There have been periodic discussions of counter-depth fridges over on the Appliances forum and I've read through all of those, but I'm posting here just in case there are some alternate/additional perspectives on specific models or some of our design quandaries from folks who don't frequent that forum...

So we are nearing the end of a remodel, and I'm really struggling with our fridge decision. Right now, we have a 15-year-old Kenmore standard-depth fridge that we've hung on to through the remodel, but that is nearing the end of its life. We waited until the end to buy the new fridge in case we hit any cost overruns, but as it stands we have about $2500 left in our budget that we can use for the refrigerator (though of course spending less is great!) In theory we can just wait for the old one to die, but having a shallow fridge is a big component of the new design, so given that we have the means to replace it, we'd like to go ahead and do it now.

Early on, we had picked out a fridge both DH and I really like: the Fisher Paykel counter-depth single door fridge. BUT because this fridge is an odd size at 31.5", we had the cabinetmaker build a larger enclosure to fit a more typical 36" refrigerator. My idea had been to use the extra space for storing stepladders, etc.---but the more I stare at the cubby, the more I think it's going to look really odd to have a fridge that's a few inches narrower than the enclosure---like we mismeasured, or something odd like that.

So that brings us back to square one. If we switch to another model, it needs to fit in the existing enclosure.

- 25" deep (and having the fridge as shallow as possible is really important since this is a walkway, so we are only looking at fridges where the cabinet specs are for 25" or less, including connections---KitchenAid and Electrolux fit the bill, among others)

- 36" wide (but the actual interior space behind the face frame is 36 5/8", so we can work with 35.5" fridges that need air space on the sides as long as the carcass is no wider than 36", which seems to be several models)

- Height is adjustable up to 84"

- There will be no water/ice maker connected (good tap water + infrequent ice users since we're in a temperate climate, and fridge is against our bedroom wall so noise is a huge factor), so we don't want a fridge with a door dispenser, and accommodating ice trays easily is important. However, this also means we're open to considering fridges with sketchy track records on icemaker performance as long as overall performance isn't an issue

- We don't want a side-by-side model. Either french door or single door is fine; the landing space is all to the left of the fridge opening (no island).

Anyone have thoughts on this? Do you have a favorite counter-depth fridge that might work here? Or would you put a smaller fridge in a larger space if you liked it enough--and if you did this, do you have any photos? (We still really love the F&P and it is cheaper, but just not sure if we'll regret this...their 36" model only comes with a door dispenser, so we can't switch to that.) If you saw a smaller fridge in a larger space, what would run through your mind? (Keeping the ever-elusive resale factor in the back of my mind here since we will probably sell in the lifetime of this fridge, though not anytime soon. But I do want to be cognizant of how people might react to the space, knowing that the lack of ice/water is already a minus for some.) Any ideas or thoughts would be much appreciated---thanks!!