Ugh. I had the same problem when I was shopping for a fridge. In my mind, my plan was to re-do my kitchen in a couple of years but I really wanted and needed a new fridge in early 2008. So I did my measuring for height clearance and went shopping only to discover that most fridges had grown taller than my 69" limit. It was a BEAR trying to find one that would fit! I finally found a LG, french door at 68. 5/8. It took weeks! Anyway, once the fridge was installed, I LOVED the fridge... but HATED the rest of my kitchen. So... I promptly remodeled it! HA! The joke was on me -- In the long run, I could have bought any height fridge I wanted since I did get all new cabinetry. And I purposely left extra clearance this time in case I need a new fridge now the road. The extra room works well as I have a small kitchen, I put cutting boards on top of the fridge. Fortunately, I am very happy with the fridge so far. Works well and looks great. But had I known I was going to re-do the kitchen, I'd have gone a little larger. Or, had I really thought it through, I'd have shortened the existing cabinets as my original plan was to replace them in a couple of years. But it all worked out!

Gary's picture is a very helpful illustration. It shows raised panels that do not have that puffy look that I warned against. I totally disagree with LWO, which is very rare. It is a designer's job, and LWO is a professional designer as is the KD you're working with, to say these things, but it doesn't sound to me at all like you're planning an "upper end kitchen". It sounds like a very nice kitchen, but more value oriented than high end. I definitely agree with your reasoning that the choice of fridge should be based on your ideas of form and function. You like your choice of fridge. Choosing a different one to suit what the Jones are doing in the magazines or what designers think is the latest hot look will take away from the rational choice you've made for yourself. I went into my own kitchen remodel assuming I was getting SubZero, and preferring integrated, and still looked at freestanding fridges like the KA to compare them and see if I liked them better. I didn't. I liked Miele better, so went that. You sound like you've done enough shopping and know what you want. If the look of what you want bothered you, you would have worded your post differently. There is nothing wrong with having the edge of the fridge showing like Gary has--it's a very nice kitchen, but not designery and it wouldn't change the look if the fridge were integrated. There's nothing wrong with having the freestanding panelled fridge you're talking about, and putting nicely made panels on it, and having the sides show a little in the opening with a couple inches of air space. It's not built-in, but it's decorated to match the kitchen. It's not a high end, designery look, but it's perfectly fine. I find the comments otherwise to show more about the snobbery of the people writing them than the look itself. Matching things are out, right now. That's a big part of the problem. The people who want to be "in" decide that it's wrong to match if you can't make the match indistinguishable. It therefore must be integrated. Some people really make the match perfect, with faux drawer fronts and all so that you really can't tell where the fridge is. People aren't advocating that. I think if you can tell by the size and shape of the panels, it doesn't matter whether it's integrated, built-in but frame showing, or free-standing. It's still a fridge, and a fridge is a fridge, and what you want it to look like in it's fridgeness is entirely up to you. I also disagree about the death of the work triangle. I cook. I walk that triangle constantly. I have two fridges and two sinks, so there are different versions of the triangle which overlap, but I would never, ever, given a choice, remove the fridge from the main cooking area. People remodel their kitchens just to correct this problem. A big reason I planned a full remodel from the time I placed the offer to buy the house was the distance from the fridge to the stove. It was massively inconvenient even in an almost straight line. Moving the fridge out of the kitchen just so you won't have to look at it is something that people may do nowadays, but it is greatly impeding the function for cooking. People also buy vastly uncomfortable chairs because they look good, and then sit on the floor with pillows because they don't like sitting on the chairs. For some people looks is the most important thing of all. I've always admired the Duesenberg, one of the best and most beautiful cars ever made. They designed the works first, then designed the beautiful carriage to fit over them.

normjohnston14 - You probably know this already, but The Brick owns Transglobal. If you buy your appliance at The Brick you will be getting Transglobal. We used to have (emphasis on "used to") an appliance repair contract. The company used Transglobal. I do not put a lot of faith in the Cdn. home service rating company, but Transglobal has practically a 0 rating. We recently had to buy a new fridge. We were seriously challenged by space due to the height - cupboards can't really be cut. So we had to go with a top mount fridge that just fits under the cupboards with the minimum requirement of space above it. I shudder to think of the issues if this fridge dies in the short term because even most of the top mounts are starting to be made at a height of 67 - 69 inches - and many are 33 inches in width. Heck we couldn't get that size of fridge in the doorway. A lot of people have found that while an appliance might fit their space, getting it into their homes can be a major issue - if not impossible. It was also the only top mount we could find (in Ontario) that was Energy Efficient and since you live in Ontario you will know all about that issue. People in the U.S. have considerably more options. I looked at every website out there. We did take out the Extended Warranty just in case - I was afraid not to. It is stainless steel but the type that you can't use stainless steel cleaners on. It is a good thing I knew this because the manual was written by someone I am certain had never seen the fridge and was one of those manuals that cover every single fridge the company makes. But we did not buy the fridge from The Brick. I was told by the fridge manufacturer that if we bought it from The Brick they would have to send Transglobal. Never! The warranty was purchased directly from the manufacturer. I am aware that cosmetic issues are not covered. Actually if you read the Limited Warranty that came with your fridge you will see how hardly anything is covered. We had major issues with our Whirlpool starting at age 1.5. At least it had a bottom mount freezer. You want to speak about rust. Yikes.

Thanks everyone definitely some food for thought. I will say that our handle on our FD freezer is loose b/c of how full it gets and how much we use it. Our fridge part has never been close to overflowing. I do love the french door fridge part. It's the freezer part driving me crazy. I went to look at them today, big mistake of taking my 2.5 year old. She loved how her sneakers made a noise and echoed when she ran around, which led her to becoming a maniac and sprinting around the large warehouse and screaming every time I picked her up b/c she wanted to make the noise. So embarrassing, she is usually fairly well behaved. So we had to cut the trip short as I carried my screaming child out, again so embarrassing. They did have the DCS range and refrigerator out. I ordered the DCS a while back when they had a great deal going so it was nice to see in person. The stainless is definitely a bit different so it probably makes sense to order the fridge in the same stainless (nothing like ordering appliances based on appearance). The have a sxs in our budget, the FD exceeds it. It is one of the few SxS that does not have water/ice in the door (what I prefer). Pretty sure we are going to do that. It was so nice to hear how many people hated the sxs because a lot of the reasons will not pertain to us or can be solved thought still will miss the FD fridge. My kid is still young so we don't really eat that much frozen pizza, when she gets bigger she can make a trip to the basement to pull it out of the freezer, LOL. As for tray storage/sheet cakes we will just have go into the basement and use the fridge down there. It seems like there is no perfect solution (other than a 48" one haha). If we hate it, it easy enough to switch out in a few years....