I would plan of for a refrigerator alcove of 37" to 38" wide and 72" tall.

These measurements should allow any "standard" refrigerator (counter-depth or standard-depth) to fit today and in the future.

You need to have space around the refrigerator (sides and top) for air flow, so you don't want it to be too tight.

Also, either make the cabinet above full-depth or pull a shallow cabinet out until it's flush with the top of the refrigerator box. Those 12" deep cabs that are installed against the wall over refrigerators by production builders (and others who don't know any better) are useless for storage since they are very difficult to access, especially if you're average height or shorter.

Are there end panels flanking the refrigerator space?

I second what Buehls said.

ok, sounds like the wisdom is that I should set the cabinets at 72" high. Glad I asked. Thanks!

Buehl, I agree with you that for the cabinets to be useful they need to be flush with the front of the fridge and now that you mention it I see that a simple panel can fill the unsightly gap above my current short fridge and the 72" start of the cabinets. Then I can either remove or shorten the panel when I inevitably replace the fridge with a taller model. Thanks again.

If it helps...

Note the refrigerator "alcove" with finished end panels flanking the alcove and the upper cabinet above. Eventually, we also put in crown molding.

If you have the flexibility to add the end panels, I would. It gives the refrigerator a "finished"/"built-in" look. Be sure the end panels are no deeper than the refrigerator "box". To allow them to open fully, the doors must stick out past all surrounding cabinets, counters, walls, etc.

(Before "decorating")

@Greg Farrell I have the same dilemma, and beware that 72" is a general max height of the newer fridges themselves, in fact more like 71.8" if you'll check specs on different brands online. You'll need an additional 1' to 2" of air space above the top of the refrigerator for ventilation and heat escape. It doesn't look good to have a huge gap, so if installing with an old, shorter fridge that will be there for a few more years, you can use a trim piece to cover the gap at the top. Also, newer fridges can be a bit wider than older ones, too. The best thing is to look online at various refrigerators that appeal to you for a possible future purchase and check the specs for them. Then you'll have a pretty good idea of what your clearances need to be. There's quite a range of heights and widths available now, so there's no one perfect answer.

Due to all the problems with trying to configure cabinetry above a 1990s-era non-built-in fridge that won't be replaced during our kitchen renovation, we decided on deep floating shelves. Shelfology carries brackets that can be secured to studs and support a lot of weight at depths of up to 24", and we'll probably be doing a 24" deep shelf with a 12" above it for a display area above the fridge.