What do you mean "they aren't willing"? Was this is writing? Is this what the plans show? If so, "willing or not", they must correct it...at their expense.

Have you made final payment to the (alleged) builders? Pay nothing more! Have a sit down, calm meeting and explain that your refrigerator won't fit. What will they do about it?

Who designed and ordered the kitchen? And did they have all of the specs of the appliances furnished to them in advance of that design?

Well, they dun goofed. So did whoever paid them too early.

Sprink1es I know we screwed up paying. But you don't need to be so rude about it. I'm asking for help. This whole thing has been a mess. Throughout the process I've been pregnant, had the baby and had some complicated circumstances with that. We have spent our life savings on this one chance to build our home. It's not a mansion but it's the best we could do. I got a jerk for a builder and I just want to move into my new home. So either post something encouraging and helpful or don't bother. I don't need more crap right now.

They want us to try to come up with a solution we would be happy with. I was just trying yo see if anyone had any ideas. If not, I will go to them and ask that they rebuild that part. But because we have paid I don't know that I have the leverage. Basically, when we signed the contract saying how much we would pay at a certain date, I was thinking it wasn't the full amount because we still had more left to pay...but that was for the sub contractors. It wasn't all together. So THESE people are paid in full. I missed that. My fault. I've never built a house before and probably won't ever again. I don't know what to do. Just trying to make it better.

So back up a sec. The house is fully paid for - every red cent? or not?

In a typical situation, sub contractors are paid from the builder - hence the name "sub". So the builder goofed and if there is any money not paid to any sub then you have some leverage. You should not be paying subs. And just because the sub that goofed may have been paid, the contractor (GC, builder etc) should make it right.

The depth has to be fixed. The granite is expensive so you want to preserve that. You want to pull the cabinets out and put a new wall behind the granite. It looks like a total cabinet reinstall which is about a day's work or $500 around here. The new wall is just some drywall and paint - $100 or $200.

This kind of stuff happens all the time. It is why you have a GC handle the specs and delivers them to the cabinet installers. The cabinet installers are not rocket scientists (sorry just generally). So typically a GC will supervise the install especially with a built in fridge. You probably got a crew that is not used to built ins - but that is the GCs responsibility.

I'll repeat - it doesn't matter if the cabinet installers have been paid. The only thing that matters is if the GC has been paid in full.

GC's make mistakes and eat the cost. They probably have a certain percentage they plan on using to fix mistakes.

Now if no money is left and they don't fix it - you should be signing up for angie's list and getting the BBB's website directions. You could forward those things on to the builder if you need to.

^^^And Yelp

I would turn broom closet studs sideways and may be use 1/4" drywall if needed. About 2 - 3 days of work considering mudding and painting. These things happen all the time.. I guess GC expecting you to ask for $500 credit.

The counters aren't granite, thankfully. This is a mod home stick built in facility and finished on site. We paid the "builder" and he paid the company that built the home. He setup contact with the sub contractors but we pay them. (I didn't fully understand that. I thought we paid him everything and he took care of it.) so he has all his money and the company has all theirs. The company is who messed up so the builder should have them take care of it for him or find a sub that can. He is the company's customer so they won't really deal with us directly. We had a meeting with the company rep and our builder to fix a lot of issues. He is newly with them. When we were in the middle of all this the company he used for 28 years filed bankruptcy. So he switched to this place. We went with it because we were already so far in and he assured us it would be the same or better quality. We are the 2nd house he has done with these people and are unfortunately the ones he is learning on. They put the wrong shower and window in the master bath. They fixed that last week. I think this company isn't used to custom requests like this fridge freezer set. BUT that's not our fault! There isn't anything in the contract specifically about cabinets. It's all very general. But we have emails where it was discussed and we sent them the specs. Now he's on vacation this week. Ugh

In my experience it is wise to work collaboratively with everyone involved to find a solution before assigning blame. You never know what might happen if everyone is trying to help instead of protecting themselves.

Involving everyone starts with a drawing so otherscan understand what you already know.

I had something similar happen. With the refrigerator in fact. They had the spec sheet for 6 months! And yes, I "found a solution" but I think about my compromises quite a lot and I am not happy.

If you don't ask for what you want now, you will have to live with what you get.

^ agreed that the GC is still responsible. I'll never know where the real blame should be, maybe the GC never communicated the correct RO dimensions? Be polite and they should take care of it in some fashion.

I'll tell you a story of my own. I had real nice 3/4" hardwood flooring installed in my current custom build. Dishwasher got dropped off in my foyer. "Someone" unpackaged it, tilted it on to two legs, and dragged it 50 feet to where it would be installed, with the unit hopping/dragging directly on the floor the entire way. It looked like someone took a ballpeen hammer and hit my new floor every 1/16". Nobody admitted to doing it. Little did I know, my GC had a bad reputation of not paying their subs. Flooring people (who did nothing wrong) refused to redo the floor because they were convinced they would never be paid to fix it. GC promised me they'd make it right somehow or sand/refinish my floor for free. Going on 7 years later, I still have the marks on my solid hardwood floor (although new scratches from wear made them blend in better). GC "declared bankruptcy" maybe a year after my house was done. GC is building houses again today, under a slightly modified name.

Sometimes you're going to get screwed, but making a built-in fridge fit is a little different than my floor ;)

OK, some constructive alternatives:

1. Rebuilt it the way it should have been (contractor has to remove currently existing upper shelving and replace everything with new, sized to fit cabinets);

2. Leave it the way it is, but add "in-fill" pantry door and shelving (to left of refrigerator) and open shelving between top of refrigerator and bottom side of upper cabinets (contractor only has to add new cabinets, door and shelving);

3. Some other approach which fits your needs and is reasonable for the contractor to do.

I seldom agree with JDS (for lots of good reasons), but his counsel to work constructively and to start with a sketch of what you would prefer to do is wise counsel for a calm, sit-down-over-coffee-or-tea sort of meeting and discussion.

It may be helpful to determine what documentation was used to direct the construction of the way it was built as it exist now.