My first reaction is "with" but it depends. Will you be looking at the fridge from a family room or breakfast nook? What is on this side of the stools? If it's more kitchen I would leave it unpaneled.

This is the view of the kitchen if you are sitting in the open and adjacent family room - the main room downstairs.

This is the layout:

I suppose I'm not the one to ask because I panel everything. I'd panel the ovens if I could, but the best I could manage was the panelled warming drawer.

Just looking at your rendering, however, and ignoring what it is I'm looking at, the gray one is the center focal point (in the point of view of the drawing, though it might be different IRL). In the other drawing the eye is led under the light fixture to the backsplash.

I think the latter is the look you were originally going for, so I'd say absolutely panelled.

Then the question is what about the dead fridges? First, I'd suggest talking to your appliance repair service. Find out from them if they know why your fridges bite it so often, and ask what you can do. I know these new electronic fridges have shorter lifespans, but five years seems extremely short as an outside rather than an average. Maybe a surge suppressor?

Possible solutions are to (a) go with a true built-in of the expensive but repairable variety, (b) buy a well respected brand and model, but get the exterior design just as it hits market so that it's more likely to be around when you need to replace it, (c) ask your cabinet maker if he can make the panels in a way that is more easily moved from one model to the next (there might be some tricks!), (d) get extra panel blanks for the inevitable that can be fit when the time comes, or (e) get something made when the time comes.

My mother (whom I'm constantly referring to here) has had panelled friddge and DW since the '60's. Both have been replaced. At least one couldn't use the old panel. She has walnut stained birch. The carpenter was able to make replacement panels and stain them to match the current color as it has aged.

Can you inset the fridge at all (I think cd is 2"-3" deeper than a standard cabinet run)? Because I'm thinking that if you could have Euro style doors, which are more like cabinet doors which the fridge attaches to, rather than panels, it would be easier to change out the unit.

Sigh. None of the options are nice to the budget. And there was a topic where they were talking about a wax or something that you can put on your stainless to keep the smudges off. So for style, I say panels. For budget, not so much.

What do your other appliances look like? Are you putting a panel on your DW? Will your oven be stainless? I'm not really a fan of panels and I don't see a problem with appliances looking like what they are. Either way it's going to be a beautiful kitchen!!

We started our kitchen remodel with GE Monogram all fridge all freezer units. Needless to say, the GE units needed replacing within a year and we were not replacing them with GE again.

The only other units that fit our space were the Miele or SZ units. We went with Miele. The panels needed to be made from scratch. We could not use the old ones.

If your fridge will be truly invisible as a paneled appliance, I would panel otherwise I wouldn't spend the money

Miele Fridge:

{{gwi:1417874}}

and the GE which in retrospect does not look that great but still way better than stainless would have in our kitchen:

The look of your panel is quite nice.

OT...Could you tell me what all of the faucets (brand and model if you remember) are around both sinks? I like the look.

I love the look of no panels. I think the paneled fridge acts as too heavy an anchor in your space, especially when contrasted with the nice light glass cabinet on the opposite side of your range cabinets. The balance seems thrown off.

Stainless steel has a bad rap as far as cleaning goes. There are some stainless steels with coatings that look good without the heavy maintenance associated with typical ss. I find our Electrolux Icon fridge much easier to keep clean looking than our old white fridge. I find I have to wipe our cabinetry down fairly often in our most used areas of the kitchen and I don't see why the fridge with wood panels would be any different.

I think the look of wood panels on appliances can be hard to pull off sometimes. I think most appliances are attractive and add another element to a kitchen, breaking up the long expanses of cabinetry, backsplash, counter and floor.

My other appliances will be stainless too - double oven, dishwasher, microwave drawer, and both sinks. So I guess I will be doing a lot cleaning :-).

And I haven't bought the fridge yet, but I was looking at a Kitchen Aid that is specifically for panels and within budget. Or the normal stainless version of it.

I kindof agree with Plllog that when you look at the 2 photos side by side, the stainless for me tends to act a bit as an eye vacuum, meaning no matter what else you look at in the photo, the fridge keeps sucking your eyes back to it. That I don't want. But will that be so pronounced in real life?

Here is a photo of the same layout as my kitchen without panels and I don't think it looks as pronounced as my rendering, but mabye that's due to the white cabinets? Or the fact that the photo is flanked on each side by SS? Maybe the window? It seems to balance the fridge in this photo. My window will be larger.

{{!gwi}}

Also the corner cabinet may be changed up. That's the one part of the layout that isn't decided. It may end up a 90 degree glass cab, right beside window, or it may be removed all together and just run the non-glass cab uppers to the wall.

I think you're right about the window balancing the fridge in this photo. The trick is to get away from photos however. There is absolutely no way to get IRL balance in a rendering because the page ends. You always have to take it back to the space and see what your reality is. Hold up the renderings one at a time and see what is off page.

I know you did a lot of mockups...so do you have a beach towel or sheet that more or less matches your current cabinets? And a gray or blue one? Get a family member to stand holding each, one at a time, even waving them a little, where the new fridge goes, during the day time so the window gets its full due, and see how much it matters having a contrast color impacts vs. just having the big towel hanging there. Walk around. Approach it from all directions.

The look of this wall is really important to you, and nobody's taste but yours (and your husband's) matters. Maybe the contrast will help lighten the room? And tie in with all the appliances (okay, for that one imagine that a blue towel with fishies matches :) ). It may be that the "hulk" you were worried about seeing when you put the fridge here looks much better if it's part of the cabinetry.

The smudge thing really isn't an issue. Actually, the replacement issue is only a moderate consideration too--important, but not the first thing to determine. The overall look is a huge issue. Especially of this one appliance you were so concerned about. Settle that, and make your decisions and compromises from there.

I think either would work in your case. For some reason, though, the SS looks less massive to me than the paneled. It almost looks narrower. I know, it doesn't make sense!

However, from your previous layout threads you have a very specific vision in mind and I don't think you'll be happy with "naked SS". So, while I don't mind the SS look, I don't think you'll be happy with it.

As others have said, though, be sure the refrigerator you choose is completely paneled so no SS shows (like Loves2Cook4Six's Miele refrigerator) and no dispenser unless it can also be totally surrounded. I've seen some paneled refrigerators that have a SS frame around the doors (with both one & two doors) and/or ones where the dispenser is in an opening larger than it is so there's a "frame" around it as well. I think the "frame" issue would ruin the look you want and that all SS would look better.

I'd check the Finished Kitchens Blog (FKB) and look at refrigerators to see what I mean. There are probably some both like Loves2Cook4Six's & some like I've described above (check the "Before" pics as well).

There's a category called "Wood Paneled" under Appliance Brands --> Appliance Colors. To get to the Categories page, click the "FKB Categories" link on the navigation panel on the right, above the list of people's kitchens.

Here is a link that might be useful: FKB Category List

Buehl, I looked at the paneled fridges and wow, there really is a big difference. I can see that if it doesn't cover FULLY, then it's likely not worth it. I will discuss that with the cabinet maker at our next meeting on Thurs.

And I will play around with the oversized towels idea too in the meantime!

And Buehl, you are right that that wall did mean a lot to me, but I think now that I shifted the layout around, it doesn't mean quite as much. Now I think the look will come more in the details (the posts, the arches, the hood, the island, etc) than The Cabinet Run (the big deal) that was on that wall that I gave up. Not to say I am ready to jump on stainless, but I am more open to the idea of it now than I was on that stage of the planning. I would say I am leaning 60% paneled, 40% stainless right now, but that's subject to change too. At that stage though I was 110% paneled without question. Seeing the above kitchen with it unpaneled showed me it is possible, to have it front and center unpaneled and not look horrible. But I still don't know about it for my kitchen. Still processing.

This may sound silly, but does anyone know if magnets stick to stainless steel appliances? I know photos clutter a fridge, but I really don't like the sterile kitchen look, and there is something special to me that every time I go to the fridge, I see a photo of my most important immediate and extended family, spanning 4 generations. I will miss that in my new kitchen. Maybe I will have to put a corkboard somewhere.

I think they do stick to some...maybe the SS-like ones (the ones that are supposed to be fingerprint-free). I know they don't stick to mine...or anything in my kitchen anymore!

My kids and I both miss the magnets... Our FR door to the garage is metal, so I can at least put some things there....like school schedules & papers (hanging from a "school bus" magnet clip). That's also the main family entrance so at least it's convenient.

I'm still working on that "sterile"/impersonal feeling as well...I need more/better accessories!

You can put a frame on anything. You can put a magnet board on anything. You can dress them up or down as needed. It's even easier than it used to be with command adhesive. If you have to be deliberate, rather than just slapping up a magnet, it forces you to think through making it attractive, but you can have 'em, no matter what.

Thanks Plllog! I hadn't thought of that! Maybe I can find a place to at least hang their latest artwork & school picture magnet.

Looking at your renderings, I'd vote to go with the panels.

My vote is for panels, but either will achieve a beautiful end result. It's a win-win situation:-)