Speaking from my personal experience - it pays off to be careful and read what other people think regarding the appliance you wish to purchase. We wanted an open burner range and bought a premium BlueStar six-burner. When I turned on the oven there was a strong smell of unburned gas since day one. After I complained about this the factory phoned and told me to adjust the air-gas ratio. I decided not to touch anything. The flames were okay. I just didn't want to insert myself into the repair process. The problem got progressively worse and one day the range had caught fire while I was cooking and I had to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. First BlueStar wanted to dispatch a local technician who would repair the range in our kitchen. I refused, on the grounds that the problem was pretty serious and the factory should take the range back and find out the cause of the fire. They said that this kind of a problem has never happened before. They offered to replace the range, which was still under warranty. But we discovered that there were numerous complaints about BlueStar ranges leaking gas and some customers have indeed experienced fires as well, contrary to what the factory had claimed. Someone else had an ongoing problem that never got properly fixed, and when the warranty expired he was basically told that his warranty had, well, expired. From reading about those complaints and realizing that what BlueStar told us ("This kind of a problem has never happened before.") actually wasn't true, my wife thought it would be foolish to accept a replacement. What if the same problem appeared again? Could we trust the quality of their products, as well as their word? We thought that the best and most simple solution would be to get a refund. They wouldn't have to build a replacement unit and we would be free to purchase something else. But BlueStar flatly refused. Finally, under duress and with no other option to speak of we decided to take a gamble and take them up on their offer. Finally, some two months after the initial fire in our kitchen the replacement unit had finally arrived. We went to the showroom and realized that what BlueStar had sent us had a different color from what we ordered. At this point we were fed up with their attitude and decided that we would find our own solution to this. We ordered a different range, a Culinarian by Capital. The dealer had agreed to put the newly arrived replacement piece up for sale in their showroom, so that we could get our money back that way. When the new range by Capital arrived, we removed our original BlueStar, the one which had caught fire from our kitchen and replaced it with Culinarian. The old BlueStar, which I called Godzilla was taken to our dealer, where I thought it would be picked up by BlueStar for a transport to the factory, so that they could find out what the cause of the fire was. But it never happened. BlueStar wasn't interested in doing anything else. The range was sitting in the showroom for a while and ultimately was scrapped by the dealer. This told us something about the manufacturer. I decided to share my experience with other people, figuring that some potential buyers might be interested. I posted the story on Chowhound, where my post was removed the next day. I posted it again, just to have it removed again. I also posted the story on GardenWeb, where it inspired over 85 replies. Prominent among those was one particular person who also posts here, who immediately launched attack directed at the post and my person. Among other things, he blamed me for not following the repair instructions by the factory (adjusting the air-gas ratio) and so on. This generated more exchanges and finally the post was declared disruptive by GW staff and removed. Later there were some new developments and I posted Part Two of my original post. Again, I was attacked by the same person, called names and accused of having a nefarious agenda. I tried to support my case with pictures, but was accused of manipulating the scene through fiddling with distance, angles and the flash settings, although no flash had been used. All this resulted in having my post removed a second time, which was probably the goal of this other person all along. Newsflash! Mojavean, another senior member here was booted from this forum by GW staff for having the audacity to come to my defense. His was the welcome voice of reason and now he's gone. This is inexcusable! Anybody interested in more details can follow the story on wwww.iwvnews.com in Appliance Talk. So, as for purchasing any appliance, do your homework. Don't believe everything you read or hear, but if there are enough people complaining about something, they probably have a reason. Check from various sources and think before you jump. We wanted open burners and have no problem with our Culinarian so far. It is a refreshing change, after what we had with BlueStar by Marcus.

Jrueter, my fridge and ovens are arranged exactly as your plan. And what a timely question since the ice maker on my 4 ½ yo 36” KitchenAid SxS CD was replaced today. I didn’t pay enough attention to the selection of a refrigerator during my remodel. I was working 55 hrs/week at a start-up at the time and didn’t devote much time to the search. I originally wanted to keep my previous refrigerator… it had a drop-down “deli shelf” that meant drinks could be removed without opening the door. Cavernous interior. But I allowed our GC to talk me into a CD model so it would present a sleek profile with the rest of the kitchen. We were moving walls and I should have opted for a recess into the adjacent room where I could have built bookcases around it. Oh, well, he was a great GC (good friend of DH) and highly recommended the KitchenAid CD refrigerator… had the same one in his own home. I finished my kitchen in 2005 and have hated the fridge ever since. Let me count the ways: *Fridge shelves are necessarily narrow due to the SxS design. Constantly shuffling things around to accommodate any large item. *All interior space is cut into little chunks, especially in the freezer. *One door shelf is actually only 1 3/8” deep and 8” from the floor. Deep knee bend required and the only thing I have found to store there is butter. Not exactly a bad thing, I suppose, if I remember to look there. Very limited possibilities with shelf adjustment since everything has to mesh with the door shelves. *Freezer is 13” wide. And only 9.5” deep on one shelf. I have to think twice about buying frozen anything or storing a load of chicken stock. *Ice maker frequently spits out the last cube onto my wood floor, but I think this is common with all ice-on-the-door styles. *Ice maker died over 4th of July weekend… replaced today for $245. That’s 4.5 years of service prior to its death. I do like the three bins at the bottom of the freezer. They hold a lot and glide well and it’s easy to sort items for finding them later. I see you have 42" devoted to the refrigerator. Maybe you'll avoid the negatives I have experienced. Our kids are grown and only DH and I have to contend with this refrigerator. Otherwise I would have admitted my mistake, returned or sold it and replaced it with something else within a few months of purchase. I didn't give a second thought to the oven door handle matching the fridge's. I chose a side-swing oven door and LOVE that. To address your interest in the French door freezer-on-bottom style �" if you don’t choose ice-on-the-door you will need to pull out a heavy drawer to get to the ice that is toward the back of that drawer. An LG I looked at had another shelf that had to be slid back to access the ice. Way to complicated for an ice cube. I am into the ice all day and don’t want to do that. Guess I am hard to please! But you said you were into the ice all day… think about getting ice from below knee level each time. I am over 60 and this was not a good option for me. I see you have 42" devoted to the refrigerator. Maybe you'll avoid the negatives I have experienced. Since DH plays golf frequently with the GC, I get to rib him about the fridge all the time. Small satisfaction there. Live and learn. Here is a link that might be useful: Ovens adjacent to fridge

I'm in the same situation so I feel your pain. There are 2 of us and we have a 36" counter depth and a 24" floor to ceiling pantry with no pull outs and both are crammed. However I would not give up the pantry space since it's the only cab in the kitchen that holds food. I think they key to the fridge is the config. Ours is a side by side and I HATE it. Always have to rearrange things. Not enough room for something wide like a platter or left over pizza in a box, or beverages, but a French door would solve a lot of that and that will be my go to next time. If I had the space I would do a standard depth and box it in for more of a built in look. If you have another fridge in the basement I don't think an under cab fridge adds anything unless it's a dedicated beverage center. It will just be another fridge to rearrange, another energy draw, and another appliance that could go bad and then you have to find a replacement in the same size. We have a pantry cabinet in our attached garage just outside our laundry room and it's great for holding extra canned goods and bottled goods, but I still wish I had more pantry space for opened items, condiments, etc. No room for an extra fridge, but I think a French would be a big improvement. Do you have pantry space in the basement near your 2nd fridge? Also there are a lot of instant wine chiller gizmos out there. Please let us know which way you go. I learn so much from these posts.

JA, KA, and Whirlpool Maytag are all the same company, and use virtually the same internal components. You're buying style, and not even that sometimes, when you buy their "premium" brands. JA tries to position itself as the designer brand, but it's the same under the skin. KA has decent Whirlpool level appliances with one or two more features. Forget a big range unless you have the house and neighborhood and budget to support it. If you have that house and that budget, you should be working with a Kitchen Designer to guide you. The codes surrounding a kitchen redo are numerous and restrictive. You need someone that's done this a few times