Have you checked the clearance required on the new fridge? I don’t think you can put a 36” fridge in a 36” opening.

And I really don’t think I’d ever want to notch away more than half of a wall’s support system. Surely there’s a better way, but I don’t think any of the options are going to be easy or cheap.

What is on the other side of that wall?

Thanks for your reply. On the other side of the wall is a pantry closet. The wall is not load bearing, but I understand the concern about the notching. I don't know what else to do that would not affect the cabinet above.

Is the height of the new fridge the same?

A 36" fridge will ft into a 36" opening. My nominal 33" GE does into a 33" opening.

Kitchen Aid makes a 33 inch French door fridge that doesn't seem to be any deeper than what you have there now (based on the cabinets next to them). Are you sure you can't find a 33 inch option? Notching out the wall seems to be a terrible plan aesthetically. Maybe have a handyman come out and reframe the pantry closet?

There are some 33" French door models, but they are at least 33" deep. Our existing frige is only 29" deep. We went a few days with ours pulled out the extra 4" and it bothered us. The new one is 26" deep. We are looking forward to it being further back than it is now. I think we got a good deal on the new one as well. We got a floor model of this one, https://www.lowes.com/pd/KitchenAid-20-cu-ft-Counter-Depth-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-Stainless-steel-ENERGY-STAR/50383140  , for only $1,000.

Do you think the notched wall will look bad? I suppose the other option is to move the whole wall. I could replace the crown molding and the board on the left side of the cabinet with wider ones, but then that involves the ceiling drywall too.

I welcome anyone's opinions or advice. Thanks!

Hi there,

Great deal on that fridge! I went ahead and looked up the installation PDF for you, your fridge will require a 36 5/8 inch opening per the installation instructions. The only "36 inch" fridges I am aware of that are rated to fit in a 36 inch opening are integrated or built in types. Your fridge may be able to squeeze into the 36 inch opening but it will not have sufficient clearance on the sides for ventilation. Your fridge would most likely run fine in the short term, and may or may not fail like so many on these forums have posted about, blaming the fridge manufacture in the end. The process is a gamble. If you are going through all the hassle of cutting into that wall, just make it a bit wider and you should be functionally good to go.

You just bought a total kitchen remodel. Or, a restocking fee and buying a different, narrower, refrigerator. What you want to do is not practable or doable without s lot of expense. Moving walls is not a just” project. It’s far more involved than you seem to think it to be. .

The whole wall has to go and a filler installed on the cabinet.

There seem to be fridges that would work without any changes, e.g. counter depth, less than 34" wide. Remember you'll need room for the doors to swing open. Watch the height too.

For example from GE...

http://products.geappliances.com/appliance/gea-category/refrigerators?ascdesc=d&p=1&r=12&sortBy=price&Type=French+Door&Width=30.1-33.0&Features=Counter+Depth

Thank you to everyone for providing feedback, I appreciate it, it's very helpful. Please keep it coming. I guess what is clear to me is that this will be more involved than I thought. My "bargain" refrigerator may not be worth it, but I want to weigh all options. If I do it, maybe the best option is what Joseph indicated, moving the entire wall. The cabinets are custom, not hung as a unit, so this would require some filler, or reconstruction of the cabinet above. Could I just replace the crown molding and the board on the left side of the cabinet with wider ones?

Aj Madison has a large selection ,this one would not stick out and fits in your current cabinet space. https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/FFBN1721TV.html

Badabing2, Thanks, for that GE recomendation, the GWE19JSLSS might work. I will see if I can find that one to look at locally. We were trying to stay at at least 20 cf, as our current one is 20.4, but that one s/b close enough at 18.6.

We spent hours this past weekend looking at Lowes, HD, P. C. Richards, and Best Buy for something that would fit, would not stick out too far, and would be big enough. We could not find anything. It was frustrating. That led me to the one we got. We love it, and got a great deal, but I didn't realize just how much work it would be.

Luckyblueeye, thanks for the recomendation. We have no A.J. Madison's near us in CT, but I actually did try to find that one, (branded as Haier) near me, but nobody had them. I don't think it would hold enough for us though. The depth of only 26" combined with the width of 33 is just too small. There were Samsungs with the same dimensions, and they were just too small.

If you can handle standard depth (35") check out the GNE25JSKSS (on sale at Costco.com for $1299). It's 24.8 cubic feet but still 32.75" wide. Note with either model you'll lose a bit due to that water filter taking up space.

I would take out the pantry closet, or reframe it to be narrower. Look for a matching upper cabinet on Craigslist or your local ReStore, or plan to put 2” filler on each side to center the existing cabinet over your new fridge.

That counterdepth french door refrigerator you were eyeing is going to be alot more trouble than it's worth, given that one of the doors is going to open against a wall. There are a couple of newer threads discussing that very problem.

Good point above...here's what I needed (~3.5") so the door didn't hit the wall. Tape is against the wall. And figure a couple inches min from the rear wall too. This is counter-depth fridge with a 28" wall and I pushed the fridge forward 3.5" in back (used a 2x4 so it would not slide on the wheels backward).

My 2 cents: definitely do not attempt that wall work. The people we bought our house from tried to do almost exactly the same thing and woof, it looked terrible and we couldn't wait to fix it. Either get a fridge that will fit the space you have, or plan to do an extensive remodel. You also may not know what you're going to get once you open that wall up, as there may be some framing or utilities that you can't easily change and then you'll really be stuck.

I had to get a new refrigerator and while the width would fit finely, the height would not work. I had a choice cut or remove the cabinet above or find one that fit. Luckily I was able to find one model by Fisher Paykel. It is a French door and very quiet. Check them out. Taking out the wall makes your new fridge no longer a bargain find.

Thanks again all, given the amount of clearance needed for the french doors, I think this kills that idea. Wow, I was thinking this would help our kitchen look a little less dated :(

I was able to look at the small GE that Badabing pointed me to. I could live with the Refrigerator portion, but the freezer is just tiny. I also have handyman coming out to give us estimates on other house items that need to be done, I will ask him for an estimate on moving the wall at the same time. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

The contractor came and indicated that it would probably be $1000 to move the wall. So, time to return my "bargain". I had it waiting at Lowes for delivery. Went with the GE GWE19JSLSS model, but I know we will be cursing that freezer soon! Thanks for everyone's input.

$1000 sounds about right depending on how expensive contractors are in your market.

The benefit wouldn't just be in being able to but a cheaper fridge now, but also in being able to buy more standardized fridges going forward. You might very well find that in a few years you'll have to take on this project anyway, as nobody makes those off sizes any more

You have 36" wide, right? Is it just the doors that you're hesitant about? You could do the 22.2 cubic foot model (PYE22KSKSS for example). I think it might work - the fridge would just stick out a little bit to accommodate the doors (which a side-by-side would too).

No, the current opening is 34" with an 33" refrigerator. So, since the quote to make it 36 was so high, we had to go with a 33" wide model.