Couple quick points IMHO... One, I have a french door fridge and hate it and will not own one again if I have any other options. Two, if you install an ice machine/ice maker, be careful which you select or where you locate. We had one and it was very loud and put off a lot of heat. Third, I think you would get used to NOT having the indoor ice especially if you can get a built-in fridge with the water dispenser (available on the interior or exterior...you just have to look at all the models). As long as we have chilled water, we're good.

I'd try to avoid in door ice if you can, get it just in the freezer. I had a big problem years ago with a Thermador, the solenoid failed in the open position and ruined a wood floor by the time we realized it.

NO built in fridges exist at 36" with in the door water or ice !

Don't know of any fridges that dispense carbonated water ?

If you REALLY need that much ice weekly then your only good option is to get a stand alone ice machine. Would two regular sized ice maker bins be enough for your weekly needs plus the parties ?

cp - I'm not sure the "area" really comes into play here . Unless Mary Ann is looking to sell her home in the next 2-3 years, a fridge in keeping with the neighborhood means little. A fridge that meets her needs and budget and maybe desires does. Anything she chooses will not recoup the direct costs come sale time no matter that be next year or next decade. It could increase the marketability of the property though.

Keep in mind dedicated icemakers require a drain. They are not freezers. The ice continually melts and the water is reclaimed or drained out. I've been using a small portable one while we're without a real freezer and it does make a lot of noise.

Xedos--you CAN get a built in with the water dispenser on the inside of the refrigerator, although I could not swear to the size.

Thanks everyone! Our area does warrant upscale appliances, but I am not tied to the fact that we have to have them. The reason I mentioned a 36" fridge with in-door ice and sparkling water is that there is a Samsung four-door that we could make "counter depth" by sinking it back into the wall that we are building for the back of our kitchen (tried to add picture, but don't think it worked). We have been enjoying in-door ice as we have young kids who can fill their glasses that way (and dirty hands don't get in the ice), but I am sure we could adjust to going without.

There are also a few refrigerators with double ice makers, but they are all French door, so I am counting them out. I suppose we could get the same effect by keeping another tub full of ice in the freezer section.

Does anyone have a 30-36" recommendation of a non-French door fridge/freezer?

Read about these models: GE Monogram that do have the external water and ice dispenser: ZISP480DHSS and ZISS480DHSS.

Somedayhouse - I'm sure you were trying to be helpful , but those are 48" models ! And water inside is not really the same thing as water in the door , is it?

One could place a two gallon jug with a spigot inside any brand and size fridge and have "dispensed water"

many of these threads are about specifics, not what ifs. I was talking about 36" built in models only - what MaryAnn asked about.

Samsung has questionable reliability on fridges.

If freestanding is ok - Fisher Paykel has a 24" and 32" with water in the door. Ice maker is small though. Fits your scope though.

oh, silly me.

No prob. happens all the time.

Xedos, I always keep possible resale in the back of my mind even if I intend to stay forever. One never knows and I'm a firm believer in not making a house the most expensive one in the neighborhood. For an artist, I do have a practical side too. :)

I heard that Fisher Paykill was coming out with an integrated refrigerator. Do you have any info on it? What are your thoughts about it? I heard it's going to be about 1/2 the price of most others.

Resale is a red herring. Purchasing a $9500 SubZero today will not raise your home's selling price by $9500 tomorrow - and it's all down hill from there.

re: FP fridges. - They don't exactly lite it on fire now, and a totally new product in a new segment for a struggling co. is not where I'd be getting on board.

But, some people do like low prices so they'll probably sell a few.

Miele makes a built in 36" fridge with a freezer on the bottom. It's a single door fridge, and it does have an ice maker. It doesn't have in-door water. I have had this fridge/freezer for many years (5 or 6 at least) and love it. However we never hooked up the water line so the ice maker works. Dh didn't want to and I don't care honestly. We use ice cube trays instead. Thus I have no idea how much ice it makes on a regular basis. This is a fantastic fridge, I highly recommend it. I've got two teenagers and have never had ice or water in the door of a fridge. But if you're used to it then it might be a bit of an adjustment to not have that anymore.

In my build, I am putting in the option for a water line for the fridge. Will I hook it up for myself? NO. It is just a thing that might help a future sale that I don't plan to need to resort to for a couple of decades... The sink and the prep sink are adequate for my water usage, and I have a spare stand alone freezer, which can help keep me supplied in ice cubes from trays -- and if it is a really large party, the very occasional few bags won't break the bank. I've heard about enough problems with these things that I don't really think it important to me to have fridge-made ice makers. I haven't needed one in over 30 years out on my own.

How about a side by side with a in door ice dispenser?

I just popped on this forum because I'm planning a kitchen remodel in the next year and do not want french door (hate them), do not want a bottom freezer (hate those), and we want an ice/water dispenser on the door.

We now live with an ice maker in the freezer and I find it disturbing when people put their hands in the ice bin to get ice. I cannot live with that. I need a door dispenser.

Unless they have come up with something that fits what I want, I'll have no choice except to go side-by-side.

Jane

@Mary Anne - With a family of four fridge space -- not the ice maker -- is the issue. There are other practical considerations.

We're two, I have a 36" Miele bottom freezer fridge and still need the garage fridge for cold drinks storage so we don't constantly run out. If that will be your only fridge, I'd go for the largest interior capacity.

Sounds like your family would use a separate ice machine. 2 plastic scoops for the kids to use solves the dirty hands problem. Alternately, and this is expensive of course, there could be a fridge
plus a combo refrigerator/freezer drawer unit elsewhere in the kitchen.
Those are made by several manufacturers and some models include an ice
maker.

Otherwise, the ice maker is in the bottom freezer which is super convenient. But someone will not close the freezer properly after going in for ice. Bound to happen.

There is no carbonated dispenser on a fridge. Your DH will have to suffer with Polar or a countertop seltzer maker. Poor dear.

If you can recess a deeper fridge to get the b-i look that will give the maximum storage.

The advantage to b-i is aesthetics and dual compressors -- one for fridge; one for freezer. That's a huge difference as is keeping ability and overall sturdiness.

I love, love the bottom freezer. It's super convenient. It raises the fridge part so everything can be seen. My door storage for half-gallons is exceptional. It clears the shelves for us. Miele has exceptional interior lighting. So does Thermador.

After the 1 vs 2 compressor and bi vs recessed, it comes down to interior configuration. I took pix of all the fridges I was looking at so I could take them home and compare when I wasn't standing there feeling overwhelmed.

One more issue. Every time we need a piece of cheese I have to open the fridge door. I've seen fridges with refrigerated drawers that open separately (can't recall which specifically). With kids, I sure would be looking at one of those.

Samsung has a model that dispenses carbonated water.

^^^ wasn't aware of that.

Does it work though, and how much are gas cylinders ?

I vote for the bottom freezer, one door fridge on top. In some spaces you just cannot have that deep a door so then and only then consider a french door. Years ago, I had a side by side and it seemed like a lot of space was wasted....I dislike cold water so I didn't need that feature (and would remove the ice maker if I could). If you are that big on it I would consider a separate machine or chilled water out of its own tap at the sink.

I wouldn't buy a single fridge for a carbonated water dispenser. It's tail wagging dog. On secondary fridge perhaps.

There are better standalone options if you really want fizzy water everyday .

I'm not endorsing or recommending the Samsung Sodastream, just pointing out that it exists. I personally think it's a gimmick, and have never used one so no idea how well it works.

You set your priorities. If you want soda get a Samsung. If you want to sell take it with you and throw in a Miele or Liebherr for the sale.

http://www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/rf/31/fm/rf31fmesbsraa/RF31FMES.pdf

Neat to have choices but,

even if you recess it into a 2x6 wall (which most people dont have) it's still going to protrude 5". 7" if you have a typical 2x4 wall.

the reviewers on the company site say the sodastream implementation is pathetic and to get a standalone. I didn't even bother to do the math on the the unit w/o the fizzer to find the "premimum" one would pay.

So.................there is a fridge that dispenses fizzy water but there may as well not be.

Thanks Xedos.

Resale is a red herring. Purchasing a $9500 SubZero today will not raise your home's selling price by $9500 tomorrow - and it's all down hill from there.

Of course it won't. However, if you live in a million dollar home surrounded by other million dollar homes and all the homes around you have SZ fridges, and you put in a $1000 Samsung, chances are someone looking at your home and the one down the block for sale, will discount yours to bring it up to "their standards".

Conversely if you live in a neighborhood of $150,000 homes and you put in a SZ, you're not suddenly going to get $160,000 when you sell.

re: FP fridges. - They don't exactly lite it on fire now, and a totally new product in a new segment for a struggling co. is not where I'd be getting on board.

But, some people do like low prices so they'll probably sell a few

Well I keep hoping for an option that is less expensive. I didn't realize they were struggling.

Like I said: red herring.

There's perception, there's reality, and then truth.

Unless you need to sell in a hurry tomorrow - the SZ isn't going be doing much for you and even then it won't be on a dollar to dollar return.

FP was bought out of bankruptcy a few years back by Haier, and while they've infused a lot of capital they're marketing expertise in the U.S. isn't really there. Plus, their engineering talent isn't geared towards FP's market segment.

Hope , wasn't that part of a political slogan a few years ago ?

Xedos, you appear to be an expert so maybe you can shed some light on some blanks I have in a story. I was told that roughly 10 years ago, SZ had handed off it's refrigerator manufacturing/assembly to another company (I forgot the name, but it was a recognizable company). During that time period, quality suffered greatly and perhaps that's what started to give them a "bad reputation"??? HOWEVER, fairly recently, SZ took back over refrigerator manufacturing/assembly, improved QC, improved materials used (i.e. steel over plastic), etc. Anyone have any input or can confirm any details? I was told this by a salesman, so I took it with a grain of salt as I do anything a salesman tells me (note--FWIW he was not a SZ salesman).

I was told that roughly 10 years ago, SZ had handed off it's refrigerator manufacturing/assembly to another company (I forgot the name, but it was a recognizable company). During that time period, quality suffered greatly and perhaps that's what started to give them a "bad reputation"??? HOWEVER, fairly recently, SZ took back over refrigerator manufacturing/assembly, improved QC, improved materials used (i.e. steel over plastic), etc.

As you were right to suspect, the salesman was full of it. SZ never outsourced their BI refrigeration manufacturing. Like all manufacturers, they have always used parts made by other companies. And a few of their smaller products are outsourced to other manufacturers. But never their full size refrigerators.

Sales banter.

About 15 years ago they got a defective batch of copper tubing from a supplier that went into the sealed systems and had a slew of early failures which were taken care of under warranty. But that tale still lingers - seemingly from competitors sales forces that can't tell you why theirs is better.

SZ farmed out their stand alone ice machine to Scotsman for a while and now I forget who produces it. May have even gone in house ???

Big fridges have always been manuf.. in Wisconsin, with exception of 700 series which later on had an operation in AZ. I'm not sure what has been done with it now. They just announced a factory expansion at headquarters to make a new dishwasher , but we'll see if that takes off.

Wolf's steam oven is made by DeLonghi (I think ) , microwaves by Sharp , and those cutesy countertop appliances are farmed out, but that's about the extent of it.

Wolf steam = VZug

"Like I said: red herring.

There's perception, there's reality, and then truth.

Unless you need to sell in a hurry tomorrow - the SZ isn't going be doing much for you and even then it won't be on a dollar to dollar return."

Of course it's perception and to some it matters not. Others walk in and see SZ and swoon. LOL.

But my point is that one never knows what life will throw your way. I had every intention when I remodeled my condo 5 years ago of staying there for the next 15 years at least. 5 years later and DH and I have decided we want one last gasp at having our own house so the condo will be put on the market. While I had no intention of selling, I did keep it in the distant back of my brain as a just in case, so didn't go hog wild with colors, furnishings, etc and I chose appliances that worked for my building. That meant no SZ, but Bosch cooktop and oven.

Will my choices mean more money or less for me than the same condo next door that was also remodeled 5-7 years ago? Absolutely Not! But hopefully my choices help me sell just a bit quicker for close to asking.

I think maybe everyone is talking about the same thing but from slightly different angles. What a great kitchen with good quality, spotless appliances can get you, all things being equal, is a nudge over the edge for buyers to choose your place over something comparable, and to be less price resistant than if everybody walking in would assume that the kitchen would have to be redone first thing.

Re the million dollar house, it depends on the location. In some parts that's a castle. In others, it's a tiny old fixer upper. The latter might have a Kenmore, and it wouldn't be out of place. If the kitchen had been spiffed up, however, even ten years ago, and had a SubZero fridge, you bet that detail will be on the MLS listing. It'll get people in the door because it means the place has been fixed up some, and will also make them more accepting of some of the other flaws. None of it is about dollars, really. It's about driving traffic and closing sales.

Re the Soda Stream in the fridge, how much room does it take? Does it cut down on interior space? Because you could just keep a jug of water in the fridge and make the soda yourself. This may be a feature for markets where people drink soda water all the time (like in Israel, where Soda Stream comes from), but if I were that into it, I'd want a water cooler, or button on a sink dispenser like for RO, that dispensed the soda too, not have it built into the fridge to cause problems. But that's just me. :)

Does anyone know of a bottom freezer refrigerator (one door vs. French door) that has in-door ice? I started researching and keep running in to not really knowing if there is only in-door water or in-door water and ice.

Check out the post last Thursday at 2:05 pm - might lead you in the right direction.

I am not aware of any single door, bottom mount models with in door ice. That's not to say they don't exist, I just don't know of any.

Fisher P has a couple . 32" though. French door comes 36".

FP doesn't have ice through the door. Only water.

Yes, it's a water dispenser only.

Sorry about any confusion.

Mary Anne--I don't know for sure but someone told me this F&P model has both ice and water in the door (although I can't imagine how that would work, but I'm not an engineer!). Maybe you can search for this model number RF170WDRUX5

They were wrong. It's water only through the door, ice in the freezer. There are plenty of french door models that have ice through the door though; they mount the icemaker in the refrigerator compartment. Some models have dual icemakers, one in the refrigerator for the door and another in the freezer for reserve capacity.