We've had such a good experience with our Sub Zeros that we just ordered the 42" French door Sub Zero for the kitchen at our next home. Currently I have a 36" all Refrigerator and a 36" all Freezer. They are now 29 years old and going strong. We did have some of the typical problems in the early years - my ice maker worked fine, but every now and then I had ice build up in the back. Since it was out of warranty I used a hair dryer to melt the ice but that got annoying. When I called my local repair company they called Sub Zero from my house and discussed the problem. Sub Zero offered to cover the part and I paid for labor. It's now worked fine for over 20 years. The compressor only had a 5 year warranty when I bought the freezer in 1988. And of course it died in year 7 - again my local repair guy called SZ - and again they covered the parts while I paid labor. My impatient 10 year old son tried to force the freezer door open after it had just shut - anyone who knows SZ knows that when you close it, you have to wait a few seconds for the pressure to equalize before opening it again. Well he managed to break the metal handle. I called SZ and after the customer service rep laughed he asked if I had been entertaining a frat party at my home. I told him it was my 10 year old and that I had witnessed it. He immediately told me he'd send me a new handle - no charge. Well this same kid (who is now an impatient adult) managed to break off the handle on the refrigerator a year later. Again I called SZ - however by this time they had changed the style of the handle. The customer service rep not only send me a new handle for free - he also sent a new one for the freezer so that I would have matching handles. Their customer service has been fantastic. That's the reason we ordered another one from them. I know I'm going to miss my 301 R and 301 F when we move . We're empty nesters and down sizing and I don't need or even have room for those big units - but DH and I both love to cook and we often make large casseroles and freeze meals for our kids. The 42" should work fine for us.

I'd go with the Thermador. IT'S THE BEST VALUE FOR THE MONEY. I previously owned a 24" Liebher fridge since 2002. It has served me well. It still cools but does not freeze as well...low on refrigerant ? Anyway, I decided to go with the Gaggenau 36" bottom freezer. 2 years later no regrets. I love this fridge. My office is located next to the kitchen. It's super, super quiet, stainless interior and led side lighting. The Thermador is similar to the Gaggenau minus the stainless interior but have the new push to open assisted door opener/closer, led side lighting and new shelving. I could have gone with a Sub Zero but glad I didn't.

SZ is certainly a premium brand with the "whoo-hoo" appeal. Sort of sexy, even though the space is very slim. I HATE them, and rejected them for my latest custom build. As a cook, I really need what I just built- an extremely functional kitchen that has a "quadrangle" cooking space. Not just the triangle any more, and my pantry, cook top, oven, and sinks (always one to serve the cooktop)- none of more than a few steps away. It's a dream to cook in, and my refrigerator has a bunch of drawers/compartments.shelves to house all that is needed- at my fingertips. So take care- high end buyers have been through the "wars" with these appliances. If something goes wrong, check into service costs in your area. Make sure you have a LOCAL company, not just an 800#, to call in. It can be very expensive, to fix, and you could be waiting a long time for it. In the meantime, you have a big freezer- completely un-meaningful for me, but maybe you. And another pantry around the corner. High end people who cook often look at the # of steps and meal they can think of will cost them. Hey- if your sales market projects the wealthy younger set, as most probable, no problem. But experience doesn't always love these.

We're in the middle of a full kitchen/master bath, laundry remodel, and have been heavily researching appliances and other components. We've narrowed our refrigerator vetting down to Bluestar, Sub-Zero, and Fisher Paykel. We've spent a lot of money over the last 25 years replacing sub par appliances every 8 months to a few years. Our full sized FP refrigerator in our recording studio has been performing exceptionally well over the last 12 years, needing only one repair when something happened and it froze everything, instead of cooling it. It was an easy fix, it's a nice modern looking workhorse. But it doesn't have that "pro" look or heft of being all stainless on the inside, which is what we want for our main kitchen. With recent supply and vendor issues, although frustrating, we've actually benefited from the delays in that we've had more time to compare and weigh specs, and visit the showrooms of the 2 main upscale home appliance and fitting suppliers in our area more than once to look at things first hand and ask a lot of questions. We've had absolutely nothing but problems with the big box stores when it comes to the quality of appliances, customer service, warranties, installations, etc. We were originally going to order the BS 36" PRO built-in fridge. We liked that it was all stainless steel and solid. We did not like that the interior butter/egg doors were heavy, and did not have hinges. The doors fell back down hard and fast, catching your hand if you didn't move it away quick enough. The doors were also glass and steel, so the glass had the possibility of shattering. The other interior door baskets were kind of harsh, with sharp edges. Then we started seeing that BS had overall quality issues in their refrigerators, so we removed BS refrigerators from our list. After our add'l research, numerous visits to the showrooms, and talking in depth to our respective reps during this vetting process, we've made our final decision to order either a Sub-Zero 36" PRO refrigerator for a built in w/ a separate set of under counter fridge/freezer singles or drawers, or a 48" PRO refrigerator period, because it has ample fridge and freezer space and no add'l units are necessary. The deciding factor will be if we have enough headroom to stand the 48" upright before it slides into the slot in the kitchen. Do run the numbers on space tolerances if you're considering different sizes! Lastly, Sub-Zero, from what I've read, has very good customer service, longevity, and a quality product. I also read on a houzz discussion forum that someone had a SZ and it kept their food fresh for 10 days with no electricity during a hurricane and its aftermath. We live in a hurricane prone area, so this was a great point for us to consider.