That’s really disappointing. Can you return it?

You're understandably disappointed, but are you certain the refrigerator is pushed in all the way? The specs for this unit list a depth of 24.375" for the refrigerator minus doors and handles. I can't imagine the plug and water connection are preventing it from being pushed back so the black box is fully within your refrigerator enclosure.

We did look at it at the appliance store but I haven’t gone back in to see what the room setup was. It may not have been enclosed like ours is and like many are currently. I need to go back and see. Also it isn’t pushed all the way back but the installers said it can’t be or the door will not open at all. They showed me and it is true. The bulk of the doors means it needs lots of clearance to open

Also It isn’t returnable.

The doors don't swivel into the openings? That's a shame. I would think that with a special line of appliances, GE would have included that feature.

Are you sure it cannot be pushed farther in? We have a GE Profile and only the doors need to stick out past the surrounding end panels and adjacent counter.

No more than 2" are needed behind the refrigerator, so you should be able to push it all the way back until just the doors stick out beyond the end panels.

Who were the "installers"?

Have you checked the model # on the delivered fridge?

Looks to me like it could go back another 1"-2" before interfering with the cabinet sides.

Only the doors need to protrude. Push it back.

I don’t understand. We have this fridge and only the stainless part (doors) sticks out, not the black box, and the doors open just fine.

We just tried to push it back. But my husband said the other side is actually worse. He said he thinks it is because our cabinets have hinges on outside. This is what happens when we try to push it in.

@ephma yours looks so nice!

Try just leaving no more than an inch and see what happens.

More pictures would be helpful.

• Full front view with doors closed
• From the side for each side with the refrigerator doors closed
• From the side for each side with the refrigerator doors open

What I see of your cabinets, the hinges do not appear to be on the outside; they're not visible in the pictures you've posted so far.

Did you also double-check the model # on the refrigerator as BluBird suggested?

I just checked the model number. The number is similar but there is an extra letter on the number inside the fridge. We bought Cye22tp2ms1 on the invoice and in the fridge it says cye22tp2mds1. So there is a “d” on the one inside the fridge but not on the invoice. When I google the number inside the fridge I don’t get much. Just a hit on finding parts for that model number.

You need to push it back the 2” that it’s sticking out. What is behind it in the cavity that is preventing that from happening? This is your installation, not the fridge. If you have clearance interference issues with the cabinets at the sides, that’s because there aren’t any fillers between the fridge panels and pantry.

In your most recent picture it appears you have pushed the fridge in too far. Just the black sides up to the gasket should be inside your fridge opening. The doors must be forward of your opening.

I don’t see any hinges on outside of cabinets. But I wonder if you have enough height in your opening? Is the problem the fridge hinges, which are above the cabinet box? Are they hitting the underside of your cabinet?

The problem definitely isn’t the height. The fridge hinges do slide under the top cabinet. We don’t have a filler on the right side. That may be the issue. But the picture of the white kitchen above looks very similar to ours and that one doesn’t seem to have a filler either. When looking at the fridge the left side seems to have to show the black side of the fridge in order to be able to open the right side door. If we push it in so the black doesn’t show on the left then we can’t open the right door.

Above is the front view.

There's your problem, no filler piece next to cabinetry. The pic above from Ephma does have a filler piece but those cabinets are also inset so the doors wouldn't hit against the fridge like yours would.

Fillers are required in the design for clearance purposes with full overlay cabinets. I used 1 1/2” here between all elements in order to keep it balanced. The alcove was preexisting, and is a bit shallower on the fridge end than the pantry end. We were able to disguise that on the overhead fridge cabinet, but the fridge itself is as far back as the alcove goes.

Gorgeous in Germantown · More Info

Gorgeous in Germantown · More Info

Gorgeous in Germantown · More Info

Gorgeous in Germantown · More Info

My cabinet maker measured my fridge on site when he did final measurements for our kitchen. He built the unit accordingly. We can’t blame the appliance manufacturer when, in fact, there are specs. This is a cabinet problem. Honestly, you are the only one who is going to notice this by next week. Cook something wonderful for your friends and have a party. Don’t mention the “problem.” Go, cook, eat, enjoy!

Now that I see a picture of the front, I see the problem. As others have commented, you need filler b/w your refrigerator and cabinets, especially full-overlay like you have. The other option would have been to "build in" the refrigerator with 3/4" to 1" thick end panels flanking the refrigerator (you would have still needed a bit of additional filler, but not nearly as much).

The issue is not the refrigerator, it's the design. Whoever designed the cabinets did not take into account the need for filler.

You only have two options at this point as all refrigerators the same size will have this same issue (I'm guessing the old Whirlpool was narrower than this one):

• Purchase a built-in, fully integrated refrigerator (if that's possible at this point, one of the Pros could tell you) -- this would be my first choice
• Purchase a narrower refrigerator
• Paint the sides of the refrigerator to match the doors so the black isn't so noticeable

Thank you all for the comments. I really appreciate the information and helping to to figure out what is going on. It now makes sense to me. Because the old refrigerator fit so nicely in the space it didn’t occur to me that this one would have this issue. I wish I had realized it.

In that picture with the door partially open, it looks like you pushed the unit in until the front face of the fridge door was the same as the front face of the cabinets. This won't work. The doors will have to sit proud of the face of the door, perhaps by the depth of the door itself.

All these prescriptions are wrong, wrong, wrong. You don't need a different refrigerator, you don't need to paint the refrigerator, you don't need filler, you don't need any of this stuff.

The problem is simple: there are cabinet doors to the right of the refrigerator and there are no doors to the left. Therefore when the refrigerator is pushed into its proper position (i.e., the side of the refrigerator is not visible from the right) it's still visible from the left. Solution: Get a piece of molding the thickness of the cabinet doors, the height of the cabinet, and painted the color of the cabinet. Attach it to the front of the cabinet to the left of the refrigerator. Now when the refrigerator is in the proper position, neither side of the refrigerator will be visible; it will be hidden by the doors on the right and molding on the left.

(Ephma doesn't have this problem because her cabinet doors are recessed.)

I believe this is what wdccruise is talking about. I noticed it on the GE Cafe website. See the small vertical strip?

Look closely at the first picture. A LOT more than just an inch is showing. It's not the cabinet doors or lack thereof.

It may be a combination of both issues.

That green cabinet picture shows a 27” deep side panel, with a filler attached to extend it even further out. Plus some Photoshop, that unaccountably didn’t erase the seam line. It’s not very “counter depth” to cheat the side filler clearance requirement by extending the side panels 6”! 30”D side panels in a run of 24”D cabinets? For a “counter depth” refrigerator? Nope for me on that design. A standard depth, maybe. But, course the doors clear that oven or adjacent cabinets when you do that and pull the fridge body out that far from the wall. The fillers to the side are the correct clearance solution. They unfortunately were not done here.

Ah, I am so sorry. We were looking at Cafe fridges and I came across a couple of reviews that mentioned this same problem. I hope that you get something worked out that eases your frustrating with it.

" I believe this is what wdccruise is talking about. I noticed it on the GE Cafe website. See the small vertical strip?"

Nope.

"Look closely at the first picture. A LOT more than just an inch is showing. It's not the cabinet doors or lack thereof."

You are wrong. OP pulled the refrigerator out which left the side exposed.

Your cabinet guy totally screwed this up. I have a counter-depth KA and look at my cabinets beside it on one side. They are typical depth upper cabinets, not as deep as the refrigerator. What you have is like having the refrigerator up against a wall. If you want deep cabinets on one side, you must have a filler in order for that door to fully open, or you can have cabinets with less depth and it will be fine.

Here's two pictures of mine.

In the original picture, the refrigerator is pulled out the distance needed to allow the doors to open fully and it's 2.5" on the left side. We don't see the right side, but regardless, if it was only the doors on the right side causing the issue, then the refrigerator would only need to be pulled out approx 1".

Even if was just the cabinet doors, it's because of the cabinet doors that you need filler.

I have full-overlay drawer fronts on one side (the same as if I had a door -- they are the same size horizontally/left-to-right and in thickness) and nothing on the other side other than a finished end panel just like KSal...and it works just fine for me b/c I have another 1" end panel b/w the refrigerator and the drawer base (acts as filler).

Anglophilia

Nope. Your refrigerator's door hinges are on the top so it can be pushed into the opening without blocking the doors. OP's refrigerator has hinges on the side and it cannot be pushed back that far.

Buehl

Nope, it's the unmatched cabinet doors on the right that cause more of the left side of the refrigerator to be exposed if both refrigerator doors are to openable without obstruction.

And OP's photo of the tape measure was taken at an angle so it can't be read.

And the advertising photos she pasted are of a bunch of different refrigerators that stick out in varying amounts.

And the advertising photo that includes the coffee cup is of a refrigerator similar to hers and clearly shows a narrow portion of refrigerator's side.

Ok, so all of you who are on this thread who actually OWN a GE Cafe Fridge---how are you liking it (other than the fit!) Do you have the ice and water outside? Does the icemaker still work, as I know that is a known issue with just about all french door fridges when the ice is made up in the fridge area, not down in the freezer. We are looking at a full-size (not counter depth) GE Cafe Fridge. We do want the water and ice in the door for convenience. Are compressors still working? Have they frozen up? I worry about them dumping water on my new hardwood floors, since I have never had hardwoods in a kitchen before! It seems not many fridges have great reviews if you don't want to spend your life savings on one so trying to find the best of the bunch. Nothing I hate worse than a fridge that doesn't run and trying to get all your food in coolers until you can get it fixed or replaced! Advice and reviews on these would be appreciated! Thanks!

You might get one or two responses here, but you'd be better off looking at the reviews of the specific model in which you have an interest on the Home Depot website. Some models have over 1000 reviews. Note that you can often find nearly the identical refrigerator under the GE Profile and Cafe brands but at very different prices (example).

Thanks wdcruise! Yes, I have done that too! As well as on Lowe's site. We got on this whole Cafe thing since we bought the range. And we only did that because that was the only brand that offered a double oven with convection plus induction cooktop. And suddenly one thing leads to another LOL. And yes, it looks like they put a pretty handle on it and up the price 30%!