fdl

My builder tells me the opening for my fridge is 36 wide x 71 high. I wanted to get a fridge with freezer on bottom and 2 doors on top. These beasts are usually 36 or near 36 inches wide (i.e. 35 38's, etc). I never really paid attention to this, but do you need any room on the sides of the fridge for the doors to open? If so, how much room is needed? If I can, I'd like to squeeze a 35 3/8s fridge into this 36 inch wide opening.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

We looked at one of the armoir style fridges but decided against it b/c bending down to get simple things like ice and such was uncomfortable... so we went with a side-by-side.

You'll need room for any type of fridge for the doors. It's just that with the armoir and side-by-side style fridges, you need room on both sides. The doors don't extend past the side of the fridge, however, to open them up more then 90 degrees, you will need more room. You should be able to put a 35 3/8" fridge into a 36" opening. It also depends on the opening. For example, our fridge extends about 5" beyond one of the walls, so the doors can open fully b/c they are beyond the wall on one side and counter on the other. So while the space may be 35 3/8", where the doors are is wide open, so we have no door clearance issues.

fdl

Interesting point about bending down to get ice. The thing is, I would think you go into your fridge alot more often than the freezer, so I'd rather have to bend down to get ice, than bend down to grab an apple. Thats my thinking right now anyways.

dom

Bottom mount freezer > top mount.

I'm hardly ever in the freezer.

I think it will fit. As long as its not flush with the counter your fine.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

It's true... but we also wanted ice and water in the door. Currently you can only get water in the door on the armoir style fridges. Another big reason we went side by side... b/c I personally use ice in my drinks all the time, plus when entertaining, we don't need to put out an ice bucket... everyone just gets it from the fridge.

Just FYR, we've had the fridge about 10 months now (Side-by-side)... I can honesly say that I've only had to bend down a few times to get stuff. The most used stuff goes on top, the least used stuff goes on the bottom. Since we were coming from a traditional fridge (top mount freezer), it wasn't really much of an adjustment since that's how you setup a "regular" fridge anyway. However, bending over or around a bottom mount freezer door, then reaching in the freezer to get the ice would have been an adjustment. That combined with the water/ice in the door was the clincher...

soopa

Most fridge doors are zero clearance, even if not, your doors will always extend beyond the depth of the opening... even with cabinet depth.

(Unless of course you're going with an integrated or built-in... but I know you're not)

You'll be fine with 36x71. It's standard opening size... as seen here...



That's a 36x72" opening on the dot. The counter-depth fridge fits like a glove (except theres TOO much room at the top that needs to be closed with fillers).

Definately go with bottom freezer, and french door style if you can. It's a very efficient design. As you said, it's far more convenient to have frequently used items like fruits, vegetables, and drinks at eye level versus your maybe once a day frozen goods.

Side by side will give you the best of both worlds in that respect, but the freezers have no room for anything... ESPECIALLY in counter depth models.

Scottman111

Man, I don't think I've ever seen a fridge like that before. How long have they been around?

And Soopa are you getting one like that...or have one already?

fdl

Thats a pic of his kitchen, so I'd guess that he's already got it

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Damn, those counter depth models are terrible. You can hardly fit an Orange Juice container in those things!! Ours is pretty big, so we can fit a lot of stuff inside.

Even so, we just bought a small fridge for the garage. We were planning to do this b/c we knew a side-by-side would not be great for stuff like platters, etc... so we took advantage of BB's 2009 interest free and picked up a 20 cubic foot fridge/freezer for the garage.

Also FDL, if you're tall... go to a store and pretend to get ice out of the freezer. My friend was dead set on the armoir style, even after I told him what we found. He finally went to a store and hated it, and got a side-by-side. Again, just some info, in the end you need to get what's best for you and your lifestyle....

BTW Adam, that looks like the LG we were looking at when we were looking at that style. Stuck with LG on the side-by-side, but all of their stuff is so nice...

fdl

I am tall, and bending down to grab something from the freezer would be a pain in the ass. But like I said, the alternative is having to bend down to get stuff out of the fridge which so far seems to be a worse situation IMO.

Scottman111

my bad, I thought he just grabbed that pic off the internet or something.

soopa

?? You can fit plenty in a counter depth. The only space issue I've found so far is that a pizza delivery box just barely fits.

On a side-by-side though, theres no space to play with in the freezer... you have vertical room... that's it.



Plenty-o-room.

(Fridge is Maytag btw, I chose over LG for various reasons... see other thread if ya care)


Yes, getting ice out isn't as easy as an in door dispensor, but part of my reasons for choosing this fridge was because i didnt want an in-door dispensor. This fridge has both water and ice dispension internally, so it manages to fulfill the need without sacrficing the clean look of the exterior.

Like you said, whatever fits your lifestyle.

soopa

BTW, in the counter depth model I have there is just about 22" of depth front to back (which like I said is plenty, short of space for an x-large pizza box). The actual interior volume is .2 cubic feet LARGER than the non counter depth model because (since it's intended to be built in) it uses less sound deadening on the rear and sides, and the entire unit is almost 2" wider then the non counter depth unit.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Soopa, I meant no room in the freezers of the counter depth models on the side-by-side. They were terrible.

I love the armoir style fridges... wish it had what we were looking for... but they're getting there. I noticed the new LG's have water in the door, so it's only a matter of time before they figure out how to get ice in the door of a bottom freezer model.

BTW, I love that pic of your kitchen. Looks so pimp from that angle!!

GINge!

have your builder make the opening at least 1 inch wider than what is indicated on the fridge dimensions sticker. Reason is that some fridges bow out in the middle, and are actually slight wider than their front & rear width measurements.

<--- learned that the hard way.

ric

We had a freezer below/fridge above Amana in our old house, and frankly, it was wonderful. Both my wife and I are tall, but that really did not represent much of a problem with accessing the freezer, which we did rarely. It made the contents of the fridge much, much more accessible, frankly. The counter-depth french door models have the asset that, with limited depth, the opportunity to loose three bottles of chutney in the back of the shelf for three years is pretty limited; the shelf space is all functionally and visually accessible.

soopa

I've noticed that too.

Previously, we had a traditional freezer on top, full depth model. It was a sure bet that anything which made it to the back of the top shelf would be lost forever. Out of sight, out of mind.

soopa

Maytag must read AcuraZine

http://www.maytag.com/mths/products/...seBVCookie=Yes

Slimey

Agree with Bottom Freezer >>> Top Freezer.

I don't like the French Door style though and prefer the single side pull, but that's just a personal preference thing.

Although I also don't really like them, what JB says also rings true. For a given outside size, a side by side usually has more cubic feet storage then a top/bottom unit.

soopa

meh? I thought we all made the complete opposite point?

a top/bottom seems to have far more interior room than a side-by-side. it's next to impossible to fit most shit in side-by-side freezers... which is why they're soo widely scorned.

Slimey

but if you look at the cubic feet measured, the side by side usually provides more volume...usable space, that's another story (IMO)

soopa

I don't know, they look pretty comparable.

Looking at JUST maytags products... their french doors have from 20-25 cu ft of usable space... while their side-by-sides have from 19-26 cu ft (including their oversized "wide" side-by-sides).

But like you hinted, usable volume doesn't indicate trully usable space... like the lack of horizontal storage room in a side by side.


Anyway, besides the point, I bumped this thread so juniorbean would see the new Ice2o

fdl

Hmm, interesting. IMO the volumes should be more or less the same (if you are comparing apples to apples - i.e. same width, depth, height). I dont see how the side by side would have any significant difference in volume.

But its usable space that is key of course.

soopa

and by USABLE space, the top/bottom config should always have more than a side-by-side.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

haha, that's pretty funny. That's a nice fridge, but too late for me since our fridge is only 10 months old and won't be getting replaced anytime soon . Would have been nice if they offered this stuff a year ago. Oh well.

In the meantime we solved any fridge space issue by grabbing a smaller fridge for the garage. Keep in mind that we've never had a problem with anything yet... but just in case, no we're prepared . This way we have the sleek side-by-side in the kitchen, and if we need additional space, we have the standard top freezer/bottom fridge untit in the garage....

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1110263899871

soopa

Yeah, this is what we'll do too. We had hung onto the old fridge to use in the garage... but it was taking up precious tool space and it was dirty/ugly... so I tossed it.

Will probbaly buy one just like that for the basement after I rip out all the old walls/ceilings down there.

fdl

Here is the one I am going with. I dont really see much difference (featurewise) to its comparible LG model. And like I said, I got a good deal

http://products.geappliances.com/App...SSS&SITEID=GEA

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

That'll work out well. When we bought the side-by-side we bought it knowing that we would get a fridge/freezer for the garage, we just weren't planning to get one so soon (since the garage is not really setup yet), but we got a really good deal on that... so we just went for it.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

... nice fridge!!

soopa

It looks like the big difference is that the freezer doesn't "lean out" like it does on the LG model.

soopa

Also doesn't have the wide temp controlled deli drawer.

soopa

Or the hidden hinges...

soopa

There's no way that fridge is manufactured by LG.

It looks almost exactly like my Maytag. Down to the wheels, hinges, and lower grille.

fdl

The "lean out" feature turned me off from LG. I just prefer the drawer to come straight out. Maybe its because I am tall.

Anyways, I'm not 100% sure about it being manufactored by LG, but thats what the sales guy told me I dont think maytag makes a 22.2 cubic version like this (non counter depth). In fact noone makes this size fridge (22.4 cubic / 33 inches wide) except GE and LG. This is the LG I think may be its brother

http://us.lge.com/Product/proddetail...00003|4|6|1|10

soopa

Ah, yes, that looks alot like the GE. I've never seen that model of LG. I've seen the higher end models with hidden hardware and tilting drawers.

I liked both of those features, however, I still didn't go with GE primarily because of the lack of interior water and their ugly handle construction (metal on plastic). The GE has nice handles, similar to Maytag, so if I knew LG manufacturered the GE doors I would have been more include to buy an LG and put a GE's handles on it.

BC2G

jeebzuz nice kitchen soopa, you and the woman or just you?7

soopa

My house, but she lives with me.

BC2G

o werd, so youre obviously doing well for yourself considering your 23, or wait, are you living at home?

btw: i think i need your job

soopa

? by "living at home" do you mean with my parents?



I did move back in with my mom while house shopping / renovating though.

BC2G

nice yea so like i said, i need your job so i can buy myself a house