No model number??

That is excellent news! Personally, I loved the 30 inch true counter depth Liebherr and seriouly considered it, but at $3,500 price tag, it really wasn't a viable option. The other problem was with the dishwasher and refrigerator directly facing each other, there was just barely a hair's width of clearance.

Thanks for sharing!

Darn! Just looking at the specs for it. It needs 2" of clearance on the sides and top and back which brings it out more than counter depth. No can do in my tiny kitchen ;-(. I was told the Bloomberg can be more built in but this is much prettier and cheaper. Found the page for it. Link below. The image does NOT do it justice. It's really a stunning piece of gleaming stainless!

BTW, that's 24" wide not 24'...LOL!

Here is a link that might be useful: GE Stainless 24

Just realized the front is curved so the depth takes that into account. It wouldn't stick out that much then. If I have no panel on the side it can 'breathe' on that side so maybe I can get away with less side clearance on that side. Sides are gray though, not stainless. Wish they would have made it so it could fit tighter...shoot!

No ice-maker. Deal-breaker. ;-)

That's a lot of clearance space. Have you looked at the Fisher-Paykel? All I needed was another inch in my kitchen and I could have gotten that one...

It starts to defeat its narrow profile when it needs 27.5" of space for clearance. However, what I have done to create a more built in appearance is use a wider than needed over-the- fridge cabinet to create the cavity, and then trim out the front. I also try to cut some vent holes into an adjacent cabinet or space for good measure.(

(So a 29"w fridge may get a 33" cabinet, for example)

Doesn't Fisher-Paykel just make those drawers?

While comparison shopping for 24" fridges like this one, I came across many similar to it.
They all look very similar except for door bins and handles.
These are the parts that they can easily customize.
They all use the same box and parts from around the world (that's an exaggeration, but it makes a point.)
Now that GE is selling it, I'll bet it'll become more mainstream.
Last year this GE model was visible on ajmadison.com but I never thought to call GE to find out where to get it.
The other 24" manufacturers either had low marketing budgets (LG) or were very small firms (Summit, Vestfrost, Conserv, etc), or put a huge price on their fridge.

Home Depot had the Vestfrost on their web site until recently.
You can no longer order it through Home Depot.

About the 2" spacing: I'll bet that's just GE being cautious.
If you have Air Conditioning, your fridge won't have to struggle against hot humid summer air.
In a worst case situation, 2" is their recommended spacing...

In the end I got a 74" tall LG through a specialty shop for refrigeration professionals.

Hmm, I'm surprised that you find this fridge so appealing. I saw it last weekend at an appliance store amongst the "also-rans" (i.e. with the Blombergs and Whirlpools) and frankly, I thought it looked very forgettable to me. Nowhere near as nice looking or as nicely done as the liebherr.

A lot of people like the F&P fridges - I think their flat front fridge is stunning but I completely and thoroughly dislike the more popular - or at least, more ubiquitous - curved door one. The flat front with the very square F&P handles, however, is very cool.

blondelle, F&P has several small (30" wide) fridges, but they aren't truly counter depth. Very nice, though, especially the flat door model, as mindstorm says. They also make a larger FD model.

So no, not just drawers.

Here is a link that might be useful: F-P flat door

Writersblock, thanks but I'm afraid I can't do a 30" fridge in my tiny kitchen. The GE was installed in a kitchen display and it was just gorgeous. I saw the Liebherr, and maybe it's the curve on the door but the stainless really shone on it. The Blomberg is similar, and a lot more reasonable, but not as pretty. I also like the special finish. The Liebherr's door was flat, disn't catch the light the same, and showed fingerprints. I don't like the design of the Liebherr's interior with the metal edged shelves. To me it looked cheap. The Liebherr was also more than twice the price of the GE.

All I know is I'm a designer, and it was gorgeous to me. If I can get it into my space, there it's going to be ;-).

>thanks but I'm afraid I can't do a 30" fridge in my tiny kitchen.

Yes, I know. I was just mentioning that they do sizes other than drawers as an FYI. I'm anxious to see how your kitchen turns out.

Yeah, the F&P is similar to the GE you posted (I think the GE might have been influenced by it ;-)), but it is 30" wide (and needs an inch of clearance on each side).

I like the curved door one, as well as the flat door. I just think it's a good looking fridge, and VERY well designed from a usability standpoint.

I can't wait to see your kitchen, blondelle! I bet it's going to be gorgeous.

I called GE and it seems the 2" clearance all around isn't negotiable and no tech person there I could talk to. They just go by what is written. I called Blomberg and they said 1/4" is all that's needed all around on theirs so I guess that one will have to be it. Really do like the GE better though.

I wonder why they would go through all the trouble of putting out such a sharp looking fridge, and a small 24" one that people are choosing because space is tight, and then go on to ruin the look, and the space saving benefit, with 2" clearance tolerances. Makes no sense ;-(!

I doubt that they really need those two inches. BTW I heard that Samsung makes all the GE french door fridges now. My Samsung isn't a sharp looking as that one, which is really gorgeous. I wish it was! But I will say Samsung makes a nice fridge. I would just go with what you like-- maybe talk to some appliance experts on the appliance forum.

All I know is I'm a designer, and it was gorgeous to me.

*grin* well, I suppose, then, that edification doesn't buy good taste? ;-)

I think the Liebherr's appeal is in that matte shot-blasted finish. I think it's gorgeous. My gaggenau hood also has a shot-blasted aluminum finish and I like it the more for it. Anyhow, I suppose to each their own, but I'd never call this GE unit nicely finished. It seems to be modeled after the Liebherr but the lack of finish and the clumsy copy-cat-ness is rampant - down to the close but no cigar handles.

Hope you're able to make it work for you if you like it.

Wow! I have the summit 24" fridge - which to me looked like a copy of the liebherr 24" fridge - and just like this one! I was just so happy to get a fridge that looked nice and was small. I would have loved to get the Liebherr - the summit and Liebherr were side-by-side on the showroom floor and i remember there were some features I liked more on the Liebherr, but the price was so much more, we really couldn't justify it!

This is the only picture I really have of our fridge. So glad they made 'em in these sizes. Nice that there's another one out there, when I started looking it was hard to find, VERY hard to find anything in person - I live in Minneapolis, so not the smallest town in the world. If there would have been something at HD or Lowes, I would have been thrilled just to see the possibility.

Grinning won't keep you from really being obnoxious, Mindstorm. I'm glad you like your fridge, but I certainly have a right to my opinion. That's what these boards are for. Your post is really uncalled for, and harkens back to a childish, my dad is better than yours! Now...use that fridge and chill--OK?--All I know is I'm a designer, and it was gorgeous to me.

>

reedrune, how is the summit for keeping food fresh?

Reedrune, that's a good looking fridge. They certainly have become more stylish. I remember when the only choice was a $$$ SubZero or that horrid white leather finish, small apartment fridge. Is that a gray side, or is it stainless there too? The Blomberg seems to copy the Liebherr. I do like the extra storage the GE has on the inner door. The Blomberg didn't have that I don't think. I love the gleaming stainless on the GE and the fingerprint preventing finish. Wish all stainless would have that finish. Easier upkeep!

In my own search for 24" SS fridge I decided on this:
Fagor 3FCA68NFX
Available at AJ Madison. It has more space especially in refrigerator section than any other refrigerator with this footprint (i.e. taller).

It's very encouraging to see that more folks seem to be looking at - and installing - smaller fridges these days. I'm going on my second 24" fridge now (my first was that tall LG). I am renovating a small 10x10ish kitchen in a corner store and can't give up cabinet space to have even a 30" fridge. And what, with the markets around the corner and the farmer's market up the street - who stores that much fresh food?

I had to decide where to "skimp" and I figured there was nothing good to come of an 18" dishwasher or a 30" range with the amount I cook. I opted to shrink the fridge.

" Grinning won't keep you from really being obnoxious, Mindstorm. I'm glad you like your fridge, but I certainly have a right to my opinion. That's what these boards are for. Your post is really uncalled for, and harkens back to a childish, my dad is better than yours! Now...use that fridge and chill--OK?--How embarrassing.

I looked at the Fagor 3FCA68NFX after your post. Not familar with that brand, but that's a very good looking fridge too. I didn't realize there were so many out in that size. There never were that many choices before. Would you happen to know the clearance requirements of it. It all depends for me what I can actually get into my tight space.

Yes, it is embarrassing for her, but there was no need for those posts as they were totally out of line!

Can you store 2-liter bottles in the door of the Fagor? It doesn't look like it in the photos, but they're not much to go by.

I wasn't talking about mindstorm.

You start out saying the GE is " nicer than the Leibherr and Bloomberg ". Mindstorm disagrees, then you call the Leibherr cheap looking. Oh! then you throw out the "I'm a designer" B.S. So, because you are a "designer" your opinion is more valuable than others'? What a JOKE. Mindstorm replies, you call her/him "childish" and make childish comments yourself? What a hypocrite.

I doubt you are a kitchen designer, seeing that you didn't even know F&P makes anything other than drawers, so you shouldn't have even brought that up. Very pompous.

I never said I was a 'kitchen' designer. You certainly have a right to your opinion as I do mine. I said "I" like it better, and "I" find it nicer, and "I" find it more appealing. One has a right to state their opinions here, and they should be able to post them here without getting attacked! Mindstorm's reply was nasty and uncalled for. There's no excuse for that, I'm sorry! I have absolutely NOTHING to be embarrassed about. Her behavior is disgraceful, and yours isn't far behind!

What kind of board would this be if people couldn't post their opinions and everyone went on the attack if someone didn't like their choices? I'm not wasting any more time on this nonsense. I suggest both of you do the same!

Of course you didn't read what I wrote correctly. Figures.

Yes, we are entitled to our own opinions. I never said anything different. I think before I say something, and I remember what I said.

Remodelqueen, Thank you very much for your help. You saw things the same way I did.

Blondelle, I don't deny that I can focus on one part of a debate and come across blunt and somewhat unnecessary. In fact, when I read my posts above, I do feel bad that I was so harsh in disparaging the curved-front F&Ps so roundly. A lot of people have this, and it is considered a very attractive one - whereas my own preference is always for the very square and their flat-face better offers that - I should have been more circumspect in the writeup.

However, what was that "I'm a designer and I say it is gawjus" commentary? RQ got it perfectly - you're a designer so you're going to tell us what is attractive?! This is not the law of gravitation - it is personal appeal. I was surprised to see you rave about it because my first and instinctive reaction to the fridge when I saw it was that it was an unfortunate copy of the LH - which has some very distinctively and characteristically LH features. It seemed to me to be a bad idea to copy a brand's distinguishing features without the finishing strokes because you announce to the world exactly whom you're trying to copy. Your proclamation truly surprised me and I offered my own opinion about that. But frankly, it speaks to your own sense of "designer elevation" that you feel "attacked" that someone here dared disagree with your assessment. Whatever.
You'd do well to get comfortable with the idea that whatever opinion you might profess, there will be someone here who professes to an opposing one.

You are a very talented designer - I love how you deconstruct color and material suggestions for people struggling with those choices. But I'm not sure I'd take that deference to your way with colors and textures to appliances.

Mindstorm, thanks for posting that and for the compliment. To be fair though what I said was this:

"All I know is I'm a designer, and it was gorgeous to me."

I think was "gorgeous to me" were the operative words. I never made a statement that I'm a designer therefore my opinion is the one that counts. I said TO ME it was gorgeous. What's wrong with that ;-)? I didn't see any resemblance between the Liebherr though of the GE though. Different finish, door shape, handle, and interior configuration. I could also say that the Liebherr was a knock-off of the SubZero ;-). I think vendors are realizing all of a sudden there's a need for 24" counter depth fridges and they are rushing to fill the gap.

I'm afraid that Remodelqueen didn't read my statement correctly either and reacted to something that certainly wasn't my intention. If you reread what I said it certainly wasn't I'm a designer and mine was the only opinion that counts or carries more weight!

Anyway, we seem to be pushing each other buttons, and reacting to things that weren't the original intention, so let's call a truce, and get back to reviewing kitchen choices, not each other...OK?

Hey, my last fridge was one of those white leather finish types! I loved that fridge. It was the first one I ever bought, and it was nice and big with a separate freezer door (instead of the freezer compartment being inside the fridge door), and it had glass shelves and room in the door to put big bottles... And it was frost-free!!! OMG, let me tell you how wonderful frost-free was!!!

Oh, and the white leather finish was actually pretty easy to keep clean, and I didn't have to worry about streaks or dents. Something to be said for that.

Broke my heart when I had to replace it, as I did when I redid my kitchen. (Got new SS appliances.) It was still working, though, so I gave it away. I hope it brings as much pleasure to its new owners as it gave me the 12 years I used it. :-)

I've seen the Fagor up close. It has the same number of shelves as the others. Not more. So the extra volume it has is wasted, since it has the same amount of shelf space. Go figure.

You'd think they'd at least put a half shelf somewhere so you could store more without having to stack things. Having said that, I'll admit that one could stack things, when the space between shelves is too much.

Generally, when one has a 7 or 8 cubic foot volume fridge, one gets used to the fridge size and arranges to use things up instead of letting them sit ever longer, and also buy a bit less of the jumbo quantities.

I can dig up a few old threads on 24" fridges in the Appliance forum using three seldom seen words as the search terms: fagor summit conserv

Hey folks - in response to writersblock, I don't have any complaints about the freshness of food in our Summit - but like was just pointed out, when you go with a smaller fridge, you don't keep food around for as long. It took a while to get into the swing of shopping for the fridge. No buying in bulk for me! The other thing that's an issue is ice/beverage cooling for parties. Our freezer is pretty stuffed, so there's no place for ice! It did come with clever little slide out ice tray, which is fine for every day, but not for a bunch of people. We did NOT want an ice maker or door water/ice dispenser - we didn't have water on the side of the kitchen where the fridge was and we didn't want to add it. All in all, I love the fridge.

The sides are grey plasticy - I'm not sure what it is - it's not the stainless that's on the front, but magnets will stick to it. It looks just fine - again, I suppose it's a price thing! I think we paid around $1,000 on sale.

Thanks, reedrune!

I think that fridge is really attractive. In fact, I wonder if Leibherr doesn't make it. I think I heard they do make some fridges in the European market, and this one might be one that they are also rebranding GE. GE doesn't make their own fridges, so it makes sense.

I wish all the US companies made at least one 30" fridge that was this pretty/stylish. I wanted one like that and looked at the F&P fridges because they are so beautiful, but they aren't energy efficient and in the end I went with function over form. Alas, the one I got doesn't have beautiful handles and that flat front.

It's very possible Leibherr makes this GE fridge, with some corner-cutting to make it cheaper to produce. I don't think anyone would design and build a fridge so similar like that-- it's not how the appliance business works.

At any rate, I think it's pretty! The Leibherr is pretty, too, of course, and that Summit also (I think the Summit and the GE are the same fridge, too).

I have the 24" Fagor in my tiny 8 x 7 urban kitchen and really love it. It was more affordable (for me) than the Liebherr and appeared to have more room than the Bloomberg. I think the GE looks great! I would have certainly checked it out during my search, the price is great, too. Best of luck!

joycedc, would you recall how much clearance it needed around it? Does it make noise when the condenser kicks in, or much noise at all?

>that Summit also (I think the Summit and the GE are the same fridge, too)

Isn't that Summit one of their Vestfrost models? (It's all so confusing trying to figure out who makes what anymore.)

Hello blondelle,

In general, go to any manufacturer's web site and open the PDF documents called "Installation" for whatever thing you are interested in.

After skimming through it, you'll have all your answers. In this case, it's about clearances: the numbers they put in their document, and the wording describing whether it's a requirement or a good to have.

Post what you find out, and discussion can continue from that higher starting point.

HTH.

blondell: I don't specifically recall, but as I face Fagor I have a wall on the left and Fagor is about 1.5-2 inches from that wall only so the door can open properly. I don't know the depth, but only the handle extends beyond my granite counter top (so that would be 25ish inches?). The right side abuts to the upper and lower cabs next to it. That side is gray, but it looks fine with my black (Absolute) and white (cabs) kitchen. I was going to box it in, but decided air flow might be compromised and it was going to make my tiny kitchen look/feel tinier. So I didn't and I'm glad. I'll be glad to check the book and report back.

Re noise, the first night I did freak out when I heard this snapping/crackle/popping sound. I grabbed the manual and was relieved to know it was a normal sound for Fagor(something to do wit insulation expanding/contracting). Itr doesn't happen all the time, and it has never bothered me since. I live in a urban condo, an efficiency, and my bed is about 12 feet from the Fagor. Don't laugh; it's true! :o) I sleep right through the noise, and I have asked guests if it bothers them when it comes on, and they have't noticed it at all. I've sent you and email in case you want to discuss offline, I'll be glad to help. I also recommended the Fagor to a friend in Arlington VA whose kitchen is smaller than mine and she really loves hers, too. I've had mine for a year; my friend for about 2 months.

I also got the 24" Bertazzoni gas stove if you're looking for ranges!

Take care.

Nesting12, is it true the F&P's aren't energy-efficient? I didn't know that...

I am so insistent that all my appliances be EnergyStar - I even returned an air conditioner once because the salesman had told me it was EnergyStar and it wasn't. (He didn't know the difference between Energy-Star and Energy-Saver. ;-))

I ended up with a Frigidaire refrigerator instead of a similar GE partly because the GE wasn't EnergyStar.

Stated fagor installation requirement:

1" in back and on top.
Note that height is 78" inches.

the aj madison site is excellent because it provides all specs and installation info on pdfs from the manufacturers in highly accessible way and it also allows you to compare models, though this tool is less than perfect

Click on link and then click on guides tab at the bottom
and download pdfs of your choice.

Here is a link that might be useful: example of fagor info

Thanks Joycedc. I have the same arrangement as you in being close to the fridge. My old fridge used to make a very loud thump when the condenser kicked in, so I wanted the new one quiet. So it makes that snap crackle and pop every time the condenser goes on, or just from time to time? If it's very audible that would bother me. Manufacturers give the noise level, but not for when the condenser kicks in. One inch on top and back is certainly better than 2 all around, but not as good as 1/4" all around. I would rather have a side panel as it gives me room to hang things on in my small kitchen and makes it look built in. The Fagor looks the same as the Blomberg and the price seems the same as the taller 24" Blomberg. I think the person was right that said someone is making these for all these vendors.

Thanks Profrip for the AJ Madison site. That will make it easier to compare. Davidro1, thanks for the suggestion. Sometimes the manufacturer doesn't list it though even in the PDF files on their site.

There never were these many before to choose from. Makes it harder to pick one ;-(.

No, it isn't every time by a long shot. Just every now and then. You will need a couple of inches on the door side so that the door will open all the way. Otherwise you won't be avble to open the deli/crisper drawers. I don't know where you arte located, but you should go see one in person. Best of luck!