I think door configuration is mostly personal preference (appearance, how you use the space inside). With a 50" aisle I'd be fine with a single door on a 36" wide unit but others would say they'd want a French door in that situation. I'd recommend you go to a store that has all the units on the floor and powered on. You might find you have a preference for one over another. Think about the largest items you store in your fridge and the items you use most. How would you put them into the new refrigerator/freezer?

An integrated unit will be flush with your cabinets whereas a built in will stand proud of the cabinets a few inches. It all depends on which you prefer. As for your other questions, the best thing as Stan suggested is to go try it.

Both of you should also look at the interior fittings. It's been awhile, but I seem to remember liking the interior of the built-in better, but the looks of the integrated. I'm not short, so can't help you there, other than to confirm that having the grill on the top rather than bottom does put the fridge lower. I think higher is actually one of the things I like about the integrated one. Another thing I like about integrated is that you only have to open the one drawer to get ice.

Just came from the appliance store, and put the integrated to rest. It's too tall for me, not only the top shelf, but also the door shelves in fridge. A shame, as freezer is a better design. Will likely go with the built-in single door fridge over the single freezer drawer, a tried a true product that has been around for over a decade. Oh well....even when you can buy the best, there still wind up being compromises! But, very lucky to be able to buy such nice things.

As an FYI - I am barley 5'. I have a 36" SZ integrated all refrigerator. At the time no one else offered a 36" integrated all fridge. I have one door on the top and two drawers in the bottom so same configuration as the one you were considering but my bottom drawers are fridge not freezer. We adjusted the top shelf to house the tall items so it is at a level where I can reach almost everything except something stashed way in the back. Gallon Milk/Juice/dh's stuff/mayo etc reside there. I can then easily reach all the other shelves that are almost evenly spaced apart. The top door shelf houses butter and I can reach that on the highest adjustment. We adjusted one door shelf to house 2L bottles as they would not fit standing up on on the top shelf in the main fridge space. I have not regretted it and would do it again as I love the look.

They are gorgeous....love the look as well. It would work fine as all fridge, without the freezer taking so much prime space in the one I'm looking at.

Agree - doing a 36" all fridge and a 30" all freezer was a huge splurge in this kitchen as this was the last house we planned to build. I love the two bottom drawers on both. The drawers are so much deeper than the shelves so that solved a lot of the disadvantes of a counter depth.

Question: We are shopping for a 42" built-in and just decided on the SZ French Door model with stainless steel panels. What's the difference between integrated and built-in? I thought they were one and the same, except that integrated allows for panels that match the rest of the kitchen.

This is what we have in mind:

Robert Ades, read upthread Cpartist's post. Actually, read this whole thread. You can also go on the Subzero website. It has a "built-in refrigeration" page, and an "integrated refrigeration" page. The pictures on each will provide the differences.

Also, a built-in Subzero will have the grill on the top, and an integrated Subzero will not.

Built-in can have cabinetry panels too. Models that are meant to be integrated are also built-ins.

Flush Integrated means that the panels make a continuous plane with the rest of the cabinetry, and is more for Euro style frameless cabinets, though a good carpenter can make it slot into face frame or inset cabinets if you really want it to disappear. The cabinetry has to be constructed correctly to do this and requires precise measurements. It's much easier with full onsite custom than factory made. SubZero built-ins can actually be installed flush integrated, and there are even ways to hide the grill panel, but it limits the door swing, which makes getting the drawers out for cleaning more difficult.

To make it easier to differentiate, SubZero calls the built-ins that aren't usually integrated "built-in" and the ones that are usually flush integrated "Integrated".

plllog, that's a good description. Choosing multiple appliances, and it wasn't until my 3rd visit to the appliance store yesterday that it all became crystal clear what would work best. There are so many choices to be made in a massive renovation! They both look like terrific choices. Good luck Robert.

friedajune, plllog: I actually did visit the SZ website and I understand the cosmetic differences. It turns out the 42" only comes in Built-in anyway. However, beyond cosmetics, are the units internally any different?

The configuration of the interiors is quite different when you handle them in person. With built-in, the compressors are on top, and with fully integrated they are on the bottom, raising all the storage up perhaps 8". Not sure technically how much they might differ.

Robert, I posted my last for the lurkers. :) But the cosmetic difference is the main difference. I think there may be slightly different works, but you'd have to get one of the compressor wonks to comment on that--try a new thread with mechanical in the title to lure them out.

There should be pictures of the interior on the website, or elsewhere on the web.

M, are you sure that the volume difference is usable? Sometimes fridges with significantly smaller internal volume store more. Volume is measured by how much water it holds. Not bottles of water. Bathtub water. That's why I recommend people take bottles and containers, trays, and stuffed animals and pillows, of the approximate sizes and shapes of which they expect to fit into their fridges to the showroom. That's much more telling than the specs.

Thanks to all who commented! Believe I've made a good decision, altho still toying with french door vs single door on top. Kitchen Designer may say that we can put off that decision now that the basic unit is selected.