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toomuchremodeling

Undercounter fridge

17 years ago

Anyone have direct experience living with an undercounter fridge. Our proposed house has a drinks/product fridge under the island and a standup fridge in the pantry.

Are drawers better? Is there a particular brand that works? Any real gotchas? Is this a terrible idea?

Comments (4)

  • 17 years ago

    The Ariston is 36" wide. Two drawers about 14" high.
    I bought it, but it's not yet installed. It's our living room centerpiece right now.
    But guadalupe or guadelupe has had one, for years.
    And others here too. Condo people and open space people.

    In Manhatten many people have only a 4 cu.ft. single door undercounter, and they say it's fine.
    We use only 5 or 6 cu. ft. of fridge volume usually.
    Storing long term capital in the back of a fridge is not a wise move in any case.

    For us, the idea is to use it for 99% of our needs.
    Then we'll either put a tall 24" fridge-freezer (e.g. LG) or a low cost chest freezer, into a hallway closet (it's 12' wide with sliding bypass doors, so it can take it) (no pantry space).

    We already got the tall narrow LG fridge last year and when we mocked up our new kitchen with that fridge AND a wall oven column, we knew we had to get rid of the fridge in order to have a lot more counter space and a LOT less claustrophobic-inducing ambiance. We wanted to keep our kitchen open but with 3 1/2 walls too.

    About drawers: I've seen many people around me renovate without putting drawers in their base cabs. They resist the idea of drawers for anything under the counter, unless you show them and show them and show them... but if they've already renovated, it's too late.... Anyhoo I'll agree that drawers for a fridge are definitely also a big change in format and style, but we are willing to bet that we'll grow to like them a lot. Our previous kitchen had one bank of drawers. Our renovated kitchen will be all drawers under the counter. Even under the sink too, a 16" deep drawer.

    Drawers are better ergonomically.
    They cost more in a fridge.
    Many manufacturers have drawer fridges, smaller than the Ariston.
    We wanted the largest drawers possible.

    HTH

  • 17 years ago

    I have 24" Perlick in my breakfast room where we keep milk, juice, drink and some other breakfast/lunch stuff. When you look, make sure you are looking at refrigerators and not beverage chillers that won't get that cold and keep milk and many items as fresh as you'd want.

    There are a number of different sizes now -- 15, 24, 27, 30, 36, multiples of those and possibly more. All 2 drawer models should hold gallon jugs and most bottles, but you can run into issues with 2L soda bottles and wine bottles. If that is important to you, check them out carefully. Also, you can get freezer drawers. KA/Jennair makes a unit that is one drawer of each with an ice maker -- I think SZ does too. Or you can pair up fridge drawers and freezer drawers.

    I love mine, and I wouldn't put in an undercounter fridge that wasn't drawers. What I can't tell you is whether I would be comfortable with drawers only in the kitchen. I have a big fridge in the kitchen and the drawers keep traffic out of the kitchen while I'm working and make refills at mealtime a lot easier. Having them to cook out of might mean that you only keep what you are cooking that day plus a few frequently used essentials in them (eggs, butter, etc). It could be very handy to have produce in them right near or under your prep space. If you entertain, they could be loaded just with beverages and such. I'd take some time to think about how you cook, what you cook and how your traffic pattern and the pattern of others would work in the kitchen near meal times.

    I liked Perlick for the energy star rating, the variable speed compressor, high BTU rating for drawers that are opened a lot (some undercounter units strike me as built for occasional gameroom activities), stainless steel drawers and commercial background (they started building units for stadiums and bars). I read about them and had to seek them out. I was the first set my KD had installed, but I know she has used them again. She did the interior of a luxury sky box at one of the sporting venues here and the lesser unit the owner chose couldn't handle the frequent opening. They put in Perlick and things stayed cold. Oh, they are quiet too -- and I've read complaints about some being really loud.

    I've read mixed reviews on some of the brands -- seems Uline was well thought of and then started having problems. Not sure if they have fixed them. If I hadn't found the Perlick, I might have gone with SZ or KA -- but the 27" width didn't work as well for me either. I don't know if you have options on size.

  • 17 years ago

    Still loving my Ariston 36" wide 2 draw

  • 17 years ago

    I read a comment about U-Line having problems, and wanted to respond. U-Line is currently running the lowest service rate in its history, and, from what we can tell, lower than many of our competitors. I just wanted that out there, if there were some concerns