Thank you everyone for their responses! For those that provided pics, your fridges all look so integrated! I love them! breezygirl: The width is 39" wide because if it was narrower, the left side of the cabinet would be too far from the "virtual" edge defined by the left side of the wall that the cabinets are mounted on. Interestingly enough, there's actually more room to accomodate a 42" fridge if the left side of the cabinet is moved out to the left by 3 inches. fori: The cabinets are framed, although the overlay amount is quite narrow in some places. How would this change the filler design? weedmeister: The specs on my fridge appear to require only 1/4" on each side (actually zero on one side, 1/4" on the other, so on average 1/8" per side) itsallaboutthefood: Your situation is similar to mine in that I need to "close" about 3 inches of space. How much space did you actually end up leaving on each of the sides? Nice rice cooker by the way.. I have something similar.. :) Should I leave 1/4 inch on each side? Or should I leave 1/2 inch? What do you guys think?

Thanks for the reply. Evidently Im lacking some basic math skills as well. LOL. Im kind of in a panic as the order is supposed to be submitted this week. Going back to the LG site: I looked at the installation pgs for 3 other models. each one said only 2 in for clearance in the BACK of the unit. Nothing on top or sides. Have no idea where the customer service person I spoke with got that. So back to to the original cab height.._

andrewrxxx.... They are showing the height to top of hinge for 2 reasons. 1) so the cabinet above doesn't touch them if deep enough to. & 2) Even if your cabinet isn't deep enough to touch the hinges, you still need to open the doors and they will touch if you are shorter than the 69 7/8". If I was your designer I would be advising working with a minimum of 70 1/2" opening based on the specs you're showing. This will allow for proper venting and wiggle room and really is not a large gap as you think it may look. Also, is your fridge going against a wall on one side, left or right? If so, the specs are also showing the distance you need to be away from the wall in order to pull out crisper drawers. You will need to pull the drawers out completely in order to clean. When it comes to the depth, your fridge upper cabinet is typically "pulled" off the wall and your fridge panels are cut to a depth of 25", 25 1/2", 26", etc., to accommodate the depth needed. "...Should I order the fridge cabinet and adjacent pantry to be 25", or 25 1/2"... Unless you're using a completely custom manufacturer, you will probably pay a premium for a standard supplier to customize these, if they even offer it. You're better to pull the pantry and fridge upper off the same amount and cut deep tall panels to cover that depth. I usually recommend my clients pull cabinetry off the wall the thickness of something standard. A 2x4, 2 layers of 3/4" thick material, or, etc. so you can screw into them and steady the cabinet as well.

Thank you ulisdone and live_wire_oak! Right now my ideas are bigger than my budget, so I'm still in the ideas phase. Today I visited an appliance store to get ideas and learned that my preferred appliances are considered "compact" (e.g., 30" fridge, 18" dishwasher). Funny how the small appliances have giant price tags... On a related note, anyone ever heard of Beko (the appliance brand)? It's Turkish, apparently popular in Europe, but my family & friends who live overseas say it's considered the low end... Liebherr is looking like a good option so far.