend a 6" to 12" pullout utility or pantry cabinet b/w the wall and the refrigerator (the width depends on how deep the wall is - the shallower it is, the narrower the pullout needs to be). But, I assume you have to work with what you have.

Height may be an issue for you as many refrigerators are now around 70" tall with the requirement for extra space above for air clearance. Unfortunately, it appears the alcove for the refrigerator was not well designed so, as someone else pointed out, you may have to remove or modify that cabinet above the alcove. However, that cabinet appears to be a standard 12" deep cabinet and those are pretty useless over refrigerators, so you won't really lose much storage space.

One note, based on the what I see of that wall, if you want a more common size refrigerator (36"), you will probably have to:

• Put the hinge on the least functional side (so the door opens away from the Kitchen and landing space)

-or-

• Get a very deep refrigerator so it opens into the DR doorway

-or-

• Get a narrow refrigerator so you have room for 6" to 9" of filler b/w the wall and refrigerator

How wide is the doorway?

You might look into widening the DR doorway so the wall in the Kitchen is no deeper than 24" or so - then you could get any refrigerator around 36" wide and not have to worry about not being able to open the door

If you go with a smaller refrigerator - including smaller capacity - you may be able to find one that fits. Is there a place for a 2nd refrigerator elsewhere (e.g., basement)?