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lisa_elkins

New refrigerator won’t open all the way because of wall.

6 years ago

The left door of our new refrigerator won’t open past 90 degrees. There is a full wall on the side that doesn’t open fully.

Design question: if we remove the wall on the left side, the refrigerator will be in view of dining area.


ideas, suggestions on how to finish it to look cohesive?

Comments (20)

  • 6 years ago

    when you need the fridge to open past 90, pull it out till it does and push it back when you are done. Maybe you will need to do this only when you clean it ?

  • 6 years ago

    This situation is present in the majority of kitchens. The only time when the door (or both doors) need to be opened past 90 degrees is when the "bins" need removal for cleaning. The height of the elec. outlet should be positioned (on the wall) equal to where the fridge's cord exits the appliance. Most cords are 6 feet long which allows for plenty of forward movement without the need to "unplug".

  • 6 years ago

    Or pull it out, put some blocks or boards behind it, and leave it? I don't know how hard out it would have to be.

  • 6 years ago

    Can you reverse the side that the door opens on? Or do you have double doors (one for freezer, one for fridge, side by side)? This is probably when you'd want one of those fridges with freezer drawers on bottom and regular door on top, if you have space for it, and a top freezer if you don't. At our previous house, the space for the fridge wasn't wide enough to have a side by side and not tall enough for a bottom freezer, so I had the freezer on top kind and the direction that the door opened was easy to swap so it could go left or right, just needed to pull it out far enough and get the necessary hand tools from the tool box.

    I still couldn't open it much past a 90 degree angle, but enough to get the bottom drawers on the side that the door opened on out for cleaning them. If I'd had the room for a bottom drawer style freezer model, I'd have got one of those when we had to buy a new fridge in 2016, the year before we sold the house and moved cross country. :P

  • 6 years ago

    French doors generally need more than 90 degrees to get the full width snack/cold cut drawer out enough to fit your hand into it, especially if there is a retracting cover.


  • 6 years ago

    Your kitchen designer and your cabinet maker should both have noticed this problem when reviewing the drawings.

    How is that helpful at this point? And how do you know there are drawings? I don’t read where she says she has a kitchen designer or cabinet maker involved, nor do I see that this is part of a remodel or renovation.

    At this point, any fix that you could make is either going to work poorly or be very costly or possibly both.

    Says who?



  • 6 years ago

    Take the wall down and finish the Fridg with a cabinet wall

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    If your fridge is 36” return it and get a 33” and then put in a filler panel?


    sorry you are dealing with this.

  • 6 years ago

    I have the same issue. I am able to get food from the fridge. When I clean the fridge I need to pull it out.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    The solution depends on how much you want to spend.

    When I remodeled, I opted for a French door refrigerator which was next to a wall. The solution for me was to cut down the wall so that the door would open freely. Since it was done when I was doing a whole remodel, it was relatively easy to do since they are down to the studs in many places and reframing portions of my place anyway. So theoretically you wouldn't have to take down the whole wall. Most of the wall is still there - it's just that the entrance to the kitchen is a bit wider by about 6" and the wall is a bit shorter :-).

    But taking down any portion of a wall is a huge undertaking because you then are also dealing with a portion of the floor that is exposed and the obvious expense and hassle of dealing with the wall itself.

    I agree that having a door that doesn't open more than 90 degrees is difficult. What is causing the problem and why did your old refrigerator not have that issue?

  • 4 years ago

    I have the same problem and after mentioning it to the contractor before making my last payment he told me it will cost 1800 for him to open the wall and it will be cheaper if I just bought a smaller refrigerator.. He said I had to pay for the additional work and it was the cabinets manufacture fault because they gave him the wrong measurements. I was livid and as he went back and forth asking for final payment I told him no final payment until I can open my refrigerator. He got upset, told his workers let’s go and stormed out of my house.. I am a female and was told he was taking advantage of me… This just happen this morning, 11-04-21 and I am confused on what to do….I believe he is taking advantage of me..

  • 4 years ago

    If that's your general contractor, that's on him. Part of why you pay the GC more is that they coordinate with all parties involved and make sure things work together.


    If it's just a handyman who was hired for a particular task, and got took over GC duties, then it's on you.

  • 4 years ago

    @Terri Jones - Who actually designed the kitchen and measured the space. That person is the one who is responsibile if things don't "fit" properly.


    In my experience, the GC doesn't generally design anything but only does the work that is specified in the plans he is given. My GC was provided with an extensive set of plans and those plans were what he actually bid on and they were the plans submitted to the City in order for me to get permits for the remodel


    I provided specifications for the appliances to my designer who then worked with the cabinet maker.


    Of course there were glitches along the way which had to be resolved. I had a copper hood fabricated and although I had sent the specifications of my insert to the fabricator, the initial hood was wrong and so I had to wait for a new one to be fabricated. It wasn't my GC's problem - it was an issue for the hood manufacturer.

  • 3 years ago

    We have replaced our cabinet depth Kenmore fridge with the same size LG. We are having the same problem except that the door doesn’t open at all. We have to pull it out a good 8 inches before the door will open into the doorway to adjacent entryway. I think it has to do with the position or type of the hinges? I’m sick about it. It seems we have to either make that doorway bigger or buy another fridge ($2000!).

  • 2 years ago

    I have similar problem. Everything fit when we designed the kitchen but when I replaced the fridge the doors have a sharper angle edge and now scrape up against the wall. I only need a smidge more space so the will open to 90. Is it possible to just cut away the drywall in one section and patch it up somehow?

  • 2 years ago

    Context is key. Best bet to get advice is to post a floor plan, pictures and start your own post.

  • PRO
    2 years ago

    " Is it possible to just cut away the drywall in one section and patch it up somehow?"


    Yes, and I've done it. I replaced 1/2" drywall with 1/4" drywall to make a fridge fit.

  • PRO
    2 years ago

    You really need to post some pictures in order to get better help.

  • 2 years ago

    If all you need is a fraction of an inch or maybe at most just over an inch of extra space, then a good contractor frequently has several options that can be explored. As @Joseph Corlett said, sometimes the sheetrock can be replaced with different material. Or the studs can be turned 90°. Or maybe, you find that steel studs can be configured in a more compact fashion. Or maybe the wall can be moved over just a little bit without actually requiring any crazy amount of work. It all depends on the existing conditions.

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