We have a 632/O, and I can imagine a lot of reasons why it would be unsuitable with a glass door. While eggs are not kept on our door, a plethora of bottles are stored on the door shelves. With no shelves they would have to be stored in the interior -- already small due to the counter depth design -- and kept neatly arraigned. With a glass door and visitors, not only do the shelves have to be kept neat and organized, but consideration would be needed for the appearance of the contents of containers as well as the neatness of plastic wrap, smoothness of aluminum foil, etc.

Even if the loss of shelves on the doors is made up by deeper shelves in the body, the visibility of stuff at the back would be degraded due to the added shelf depth. (Maybe that would be a plus.)

Spotless cleaning of both sides of the glass would be necessary.

From a functional point of view, glass is not a great insulator, so there would be some predictable cooling efficiency loss with a glass door. Perhaps this is partially compensated by the ability to view the interior and plan where to grab the desired item before opening the door.

Isn't repair of your 632 less expensive than buying a new unit?

What kind of a freezer door is paired with this glass refrigerator door?

Is the PRO 48 a perfect fit, or is some cabinetry revision needed? I suppose that with a glass door, matching overlay panels are unnecessary.

kas

@Kaseki, thanks for the reply. Our current Sub-Zero is a 532 (not 632) and was built in 1998. The fridge side of the unit has gone out and the repairs will run around $2,500 (I've gotten two separate quotes.) However, it is only a matter of time before the same thing happens to the freezer side which would then run another $2,500. So most likely I'm looking at spending $5,000 over a fairly short period of time on a 20 year old refrigerator, and maybe more if something else goes wrong, or I can replace it. Currently, I'm leaning towards replacing it. The BI-48 runs around $10,000 and the PRO 48 is substantially more.

Our current model does have cabinet panels, which will fit in the BI-48, however, the PRO 48 is stainless only and does not accept panels. The glass door on the PRO 48 is only on the fridge side while the freezer is stainless with no glass. The glass on the fridge side is triple pane and from what I have read there are no insulation issues with the glass (glass doors are not all that uncommon on commercial refrigerators.) My understanding from talking to the sales rep and looking on the Sub-Zero website is that the PRO 48 should be a perfect fit in the spot where the 532 is (the required cut out dimensions for installation are exactly the same for both models.)

Here is a link to the PRO 48 on the Sub-Zero website if you want to see pictures.

We considered it when we remodeled but there was a food storage drawer above the ice drawer with a perforated bottom and the idea of crud falling into the ice drawer from the food drawer was a no. I also did not want the ice on the bottom.

@Wekick, the perforated portion of the bottom is towards the front of the drawer and does not sit directly above the ice bin so theoretically anything that fell through should not land in the ice, but I get what you are saying. Also, I hadn't really thought about it but having the ice on the bottom does seem a bit inconvenient. I wonder why it was designed that way.

The one plus for the BI-48 over the PRO 48 (other than price) is that there is a water and ice dispenser inside the fridge.

They must have fixed it since I looked at it.

I went back to the store today and looked at the PRO 48 again. Lack of space is definitely not a problem. I was thinking that you are losing space by not having storage on the inside of the doors but, as Kaseki pointed out, because there is nothing protruding from the inside of the doors, the shelves come all the way to the front edge of the fridge. The shelves seem at least six inches deeper than the ones in my current Sub-Zero. While overall space is not lost, the convenience of inside the door storage is lost. Maybe that's not a big deal, we just have to rethink the way we organize things. The ice maker on the bottom also does seem odd, but believe it or not when I pointed it out to my wife she said "I kinda like it." It seems like an awesome fridge, it's just different than what I'm used to. Thanks to those who replied and if anyone else has any real life experience with it then any feedback is appreciated.

I'm going to fall in the category of fixing the current unit. This is the beauty of the Subzero. You can get parts to fix it. You can't do that with so many other units. Yes, the freezer compressor may go out. Then again, it may not. Or, it may be five years before it does. I fixed a 25-year old SZ once. It worked great. From a cost benefit analysis, fix the unit with the knowledge that you may have to repair the freezer much later. Save $7,500 to $10,000. Unless, you have glass in the door envy and can't help yourself.

"... glass in the door envy ..." LOL. Time I guess for glass door dishwashers. What? FL clothes washers have them. Think of the advantages: direct observation of suds level; direct observation of water clarity during rinsing; visual confirmation of action compensating for the loss of sound cues from highly silenced units.

Homechef59, thanks for the input. I hadn't thought of the repair vs replacement option quite that way. Both places from which I got quotes for the repair (one of them being the only factory certified Sub-Zero repair center in the area) told me that 20 years was about the expected life of the compressors and to plan on the freezer side to go out relatively soon (whether that be tomorrow or a few years from now) so in my mind I've been comparing spending $5,000 on a 20 year unit or $10,000 on a new one (more if I want to satisfy my glass envy.) I'm not sure what else could go wrong but it seems any repair I do is going to be expensive so I did not want to get in a position where I have to keep dumping money into a 20 year old appliance. But in reality, the immediate expense is only $2,500. The freezer side has not gone out yet and may never go out and nothing else may go wrong with the unit either.

I had the 36in SZ bottom freezer with glass door fridge. It was gorgeous and a great conversation piece, but never again. My husband wanted the pro 48 when we moved, but he wasn’t the one endlessly searching for small condiments due to no door shelving, cleaning the door glass, and artfully rearranging the shelves with colorful fruit and beverages before we had guests. I love my messy and concealed fridge better. But the pro 48 is gorgeous. Good luck!

Get the BI. When I walked through the factory and sat for training, they made it clear the PRO48 hasn't advanced like the rest of the refrigerator line. If you have a huge family it has advantages as the lost space of door storage is made up in the shelves which have a way higher capacity.

You lose the air purifying system which keeps produce fresh way..way..longer. Also, not having the h20 dispenser may bug some.

If you cook in hotel pans or for large groups, the PRO48 makes more sense.

It gorgeous! But having to stage my fridge each week would exhaust me. I would do the BI-48.

Johnsoro25, I hear ya. It's not me, it's my wife. She actually gets into that kind of stuff. Constantly decorating and staging little nooks and crannies in the house so it's right up her ally. I was curious, I'm not sure if the model you had the same glass and such but I did noticed in the showroom that when you turn the light off in the PRO 48 it's not all that easy to see into the fridge. It's only with the light on that you would really need to make sure it's presentable. Was that the case on your model?

It’s been a few years now, but there were “presentation” lights that you could turn on so it would be lit with the door closed. These were different from the lights that turn on upon opening the door. During my first year owning this fridge, I left the presentation lights on 24 hours a day because I was so enamored by the whole thing. They ended up burning out and needed to be replaced by a technician for a couple hundred dollars-lesson learned. With the lights off, it was definitely harder to see in the fridge, but one could still see. That’s when I started buying matching Tupperware containers... I think if your wife is willing to make the effort it will be worth it. It’s a showstopper.

Appliance Sales, I did notice that the air filtration/purification system that Sub-Zero touts as "borrowed from NASA" is not listed as a feature on the PRO 48. You would think, if anything, the most expensive fridge they offer would get the technology first, not last. I would like the water dispenser but it's not a must (our current Sub-Zero does not have one.) Besides, you know that looks trump functionality. :) Actually, I'm still wrestling with the repair or replace decision right now then I'll decide between the BI and PRO. I have to pull the trigger soon though, the fridge has been down for three weeks now.

Johnsoro25, thanks for the heads up on the lights. I'm not sure about back then but surely now they are LED, which should last much longer than a year even if turned on all the time. It doesn't specifically say on the website so I'll need to definitely look into that. I do not want to be be replacing $200 light bulbs very often for sure. One thing about the lights that I thought was odd, it seems they can only be turned on and off from a button inside the fridge. It seems like it would make more sense if they could turned on from outside the fridge so you could look inside prior to opening the door. Of course they turn on automatically when you open the door.

Mine was purchased in 2006, definitely not LED. That would help a lot. The button for the lights was inside the fridge. Good point that it should be outside :)

Johnsoro25, so can you tell me how you arrange your condiments? We just purchased a Pro48 and I thought it would make sense to store them in the drawer but it's hard to see what you have when you are looking down on them. Thanks.

We store some in the drawers and store some in some in plastic bins we got from the Container Store. You just pull out the bin and get what you want and put it back. We also got our dealer to throw in an extra set of drawer dividers so we have a lot of options for sectioning off the drawers. They also gave me an extra set of the metal slide out bins so we can store stuff in there as well. We haven't had any problems with space.

We had a few issue with the fridge itself but they've finally worked all that out.

Thank you, Johnsoro25 for your reply. We had ours installed a couple of days ago and I'm trying to organize everything. Very different from the other refrigerators I've had. I'm glad your issues have been worked out. Hope I don't run into any of them. For the price you pay for this fridge, you certainly don't want any issues.

I came across this question as I was looking for ideas to compartmentalize the drawers of the PRO48 for better storage. We replaced our 632 and really couldn't be happier. It's been a year since we bought it and it is beautiful. Can you consider a refrigerator a piece of art? I think so. We had concerns about no longer having storage in the door too, but we have gotten used to being without. We ended up reconfiguring the shelves and stainless bins to work better. I would suggest keeping the top shelf as high as it can go in order to fit things like eggs, butter, salsa, grey poupon, wine bottles laid down. The next shelf with just enough space for other taller items/condiments, like dressings, ketchup, etc.. Then leave quite a bit of space for the remaining shelf so that you can easily fit upright wine bottles, milks, juices. Under that shelf, place the 2 stainless bins next to one another and directly under those bins, yogurts and soda cans will fit nicely. Took a bit of trial and error, but it seems to be the best layout for us. The freezer can fit a ton of things. Sometimes I am afraid something will fall behind the drawer when it's opened, but so far that hasn't happened. The only thing I am trying to figure out is some sort of storage solution for the bottom refrigerated drawer. Other than that, it's perfect.

We are 2 weeks away from having our 4 year old PRO48 replaced with the side by side. We are so over having to dig around for condiments. The shelves are deeper but that just means there's more black hole space to lose the other items. Thankfully, we didn't get the glass door version but even without the stress of having a guest-ready refrigerator, we can't deal any longer. We can't wait to be able to find our leftovers with out moving the hummus out of the way or discovering a moldy cheese shoved in the back corner.

@cherityp Interesting how different it is for different people. Honestly, I can’t say it’s worth the price but we do love ours. I get a little worried because every now and then (like once every three months) we’ll get a random electronic hiccup like an open door sensor going off for no reason. That’s concerning given how expensive this thing was. But other than that we are happy with it.

Out of curiosity, I’m assuming you must be selling yours. How has the value held up for resell?

I think the glass door adds to the beauty and ultimately the re-sale value of your home. Just my opinion. We still love ours. Keep playing with the shelving layout, and maybe use more metal/ clear plastic bins for smaller condiments. I can't imagine getting rid of an $18K fridge after 4 years. Your new fridge delivery crew/appliance dealer will love you for the gift :)