I vote minera to provide contrast. Does this darker color pick up the darker veining in your marble? I think that would be very pretty. I also like the minera and the nougat together in your photo. I see that it is hard to photograph the minera. It also looks like a soft dark color and not harsh. I definitely don't like the photo above this post with the dark modern cabinets.

I should have been more clear on my initial post. The drywalled opening is 24" deep, 32" wide and wide open to the ceiling, which is 9'. The LG would work, though it's considerably smaller than the 18.2 Frigidaire (depth including door and handle is 32 1/8")that the designer ordered. The issue is this fridge will protrude into the room by about 8", right next to a hallway that leads from the laundry room to the kitchen. I was just hoping to find any fridge that was closer to counter depth without breaking the bank. Someone suggested an all refrigerator model by Frigidaire, which is 28 5/8" deep.

Sujafr - “We also discovered that you absolutely cannot go by the manufacturer's specs to know the height.” That is so terrible! What’s the point in giving specifications if they’re not accurate since that’s the whole point, you know? I think I remember seeing a small note on a set of specs saying they may not be accurate. *smacks head*. :) “That second pic looks like they pieced the panel between the upper and lower...not the best IMHO” I agree that looks a little strange. Our crown, I believe, is 2 3/8”. It’s ok, I was just thinking something a little larger, would look nicer. I don’t want to crowd the ceiling crown though. I suppose I could just buy small replacement piece if needed. I’m still concerned about the stain matching. I’ll have to do some test runs for sure. About your neighbor, I didn’t even realize they could do that with the hinges. Thanks for the link! Bee - DH did poo pooed that idea, but I think just because it sounds like a complicated pain. The laundry room is on the other side, and the wall behind the fridge is where the wall drying rack is. I could live with a bump out in there. With recessing it into the wall, I would need someone for cutting/new drywall as well as a plumber and electrician for the water line and electrical outlet, right? Unfortunately, I don’t thinking taking away the cabinet space would work well for us. Hmm… as for the cd, my current fridge is 21 something cu ft. and works great. However, if my kids end up with an appetite like DH during the teen years we’re going to need another whole fridge somewhere. :) The cd one I was looking at that fits is 20.7 or .9. Is the size really going to be that different? I know it’ll be wider vs. deeper. I’m hoping to get out this weekend to see it IRL. Suero - I agree with you. I think I’d rather see the side panels match the fridge even if it sticks out past the cabinets better than having it boxed and the fridge sticking out past the box. Since my fridge isn’t on the end I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to think it looks much better that what I have going on now (I’m referring to the cabinet set up - I know ss will look better). It’s the sticking out part that bothers me so that’s why I was thinking the counter depth fridge would take care of that. Hi Val! Thanks for the panel info. I really know nothing about kitchen stuff and what’s available and I’m finding this whole process somewhat frustrating. As for boxing the fridge, do you just go in as far as you needed to accommodate the fridge size or is there a standard depth for this? If we went this route, which I don’t really see me being able to convince DH at this time, I’d rather not have a bump out in the laundry room. “Put the refrigerator at the end of the cabinet run by swapping the refrigerator cabinet with the cabinet to the right.” At some point in life, this is going to happen but I was going to wait until we replaced the counters (& floors) or redo the kitchen. I’d like to have the fridge on the end with a wall beside it. “If you are not replacing counters, consider putting a butcher block counter top on just that section.” I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that done. I’m off to look for photos. We are keeping the counters at this point. I only got a few responses from the kitchen forum. I suppose I know what my options are at this point I just am having a hard time making a decision. We don’t have a large budget for this mini makeover and have decided to spend more on appliances than originally planned. I’m trying to sort my options out. I like details and I'd much rather have someone present me with a plan of options, lists, and prices and us pick one. ...And this is why people hire designers & GCs. And just because I feel like being chatty, my actual plans are to replace the appliances, stain the cabinets (GF Brown Mahogany), I like to replace the cabinet crown, add a 6" can above the sink and remove the wood valance, paint the walls BM Shaker Beige to coordinate much better with the counters and floor, paint the island a TBD color, change out valance fabric/considering making a cornice, replace fabric on chair cushions, and I’d like to replace the current art (main wall behind the table) with a set of botanical prints. I'm not sure what I'm doing with the backsplash area. I need to see some of these changes first. This post was edited by sheesharee on Tue, Mar 4, 14 at 23:03

We also converted from framed to frameless. All drawers. We did this first before making final decisions. We got so much more useable space, we decided not to have a pantry. We got more counter space. Today, it is still a happy choice. We kept moving forward step by step, re-using old counter material and fillers like plywood until we bought a new fridge. Even though it was a tall 24"wide one, we decided to hide it down the hall and buy an undercounter fridge. That shows you how much we loved having ever more counter! Later we recessed our wall oven and put a piece of counter in front of it. 9" by 24". More counter! -- Deep long drawers will astound you. They bring objects to you. Today, you get on all fours to rummage around in the dark. It's a disincentive. Your kitchen has a wide aisle. You could make your new counter overhang by many inches and still have a wide aisle. With full extension drawers it is not significant when your counter overhang is large. Make uppers deep, with frosted glass fronts, that swing up. We installed Ikea's Akurum base cabinets upside down (they are symmetric), so we got more room to install the deep drawers. Before doing it, I posted questions about this in GW and in Ikeafans; the response was the wildest hecklefest I could have imagined. But it worked and it increased drawer volume. Later I removed the crossbeams (MDF) under the new counter. More volume. It all worked. Our counter is 2cm thick; this also gave us more space. Prices are $24 Ikea 70107069 RATIONELL N 24"w fully-extendable (Blum M-height) $30 Ikea 90109977 RATIONELL N 24"w fully-extendable (Blum C or D-height) Deep Drawers and glides. They come with the clips for the fronts, but not the fronts. See http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0718520230561.html I added to this thread earlier today. In that post there is more information on other topics related to small kitchens. Here is a link that might be useful: Small kitchens HAVE to have __