Has anyone put a refrigrator in a pantry?

Thanks tsdiver - our placement right now has it 3" from the edge of the cabinet plus whatever the soapstone overhang will be - likely 1". If I move it further away from the edge it means I have another 1.5" of filler on both ends of this island which reduces my dish drawers from 36" to 33". If you don't find the sink placement too close to the side I will leave it the way it sits now. Do you use this sink a lot? We are putting in a Kohler stages so it really will be the workhorse in the kitchen and these little tiny details of an inch here or there can be so agonizing!!

cmilton, thousands of people have put a refrigrator in a pantry, but to get that answer, open a brand new thread.

muskokascp a strip of counter 4" or 5" is useable as a perch on the way to the sink (if the sink has other stuff in it when you arrive) ; it's not a problem. If you add inches that will be fine too, and perhaps better in your way of thinking.

Our prep sink is the same distance from the side of the island as it is from the front of the island. We put the faucet on the inside corner of the sink. That allows it to be used from the side or the front easily. We sometimes have two people doing prep at the same time on the two sides of the island with easy access to the sink. Or someone will be prepping in front of the sink island and someone will wash their hands from the side.

Cloud Swift...
How far is the edge of your prep sink from the edge of your cooktop? Do you find that it's enough space? Do you need more? Less?

Cloud Swift...
What are the dimensions of yoor prep sink?

Xicano,
There is about 27" between the prep sink and the rangetop (a 24" cabinet plus the distance of the edge of the prep sink cabinet to the edge of the sink). The sink is the C-Tech-I Acaia. The interior of the bowl is 18.75" wide and 18.5" back to front. 10" deep.

Sometimes, it seems like a few more inches between the sink and the rangetop would be nice. On the other hand, if the distance was more, the faucet wouldn't reach to fill a big pot on the back burner (not a huge deal) and sometimes it is nice to have an easy arms reach between rinsing something off, chopping it and dumping it in the pot. So we are happy with the distance, but it is a compromise based on the space that we had available. We have a cutting board that fits in part of the sink cutout that we sometimes use to extend the prep area.

cloud swift, I know this is OT, but can you tell me about your beautiful countertop??? I love it!!!

My prep sink is 12" from the end of the island. Because our fridge is across that aisle, I use it as a landing place when I pull stuff out of the fridge to prep it.

Mrs. Smith,

Thank you. This stone was just right for our tastes - simple lines enhanced by the patterns in natural materials.

It is Azul do Mar, an accurate name because it looks very similar to a photo we took of the ocean off Point Lobos. Blues and greens mixed with the white of the wave tops and some little reddish brown spots like the bits of seaweed or an otter popping its head up.

It is a quartzite and very similar in properties to Azul Macaubas. Both come from Brazil. Azul Macaubas usually has more white with streaks of aqua blue - more like the sky than the ocean. They are often sold as "granite" as are any other hard stones.

It is very very hard - harder than granite because it is composed mainly of quartz, but the impurities give it its color. It is very low porosity - our fabricator insisted on sealing it because he seals everything, but in the tests we did on our sample before sealing, nothing stained it. We have been using it for 5 years and have not resealed. Our fabricator said it took longer on his machines because it is so hard. Nothing short of a diamond is going to scratch it.

I've never had anything that is as easy to clean. A wipe with a damp towel usually does the job even if my family has allowed a spot of wine or tomato sauce to dry on.

The downsides:
Like most blue stones, it is more expensive - we paid about $54 a square foot for the slabs.

It isn't very common - only two yards around us had it.

Supposedly, it usually comes in smaller slabs but either that isn't accurate or we were extremely lucky. The first slabs we saw were 67 by 54 inches, then at Bedrosians we found ones large enough to do our island with one slab but our L would have needed 2 seams. Bedrosians checked their other stores and found 124 x 64 inch slabs which allowed us to do our L with one seam.

I have about what cloud has. Big enough for the cat to sit there by his favorite faucet. Drives me batty, but he's a senior citizen with health issues and needs his water (which evidently is far superior than bowl) so he gets a free pass.

PS. Cloud, does look like Point Lobos! Lovely stone you have!

cloud swift, thanks so much for the story behind your beautiful granite. It is so lovely and peaceful looking!
:-)