How tall is your cutout? Bosch has two different models (500 series and 800 series) and the 500 needs a couple of inches less height--in case you were looking at specs for the 800! (We recently got the 800 but didn't look at the 500 so not sure what the other differences are--I assume there are some.) We also really liked the Fisher & Paykel, which had many of the same features as the Bosch, and if I remember that one also took less height than the 800 series (but maybe was about the same as the 500).

Not sure if this would work, but if you abandon the use of the upper cabinet, the box of the Bosch is 1/2" less then the front frame. Also, there are leveling feet that could be a factor.

Good news about the Bosch 500 and the FP. I think either one would work. I’m now leaning towards the FP because I can get it without the exterior water dispenser. I live by myself, so size wise the FP would be fine. It seems to have good reviews and a good warranty.

We really liked the F&P--it's also shallower (door is less thick; they sit in the same depth enclosure, more or less) than the Bosch and I have had some buyer's remorse moments wishing we had that inch back! The warranty is two years vs. Bosch's one year, which is also a plus. They're both really nice options, though. We went back and forth on the decision right up to delivery day!

I was just reading about the external water filter on the FP. Seems like that might be a problem. Any thoughts on that?

We have the model with no water connection. Hopefully someone else here has experience with that.

We also looked at the model with no water, so didn't pay much attention to that aspect. (We did almost make an eleventh hour shift to the stainless model with ice when our appliance store thought they couldn't get the Bosch through our kitchen door and read some middling reviews of the ice maker, but honestly I feel like ice/water is the most common repair issue for any refrigerator.) One plus that the Bosch had is that you can buy a bypass for the water filter, which we plan to do once the filter it came with is at end of life, since we have very good local water. Not sure if F&P also offers this option since we didn't look at the models with ice.

• Bosch B36CL80SNS - $3700; 21 cf
• Bosch B36CT80SNS - $3500; 21 cf
• LG LRFLC2706S - $1900; 27 cf

The LG is 1-3/4" shorter, holds more stuff, and is only 1/2" deeper without handles.

We looked at that LG model--it is counter-depth officially, but not really since it needs a 27" deep enclosure--25" chassis depth without doors plus 2" required clearance. (Ours is only 25", which is what most of the counter-depth models we looked at need, because they're less deep.) If you are building new it's a great option since it does have more capacity while taking less space than a standard-depth model, but if you have an existing kitchen (or if, as in our case, you have space constraints) those inches will matter a lot.

"it is counter-depth officially..."

Yup. There doesn't seem to be a definition of "counter depth". One might think it means that the refrigerator is as deep as the counter. Wrong! One really has to check the dimensions shown in the specifications and installation guides to be sure.

Depths: Appliance without handles + Rear clearance = Total

• Bosch B36CL80SNS: 28-3/4" + 0" = 28-3/4"
• LG LRFLC2706S: LG: 29-1/8" + 2" = 31-1/8"
• Fisher & Paykel RF201ACJSX1: 27-3/8" + 0" = 27-3/8"

Counter depth is actually pretty universal for the majority of brands--those models require a cutout that is 25" deep (sometimes a smidge less), which is about the depth of standard counters. The depth of the refrigerators themselves vary based on the door and handle designs, but it's the depth of the box without doors that defines whether it is considered counter-depth. We had fortunately designed our cabinets to that spec 12 years ago so were all set. (Height varies more--72" is most common, but some are as tall as 84" or as low as 69"--but we had built our enclosure with an adjustable shelf above it so that we'd have options.) That particular LG is the only model I encountered that needed more than 25" (but it also offers more capacity, so if someone were starting from scratch they'd be able to accommodate it as a nice compromise between true counter-depth and full-depth). LG also offers smaller refrigerators that are standard counter-depth and fit in the standard-sized enclosures.

As a better illustration, here's our new fridge, though not the greatest angle to show that the panel covers the box fully, but not the 4" of door:

...and our old one, which was about 31" deep, in the same enclosure. (Many of the same cookbooks so you can see how the shelf was raised to accommodate the height of the new one.) It's not a huge overall difference in inches, but it does make a big difference aesthetically.

And here's the Fisher-Paykel in a showroom, where you can see how much thinner the door is. (This photo was taken over five years ago, when it cost a lot less...what I suspect may be this very same floor model was $800 more at this store by the time we were ready to buy this winter!!) This was the shallowest counter-depth model we could find--most are 1-4" deeper once all is said and done. How much those inches are worth really depends on the particular kitchen design, though.

Lots of helpful information. Thanks everyone.