Yes, cost, quality, depth and hinges.

Here's what you can get with counter depth, panel ready. I wasn't trying to recreate the look of a built in, but didn't want a stainless fridge. Ours is a Kitchenaid.

Thank you! Who makes a built in?

Oops...misread the question. Deleted my dumb@$$ reply. ð³

This post was edited by 1929Spanish on Fri, Nov 28, 14 at 23:18

And here's my paneled built-in Thermador.

Built in is INSTALLED and can accept panels or be SS (ie Sub Zero).

Panel ready accepts panels to match cabinets and is a free standing unit, NOT installed. But you can make it look more built in by enclosing it with cabinets and end panels.

When I design a kitchen for someone with a non-built in refrigerator., I make the end panels deeper....up to the box depth, for a more built in look. (27"-30" deep usually).

Integrated is when you can't tell if it's a cabinet or an appliance.

My picture above is of my current built in fridge. This picture is from my previous home, to illustrate what Kompy described - the panels on the sides of the freestanding fridge were made deep enough to enclose the fridge, and the cabinet above was brought forward so it all looked somewhat built in even though it wasn't really.

Panel ready can be "built in" but don't confuse that with fully integrated. Here is my old 1985 Amana counter depth freestanding that was panel ready. It was 27" deep, so I built the cabinets to suit. It was a wonderful refrigerator, that was still going strong when we freshened up the kitchen almost a couple years ago. It went to a habitat and probably still running!