And we patched the cabinets to get rid of the “interesting” pipe wine holders in the before pic

Thank you m ml. If your GC can try to find a similar pine, (there are different species with different undertones). As long as it is a similar pine with knots, the stain will look quite close to existing cabinetry. Beautiful reno!

Great thought all.. all joking aside much appreciate your insights and energy on the topic..

this was the last punch list item at the end of a very extensive interior and exterior renovation and I was running out of ideas and ...steam.

A stainless wrapped panel, would ELIMINATE the need for a match. The fridge will appear TALL as it should, and may even be able to compete with the range and hood. Take that easy, good looking advice...to the bank $$! I bet the contractor sighs in relief too.

I know that for me, walking through narrow spaces, with something that is tall and all one color to the ceiling, makes me feel like it is closing in on me. Even though it is reflective. I think the visual feeling and unconscious response of a tall solidity in same material can feel a bit intrusive and overpowering walking by it.

I would like to try the color differences in a mock-up version of stained panel vs silver panel placed there... just to get the visual and how it would feel. This is what I would do for myself to make a decision.

The locale is the locale of the fridge. The kitchen is all angles. A looming thing is that, and it won't be if all "stainless" . As of now? It juts from its container like an afterthought, and it is totally OVERWHELMED by hood and range. Balance would help, immensely. even a stained panel, with a 12 inch wrap of stainless at the lower half,.........it would look much higher end, and solve the one or the other issue. When ya goof, ya goof. Just take the easy as pie fix. Or.....a fruity solution.

Thanks I do like the idea of a flat panel vs shelves or cabinets and agree stainless steel could take the drama out of wood matching..

believe it or not our contractor is a bit of a perfectionist and although he and we are happy with each other and with the results in every room of the house.. he may be as eager as we are to stop spending so much quality time together..

And yes, if we were to fully redesign the kitchen we would take down the wall the fridge is on and blow out the kitchen.. but given that we don’t have unlimited $.. this will be good for the next 15 years or so.

I think the remodel is great and realize the prior design isn't for everyone but it was pretty cool.

I can't stop looking at the old kitchen.

I've never seen anything like it!

LOVE the upper left glass cabinet with the iron!

i also love the old kitchen but new is cool too! love the corner of windows and stainless steel to offset the dark cabinets. you did a good job!

OP I hope you found a good solution! And I really hope you come back and post some more photos of your kitchen and the rest of your reno. The before and after looks pretty amazing from what you've shown so far - it's inspiration to all those of us who have to (or choose to) work with what we've got.

Oh yeah the prior kitchen was one of a kind.. not to our taste but the mural was” done by an artist and was published in a book ”. I didn’t ask the realtor if it was in a book of ugly kitchens as taste is personal.

And I did a prior post on kitchen, interior and exterior renovation.. if you want to peek at how that kitchen style in translated to the rest of the house

Living room.. before and almost done after

You can see the trac for the 1/2 glass wall separating the step down living room in the pics above.. here is the finished result

FYI So clearly these pics are before replacing or staging furniture so while you guys are super helpful I don’t need furniture comments! :)

m ml,

your new floors are stunning, love that you carried it through your reno.

One of the typical bathroom before and afters.. we didn’t replace wall tile or showers but did do new flooring.

Mirrors and touch up work missing from the bathroom pics but you get the idea

Oh good lawd, if a fridge decreases the OP's home value by $100K then the OP can live with the replacement until they decide to sell and then buy some used (or new) SZ to put back in it's place. At some point, it all gets ridiculous.

A cabinet maker can give you plenty of good options to go in that space.

New staircasev

New staircase

Before and after exterior

WOW the Befores are sure Artsy. Very interesting! I like what you've done!

We didn’t change out these windows but replaced most of the windows in the rest of the house and re. Stuccoed the exterior

So when someone tells me that we blew it in this house cause of the fridge choice I just can’t take offense as they had no idea what we have done to date

Great Home! Great job!

Really amazing! Do you know the former owners?

Those folks sure did like to put their own “stamp” on their home. While it can be appealing, I prefer a more minimalist look. I like the exterior updates very much.

We do not know the corners owners they moved out of town after the sale

We also replaced the roof, pool equipment, electrical panel and hvac.. the only thing left to do is the hot water heater which I expect will die this year.. my husband the engineer also wants to rebolt the house frame to the foundation.. it’s bolted and grandfathered but the current code standard is a bit higher .. yes we are in California

This is our fourth house but our first (and last ) major fixer upper. It was interesting to say the least but don’t think I could do it again.

The only people who bid on the house were professional house flippers and us.. we are not planning on selling anytime soon

You've done amazing things with this house and have hopefully have some equity from all your hard work.

Probably not the best idea. But as a Chalkboard enthusiasts , maybe a chalk board? You can bring down and re-do? or a frosted glass?

Looked up the average duration of home ownership in the US: 13 years. Looked up the average life of a refrigerator: 14 years. So, if OP were to replace her refrigerator one year early, before she were to put the home on the market, she'd recover the theoretical $100,000 drop in home value for one-fourteenth the cost of her current refrigerator.

Doesn't seem like a bad bargain to me.

I vote for the finished opening..cheaper...easier ...closed cabinet too hard to access ...open space feels fresher and airy...we have this feature intentionally as our ceilings are very high and it offers covered space for pretty... light weight ...useful things or just decorative items...I am a basket collector and use them for everything so I display the beautiful..interesting ones here...

Just wondering...this was sooooo fixer upper when you bought it...what was it you liked enough to take on the changes...personally I liked the exteriors....but wonder what you saw that you could not live without...?...hope the price ..at least ..was an incentive

Shead.. I assume ..so the house sold for a quite low price psf relative to the nabe at the time we bought it.. this despite the fact it is on a cul de sac with great trees, stucco walls around the grounds and a double lot.. it was just too scary for most people. The house and grounds were covered in ivy ... it’s one of the few streets in the area where you can opt out of an HOA so the owners were free to let everything go wild

That being said if the prior owners had just bothered to paint the insides white before selling they would have had more interest. The listing pics were a case study in how not to sell your house

By the way not criticizing the former owners.. it was their choice and taste.. and some would argue that creative is better than beige.. to each his own. I was just saying that their choices impacted the price they got.

Ritasj - we bought it for the property, much of which I didn’t show in the pics. Double lot, privacy beautiful trees, some views. I still am happy with our decision.

m ml, I love what you did with the kitchen! (The old backsplash and countertop - shudder...) I think the item I'd have kept from the old kitchen is the stained wood beams on the ceiling - stained to match your lovely new cabinetry.

I think the idea of a SS panel above the fridge works. (Despite Green, your fridge is lovely, functional, and sometimes a full-depth fridge is what a kitchen cook NEEDS.)

I actually like the old living room... but I know it would grow old on me fast. Your living room reno is great! And sunken rooms are very hard to deal with - you handled this well, and the new flooring is awesome.

Lovely exterior updating... and the location with the woods around you - priceless.

You have foresight and patience! I’m sure other buyers wouldn’t even set foot in that house or, if they did, run away screaming. Your ability to see past the “creativity” gets my applause. I’m sure this last problem in the kitchen is nothing compared to what you and your husband have already tackled.
If you don’t have the energy to find a custom wood person to match a new cabinet above the fridge, then go for the stainless steel idea. You plan to stay for a long time. Do whichever you like more.
Having worked with antique refinishers, I can tell you that people who constantly work with wood can match any stain. You just haven’t found the right person. If you can find a cabinetmaker to do that part, you should look under Furniture Restoration for the staining person. Your color is not that unique and it will be above the refrigerator too.
I am blown away by your ability to make these Before and Afters. I hope you love your house and live happily ever after!

Wow - I love what you’ve done!! Your house is absolutely stunning. Love your kitchen too!

I am amazed at the level of your remodel. It is transforming. I think your hard work has increased the value of your home by more than 100K already. Great Job

Thanks for the kind words on the reno which was less painful then it could have been due to our awesome contractor. We had done some light renovations on prior houses but nothing like this and I think finding the right person made all the difference.

It is probably too late for this but we saved the louvered panel from above the old, non-working Sub Zero and put it over our new counter depth refrigerator.

Ha! I didn’t think of that and am not sure it would fit but I commiserate with you on the old non-working subzero..

We got so tired of calling the super expensive subzero repair guys who never seemed to get it so both the fridge and the freezer worked at the same time... that we ended up pretty much using our garage fridge ( a old working GE profile from a prior house) till the Reno was done.

Apparently I have sub zero resentment...it may be a thing.

I just absolutely love what you have done ! Great foresight , great job ! Wishing you great success with your investment !

You have done a wonderful job restoring this home and undoubtedly have added value with your updates. In our area there are many high end homes without built-in refrigerators and it never seems to harm the resale. If you have enough height and like a TV in the kitchen. the area above the refrigerator would be a great spot for a flat screen as it would cover the entire space. We have no doors on ours because they would never be closed. (first photo below) There is a false panel about five inches back where the cords are threaded through to the space behind. Personally I would not do a stainless panel.

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I'm late to this party, but back to your original idea: If you need wine storage, I would absolutely put wine storage there. I've read repeatedly the recommendations against putting wine near a fridge - and I know that wine needs cool temps, dark, and no vibrations - but the temp difference between the top of a modern fridge and anywhere else in a conditioned (heated/cooled) interior space is probably less than the fluctuations in your daily heating/cooling schedule. (I've measured it in my house and found this to be true - top of fridge is maybe 1-2 degrees warmer, whereas wine should be about 10-15 degrees cooler). Vibrations from the motor should not transfer to any adjacent cabinets - if they do, you probably have bigger structural problems than having wine stored at a suboptimal temperature.

Unless you have a dedicated wine cellar, with very expensive and rare wines, it won't make enough difference for most people to notice if they store their wine near the fridge. (I'm not saying you're not a wine connoisseur... :) ).

And I also love all the work you've done. Enjoy.