A picture would be helpful. To answer your question, you could ask them what they plan on doing as you have an issue with the fridge door. Let's see what they have to say.

@Angel 18432 They' are suggesting flipping the door. which I feel is undesirable... but it's the easiest path forward.

Here's a few photos showing the issue and space

I would 100% ask for a filler. Seems like an experienced designer would have caught that. If they won't do it I would ask to switch the door with a nice discount.

I agree in asking for the filler, just be prepared for a headache. on another note, when did you order your cafe appliances? I ordered mine end of May and have yet to receive them!

I agree there should have been a filler there.

Would this work ... have them turn the pantry into a pull-out with door attached? Does moving the pull to the center location buy you enough clearance?

Duplex near Harvard Square, Cambridge Massachusetts · More Info

@HU-906660687 we ordered them at the end of June. The fridge just arrived. The home depot by us has had the fridge in stock a couple months ago, but it was $500 more than what we paid for it back in june, so we waited.

Still waiting on our cafe induction double range. It's due to arrive in January but that date has moved several times!

Easiest path for them!

I'm not a kc pro, but wouldn't they just have to move the pantry over, not every cabinet on that wall to install a filler? Also if they flip the bottom door, would you have to flip the top cabinet to make it look aligned?

Had you ordered counter depth fridge, it probably would have been worse.

No… cant just bump the pantry over, becuse the doorway is open to the ceiling and the crown moulding goes to the very edge. My picture cut that part off.

Here In this pic you can kinda of see that in the top left. Sorry I didn’t have a better pic

Just for numbers, say the fill is 1" wide, they then make the pantry 1" shorter in width so everything would fit in the space. Does that make sense. I'm sure if they are good cabinet makers - they can make it happen. BTW lovely kitchen.

The KD needs to fix that. That is unforgiveable. Even a nonpro who has never remodeled a kitchen knows you'd need to check dimensions and clearances and plan for a filler. Jeez. That is kitchen design 101. In fact, it is appliance purchase 101.

Then I'd ask what they're going to do for you since you have to have workers and disruption in your home all over again.

I think I came up with a solution for them that might make all of us happy.

They could order new doors. If they order new custom doors, 1 inch smaller than these, that will provide the clearance needed. They’re full overlay cabinets, so there is room on the face frame to give up the 1” on that side of the cabinets. It would only require them to buy new doors rather than moving cabinets to add a filler.

Seems like a good way to handle it, but any thoughts on this solution I might be missing?

i have that cafe fridge and had a similar problem. I had to cut the wall back 6 inches.

(btw, why didn't you get the countertop model?)

The designer messed up. there should be a bit more space between that cab and the fridge.

this is ridiculously close together! I'd have it replaced

Here's mine

will the smaller doors look odd?

What if they flipped the doors so that it opened from the left?

Yes, reducing the overlay may work to buy you enough room. It looks very close to working anyway. But open the pantry door, and then open the fridge to measure the path of that door edge. You may have to go to 1/4” overlay on the non hinge side rather than 1/2” overlay.

@Beth H. :What do you mean by countertop model? this is the counter depth cafe fridge. 23.1 cf

sorry, I meant counter depth. it seems like yours protrudes a bit more.

Mine is only 22 cu in. It's prob because of the ice maker.

Flipping the door is definitely the easiest solution. For them. And then very awkward for you ever after. As has been pointed out, even the greenest KD would know a filler was needed in that space.

I question reducing the size of the door. You will have to do both upper and lower, right? And even then, I have trouble visualizing how it will look with your other cabinets. Chispa has the best solution, but they won’t want to do it because pull-out pantry hardware is expensive. And then you still have that upper door to deal with. But personally, that is the solution I would push for. I might even offer to split the hardware cost with them in order to get it.

Lovely space. So sorry this happened.

I'm sorry but I have to say all the people saying this is unforgivable and the KD should know, please show me in the specs where it says the doors open up past the width of the box of the fridge, Many fridge specs do not clearly specify that. And no, I'm not the KD in this case just providing an alternate viewpoint. Another simple solution is to center the pull horizontal on the door. Or just pull the fridge out further until it clears?

"I'm sorry but I have to say all the people saying this is unforgivable and the KD should know, please show me in the specs where it says the doors open up past the width of the box of the fridge, Many fridge specs do not clearly specify that."

Why does that matter? Certainly GE provides width with door open 90 degrees, but were they silent on that it wouldn't matter. Finding out this information is the KD's job. The service that you are paying for is not making this type of mistake, and when it does happen it is always the KD's fault.

This doesn't make the KD bad or a bad person, I suspect every designer here has made similar mistakes. I submit the difference between good and bad designer only shows in the remedy.

Do you have the required refrigerator clearances for airflow? It is hard to tell from the photo. If you're fixing one problem, I'd make sure there isn't another since it doesn't appear that your KD paid close attention to the details.

I'm not sure if this is the same GE Profile model, but a similar model has the following minimum clearances for the surrounding cabinetry:

CLEARANCES Allow the following clearances for ease of installation, proper air circulation and plumbing and electrical connections.

Sides: 1/8"

Top: 1"

Back: 2"

There is about 1/8 inch clearance on sides and top of case. Not sure about the back. So I guess that’s wrong too.

Strange - the pictures and videos online make it look like the door can open to 90 degrees easily but your picture make it look like the door opens past the width of the box of the ref right from the start and wouldn't be able to get to 90 degrees. Were the doors removed at all? I have done kitchens in the past with this setup and never had a problem - not often, but have done it.

I think the custom size door is the best answer. It will look no different than if you did put a tall filler in there ( similar to the way the ref end panel is on the opposite side ). Just measure 10 times to make sure it would work.

On a side note - it could be the angle of the pictures - can you open the cabinet above the ref?? Those doors look like they are lower than the front of the doors. There needs to be an air gap from the box to the bottom of the cabinet of 1 " and 2" in the back. The cafe series has a box height of 69" . If that top cabinet was designed to be 1" above that - it's a problem. The overall height is 70 1/2. Not sure if the feet can adjust for that.

My other question is about the back air gap - your pantry looks like it is a 24" deep cabinet. That ref box with the air gap needs 26 3/8 of depth. If set in place properly you would see about 2" of the ref box showing!

The only reason I am mentioning all of this , is because if they now have to fix the upper cabinet, it may be easier to order a narrower pantry and fix all of it.

Check and double check all the dimensions and requirements, then go back to the designer/builder.

I hope this gets resolved for you.

@jennsbabysky there's literally no space on the sides or top of the fridge.... but i could cut a hole in the wall behind the fridge wall and put an airflow vent. It just opens up to the basement stairs.

@bry911 so you're suggesting if said manufacturer doesn't state the width with doors open 90 degrees (which I checked, and GE does not, only width is including handles which doesn't help) than the KD should go find one and open it up to confirm doors open within themselves? In my experience, a lot of models specs do not clearly state these, and yes I agree a remedy is needed, there seems to be plenty mentioned.

I'd double check the manual specific to your fridge. Did your kitchen designer have the specific model when the kitchen was designed? Someone should have made sure the fridge space matched the minimum specifications for your model.

The back is fairly easy, I usually push my fridge back and then mark 2 inches forward of that. Then just pull it forward until there are 2 inches behind it.

I would make them redo the area above the fridge so it has the required clearance. It could mean that your fridge will have a much shorter lifespan without that airgap. Then you'll have to repeat all of these steps with another fridge.

Yes it is the KD’s fault. I am sure it has happened to the best of them. Unfortunately a tiny mistake like this can cost big bucks to fix. Good thing is we can learn from it. I have learned so much just reading threads like these on gardenweb over the years.

Teresa, I hope they can find a solution that you feel happy about because you should not have to compromise. I would not feel bad making them re-do, replace, or do whatever it takes to make it right. Gorgeous kitchen from the little bit shown!

I happen to be doing my research on the same model ge cafe matte white fridge. I would love to replace my stainless one at some point. along with range and dw. I hear it takes a long time, so I am starting early.

The first thing I researched was the specs. Will it will fit into my existing space with enough clearance around it? Are the doors going to be able to fully open up (not banging into anything) so that the shelves and bins can be removed to clean?

Maryanne, I found the door dimensions quickly online in the manual. Yes, the KD should have read it and is responsible. That is the whole reason you hire a kd, so little mistakes like this are avoided. Still mistakes happen. Live and learn right right?

Here is a great video I found. It shows every possible dimension, the clearences needed for doors to open, and all the detailed instructions on how to install it.

"when you open the fridge door, the cabinet hardware hits it, also preventing the fridge door from opening all the way."

Before doing anything else, I'd remove the hardware from the two left-hand cabinets and confirm that you'll be able to fully open the freezer door. The right side of the refrigerator is not pictured; is the adjacent cabinetry on that side shallower than the cabinet door on the left? If so, and it's the shallower cabinetry that's allowing the refrigerator door to open fully, then a filler strip the depth of the left-hand door will still block the freezer door.

@Maryanne said, "@bry911 so you're suggesting if said manufacturer doesn't state the width with doors open 90 degrees (which I checked, and GE does not, only width is including handles which doesn't help) than the KD should go find one and open it up to confirm doors open within themselves?"

Yes, that is exactly what I am stating. Everyone who is in the business of selling or designing kitchens should know that this issue is common with counter-depth refrigerators and has been since counter-depth refrigerators became a thing. It is certainly the job of a kitchen designer to avoid problems that are reasonably foreseeable by the typical person in their profession. In fact, that is really the entirety of their job.

However, let's go one step further than "suggesting," if the kitchen designer is selling cabinets and/or appliances, then it is actually a statutory requirement in every state. It is called the implied warranty of fitness for a specific purpose.

Aren’t “refrigerator return panels“ a thing? in my planning and design stage I opted for these instead of a plain 3/4 inch panel with extra filler. This is something that absolutey should have been accounted for but i think it futile to blame the kd for the actual working of the counter depth fridge (meaning all counter depth fridges probably have equal specs) , than accounting for the proper spacing in between cabinets. Did your smaller door resolution work out?

I'm surprised they're balking about fixing this correctly. They only have to move three cabinets. i would insist they add the filler and move the cabinets.

Hi @teresacl what did you end up doing with this situation? We just had our new counter depth fridge arrive and are facing the exact same issue. In fact our layout appears to be the same with the fridge next to a slim pantry cabinet. I could flip the doors, but I'm curious about the fill strip option. Thank

The spec drawings posted above show the width with the doors open, in inches....and that's all good. But the engineer that drew the sketch (top view) showing the doors opening up, didn't draw it right. The pivot point on the doors is completely wrong. Appliance specs are the PITA to us KDs. Ughh...thanks for the heads up on this one....I haven't done a job with this particular model yet.

Refrigerator doors that pivot out wider like this requires definite detailed attention! It needs 1.5 to 3" tall refrigerator end panels on both sides...and it helps more if it protrudes out passed adjacent cabinets....so making the side panels 27" deep would have helped here. recommended air gap at back + depth of refrigerator box is what i make the end panels. Even with a countertop depth model, I make the end panels deeper.

One other fix...and an expensive one.

• Order two Ref. end panels. 1.5" wide x 27" deep (for both sides of ref)
• Order new pantry tad narrower, 1.5" to 3 inches narrower than what you have now.
• Will also have to redo the top molding....so may need to reorder new molding

@ange2710 - we ended up just ordering smaller doors. since those cabinets are full overlay it worked out.

@teresa CL, I just came across this thread today as we are dealing with almost the exact same issue in our kitchen remodel. Just curious if you are happy with the resolution you ended up with? Would you be able to post a picture of the final result?

When I see this happen, something is not to manufactuer specs. Most of the time, the referigerator is pushed too close to the wall. Many refrigerators call for 2". Check what yours is supposed to be and cut a block of wood that size and place behind the refrigerator and see if that helps.