I have had a counter depth fridge and really disliked the limited space. Is there any chance to have a beverage fridge somewhere in the kitchen for a little extra space?

You can do it. What about getting a small freezer that can go in the basement or laundry room or something? It will be hard for you to pack the fridge and have it all eaten before it goes bad if there are just two of you. When you have guests, you’ll probably eat out more. Do you have a finished space in the basement where you can add a second fridge/freezer? We just put one in our basement rec room for drinks, ice cubes, and fresh snacks when we have guests over.

No basement and no garage. That's the problem, Maybe I could squeeze a small beverage fridge in the laundry area.

It depends on how clever the manufacturer is. This standard-depth 28" Whirlpool WRT518SZFG refrigerator has a capacity of 17.6 cf and is the highest capacity available* for its width, but Summit managed to squeeze 16.8 cf (95%) into its FFBF286SSLHD counter-depth refrigerator.

*on appliancesconnection.com

If money is not a huge problem go fir a custom built in. We had a SubZero in one of our homes and it was well worth it. Never lost anything, flush with the counter and held loads of stuff and nothing ever spoiled!!!!
I think Wolf, Electrolux,
Thermador , and GE make them.
At least those names come to mind. It will be an investment but a great one!

If you get a taller built in fridge they seem to be so much better in terms of layout. Can you do a beverage fridge in a bar area? The stuff that takes up all the room are drinks and sauce bottles!

We have a counter depth fridges since 2001, and the space is adequate for the two of us. Even with the occasional guests, you should be fine. Ours is a 20.6 cu. ft. whirlpool side by side because there is an island to deal with in front of it. The built in ice maker capacity is small, but for the two of us it is enough. The freezer is a bit small, compared to our previous one, but it is made up in more fridge space, I had to order two more shelves for the freezer (at $100 each) to maximize the usage of space and that's my only complaint.

This is our current one

Right now I cook at my sister’s house. Her 36” SZ built in is a model older than mine, and I have routinely cooked meals for five (and occasionally twenty) out of that fridge with one weekly shop with no problem. She does have a beverage fridge, and I recommend that too, but it will be of no use to you in the laundry room.

We are a family of five, three kids, and have a counter depth fridge. It is totally fine. We shop once a week and are good to go. We do have a deep freeze but it houses our costco purchases and is not a necessity.

I have a counter depth fridge which has a drawer that can either be a freezer or refrigerator and there are three of us. But I regularly (used to anyway) have family dinners with 9 or so people and do not feel it’s to small at all good luck.

Thanks for the encouraging comments. Our place isn't at the price point where I would contemplate spending the money on a SubZero or other super pricey fridge.

I might have to try to figure out if I can find a spot (other than the laundry room) for a beverage fridge.

We have a counter depth fridge and the only thing that bothers me is the lack of depth - would of thought! Pizza boxes don't fit in the freezer or fridge. The volume does seem adequate though!

And I agree, if the budget allows an integrated fridge should fit more!

So, if a frozen pizza box won't fit in a counter depth fridge, do you just forget the idea of having a pizza or two on hand for last minute meals?

You can put leftvover pizza in a plastic/glass/tupperware container or ziploc bag, which is what we do. Especially because if you leave it in the box, it can make your fridge smell like pizza. Which is not always desirable, but ymmv. As far as the freezer goes, ours has a "pizza pocket" in the drawer, so they stand up, and we also have a chest freezer in the basement.

We have to take them out of the box and they usually fit. Bigger ones have to put them in on an angle.

If we still had our two kids at home our counter depth fridge would not work. There is limited space, gaps behind the shelves and the back of the frig. And the freezer is way to small. And we don't have a water/ice dispenser on the outside either, they are inside. Fine for two people but impracticable for a family. Especially is you do not have another location for a freezer or bev fridge.

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We have a KA counter depth fridge ( going on 7 years now) family of 3. We shop once weekly though we entertain a lot ( at least we used to) and typically shop separately for that.

My kitchen is 8 x 13 and I have a Liebherr counter depth fridge. I think it is 12 cubic feet. I don't usually have issues with storage unless I'm hoarding food.

Two counter depth fridges but instead of 24 across they are 36 For more storage. Since you are designing kitchen you could give up some space.

Really , shop more often I have had counter depth fridges in this and my last house and IMO you lose very little space and you can actually find stuff before it grows god knows what in the back of the fridge. I have run catering businesses from both houses with those fridges . Europeans rarely have anything but and they seem to ba able to entertain, have families it’s amazing. I have no idea why NAs have to buy groceries to last even a week. There are supermarkets everywhere so really no reason to fill the fridge to overflowing.

I was going through that same worry and although our remodel is on hold (hopefully will happen soon once things reopen) we decided to go with GE,profile 23 cubic which is decent capacity PWE23KSKSS. ( DH likes having the internal water dispenser) . Anyway- this seemed pretty adequate. We do have basement and garage, but I think we will be fine without an extra appliance. I really think you are fine with some of the larger counter depth fridges. Definitely go look at them and see the layouts.

We had to replace a fridge a few months ago, and thought I wanted counter depth because of this forum but after looking at them no way it would work for our family. Just not deep enough for platters and big casseroles when we are all together. I am pretty good about going through fridge every trash day to get rid of things that are getting old so nothing gets lost in back. No way I could afford subzero and not a place in my kitchen for one anyway without remodeling and that is not happening. I hate going to grocery store so I like to get enough food for at least a week, 2 weeks even better.

Of course, it doesn't help that I can't go look at lots of fridges in person. That's the way we've always chosen fridges in the past.

And, I know it is a small problem right now not being to shop in person like I could in the past. I should be grateful that my family and friends are healthy.

I am just trying to at least get my kitchen remodel plans finalized (or even somewhat laid out) while staying at home, and fridge size is critical for planning everything else.

Although I rarely do it, I'm able to put a large pizza box in my counter depth LG. I just adjust the shelf on the door in front of it.

This is a Samsung very easy to fit everything

The second drawer inFirst picture can become a freezer or refrigerator. We use it for wine,beer and water in that order lol. Plenty of space for pizza two drawers in freezer.

I love my counter depth Frigidaire. The French doors on top make it easy to find anything, pizza boxes fit fine. I wasn’t sure I would like the pull out freezer drawer but I love it too. There’s an ice/water dispenser on the door, and it was about $1600 on sale

The last comments and model recommendations are encouraging because I just returned from Costco where I had to get some necessities. They had a counter depth GE on display that I looked at (trying to figure out he frozen box of pizza dilemma as a way of gauging its size). It seemed way too small, but perhaps it was that particular model.

We have a Kitchenaid Counterdepth fridge - 2 adults, and 3 small kids. I normally grocery shop 1 time per week (much less in the last 6 weeks). We have no problem. We do have a Kitchenaid beer / wine under counter fridge as well to store drinks, which frees up space in the main fridge. I do anticipate adding a second fridge into our basement when we finish that and our kids are bigger. However, we have a very large family extended family that we typically entertain quite often (1-2 times per month prior to stay-at-home) and have never had an issue with fitting in large platters.

This is what we have and we love it:

https://www.kitchenaid.com/major-appliances/refrigeration/freestanding-refrigerators/freestanding-french-door/p.23.8-cu.-ft.-36-counter-depth-french-door-platinum-interior-refrigerator-with-printshield-finish.krfc704fps.html

@julieste I totally understand about not being able to see the models. My brain was not functioning when I suggested that. One thing we found was that the door dispenser for water or ice really seems to take up a lot of real estate in the fridge space. Maybe it's just configured differently but it seemed the ones without it in the door were much roomier. At least you did get to look at one at Costco. in real life.

If you look at the websites, obviously it's not the same as in real life, but they do show the views of the doors open and you can get some what of a feel for them.

Here's a picture to show how a large pizza box can fit in a counter depth refrigerator. On the left is the left door, which is fully closed. The tape measure is against the back wall. All I have to do is remove or lower the top shelf on the door, and there's more than enough room for a large carry out pizza box. Part of the box will extend beyond the front edge of the shelf, which is fine. The refrigerator shelves can also be raised and lowered.

Depends on what you put in your refrigerator. We have a counter depth refrigerator and it’s usually so full of produce we had to add a second refrigerator in the basement. That one is full of longer-lasting produce, but I still run down and up the steps several times a week. Our kitchen is small, the previous fridge partly blocked the doorway to the dining room so counter-depth made sense. I wish refrigerators were designed with multiple huge produce spaces. I can skip the deli, dairy, meat, soda-fitted spaces .... just need lots of space for greens!

Pizza boxes totally fit in our fridge. But to be honest I put them in tupperware

The visual with the tape measure really helped. Thanks! My question really had to do with the boxes that frozen pizza comes in and if the counter top freezers can accommodate those.

stephpic--That is truly a lovely fridge. I saw one at Lowe's one day and admired it. But, ouch on the price.

Found this blog posting which I thought is interesting and could be helpful to other people who are facing this dilemma. https://renov8or.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-least-expensive-true-counter-depth.html

I don't have a problem with storing frozen pizzas in the bottom freezer. A Wild Mike's pizza might be more of a challenge if the freezer has a lot in it. In that case I'd remove it from the box, cut out the baking instructions, and sit the pizza on top of whatever's in the sliding shelf over the bins.

We have a townhouse with an 8 x 13 kitchen. We, too, have a 30" Liebherr fridge and have no problem with space. It has a non-plumbed ice maker which we love: no water line to leak. We moved to the US from Europe, where we had a 24" Liebherr - large by their standards.

We don't keep frozen pizza because I cook all our food from scratch or we order take-out. I buy meat from a farmer and have no trouble keeping plenty of frozen beef, pork, seafood, etc.

The Liebherr has a large vegetable drawer. The door shelves do not take a gallon milk jug, although the door of the 24" Liebherr fridge at our lake house does.