Jenn, I have the 27" and I love it. We're a family of three. The separate fridge drawers are pretty much taken over by my son's yogurts, apples, carrots, milk boxes, and other snacks. Which is great because it frees up the space in the 700. We also tend to make short shopping trips several times a week, vice one long grocery shop once in awhile. So the smaller fridge totally works for us and there's plenty of space, it's rarely full. But, if you're a once a week shopper you might want to go with the 36" if you have the space. Ivette

Donna - nope, I haven't yet, and our courtesy hold on our Minas will end in a few days. What to do, what to do... Karlarock - Can you tell me if your stone is oiled in the photos? I really need something that will say, "Hello, I'm a black stone, and only at strange angles and bright sunlight can you see my hidden greens." ;o) Mustbnuts (I love your username, BTW!) - we'll have white beaded inset cabs on the perimeter with *some* variety of soapstone, and carrara marble on the island. Whether the island will be stained or some other paint color (green, perhaps?) is still up for debate. Further complicating things is that I have two very different carrara slabs from which to choose - one very calm one which I have seen in person, and one very veiny one I've only seen in photos. I'm leaning toward the veiny one, but I couldn't have a very veiny Minas in the same kitchen. We got photos of some new Minas slabs this morning which have even fewer white veins than the very quiet ones we have on hold, but it still appears to have a lot of the little white "spots," and I'm not sure I want that. In all of the finished Minas kitchen pictures I've seen, the stone appears solid black with white veins, without all the splotchies. Am I wrong about this? Do you Minas owners have those little spots, and they just aren't apparent in the photos?

>>If it would keep the door from hitting I would go with a stacked set moved to the left and just cut the shelves. I had rather have less shelving and better access into the house, but then that is just me. The door opens out so it wouldn't hit but it would severy limit my access through that door, especially when carrying things from the car. If I stack I have 35 inches to the door that goes into the main hallway of the unit (with that door open). The frigidairs (or friGEmores) seems to be the shallowest at about 28.5 in for the dryer. So I "could" put in something deeper depending on how much space I need to leave behind it for clearance. I thought about a Samsung, but they're expensive and look HUGE to me. I drew a diagram of the room, but haven't figured out how to upload it here yet.

I keep a small cabinet pantry (one of those cheap laminate type at Lowes) in our laudry room, where I store cans, pasta, rice, some snacks, and some baking supplies. I store extra or large items in our unfinished basement on shelves. The little pantry in our kitchen now has cereal, oils, crackers, PB&J, honey, flour, sugar...the more common every day items. I will usually have to make a couple trips to our laundry room while cooking, but it isn't too far, although more pantry would be convenient. I do think I will get more storage with the penninsula, but I like the look of the island and getting helpers from both sides. My biggest concern with the island (besides storage) is the island being a barrier and the awkward corner on the fridge wall. I will map out my storage and see if that helps...thanks.