I know some people love that exterior dispenser, but I agree with bytheriver, I would never choose to install one in my kitchen. Even though I would rarely use it, I would be the one cleaning the drips/spots created by others in the house. I try to design around the behavior of others in the house, so that it produces the least amount of work and irritation for me!

Personally I hate 48" side by side designs. That freezer side is still too narrow.

I have subzero and I am happy with the brand (36" fridge and 24" freezer columns). We have the inside water dispenser.

@bytheriverbank, the sub zeros now have the ice and water dispensers inside the fridge.

I am also doing NO water or ice in the fridge. Sub-Zero for sure. There are cheaper brands, but I like the Sub-Zero design the best and feel confident it will last me a long time. I am doing a 36 inch all fridge and still deciding on a 18 or 24 inch all freezer.

What are your thoughts on two 36 and separating the fridge and freezer. It looks like that may be our best option since 48 or 60 don’t fit in the space.

Oops 60 doesn’t fit and 48 is too small. I’m just trying to figure out if I can get used to a fridge and freezer not together.

Last house had stainless Subzero 48 inch side by side. No issues with reliability. The stainless was a bit of an issue to keep clean. This house we went with 2 30 inch columns with paneled doors (also subzero). They have the inside ice and water dispensers. The ice is great. The water is annoying. It is too slow and the whole time you have the door open. We switched to Britas that we keep in a nearby fridge drawer that has a faucet right above. The faucet is filtered so we can just use a pitcher.

Through the door water and ice is generally not very reliable and the ice can be a mess. Subzero's solution isn't perfect either.

I would do panels every single time. Life is too short to worry about cleaning stainless. Our dishwasher is stainless and that is fine. So are a few other things but the fridge is massive. Also a massive piece of stainless is really starting to look dated - or at least not as elegant as an integrated solution.

We have 60 inches now for our family of 3 because the 48 SxS is a little narrow on the freezer particularly. And we don't eat frozen pizzas. This appliance choice is one of our favorites.

Second would be the Bluestar range but the oven on the gas only is slow to preheat and does not cook evenly. The range is fantastic. The griddle is fantastic. But the ovens - not great. Last time we had a Wolf - boy I do not miss the electronic fan on that one (it was a Dual Fuel).

Don't get a microwave drawer! I have no patience for the beeps if you don't get it out right away and no patience for waiting for the drawer to open and close. It also is not very powerful and heats unevenly. Last house had a $300 Sharp (because they are all Sharps) and we loved it. We will probably rip the drawer out despite having to redo some cabinets.

Lone voice in the woods, but we've had Thermador columns for over 12 years and they've been excellent, except for reliability of ice maker (not through the door). But performance is certainly the equal of a SZ, and fully integrated panel look is awesome. But the SZ is the easy/low risk choice.

But... DON"T GET THE VENT A HOOD! I implore you to do some research on this forum on ventilation. VAH is one of the great scams of the appliance industry. They are loud and perform miserably, especially when compared with better-engineered alternatives at the same price point. Seriously, just start reading threads on this forum, understand the issue fully, and don't listen to the slick sales person at the appliance store.

David Cary - 48 Inches is too small for a family of 3?! How much do you eat?!?!

Jar G - read more carefully. David Cary said the side-by-side was too narrow. This is a problem with the SxS configuration. Plenty of vertical storage and plenty of cubic feet. But you can’t fit a pizza in the freezer or a big baking dish of lasagna or manicotti (which is what I like to freeze). I end up having to cut the lasagna up into pieces and store it that way, but for manicotti doing that totally messes it up. Also, at holiday time, it gets really hard to have in a SxS a big turkey and casseroles and all the other foods you will be cooking over the holiday. They can fit volume-wise, but not width-wise. Don’t jump on David Cary cause you didn’t read correctly what he said.

@clinresga what vent inserts do you suggest? I was going to get vent a hood for my 36 inch gas wolf range.

Based on my experience (we have a VAH in one house, and a high end hood with remote blower in attic in the other) and also the cumulative wisdom of the posters on these forums, I'd argue that VAH hoods are

1. expensive
2. extremely noisy
3. underperformers (the notion that they perform 150% better than other hoods with same cfm rating is bunk)
4. a pain to clean (nasty, bulky fan housings that have to be hand-washed, squirrel cage blowers that cannot be removed to clean in any reasonable way)

A high end range like you are contemplating will need adequate ventilation. In brief, try to ensure that you can run adequate ductwork to exhaust the hood, ideally with 10" ducting. Strong preference for baffled hoods, rather than mesh filters--better performance, easy to clean.

Search the Appliance and Kitchen forums for discussions. Here's a very recent one:

Need Help Choosing a Range Hood Brand/Style (Zephyr, XO, Elica, ZLine)

If you want to get deep into the weeds, look at Hood FAQ: of note is the initial description of the OP's disappointment with his/her VAH.

Once you have specific ideas of what you need, post a new thread here and hope that Kaseki and Opaone are watching. They will give you great advice.

I have a 48" Subzero side-by-side with water/ice in the door.

Fridge is great with dual compressors. Ice and water work great, the only way it spills is if you choose to not put your cup under the dispenser and miss. Ice speed/volume is a ton better than "builder grade" units of course. I hate the "ice is in the freezer" models because everyone always ends up contaminating the ice - especially kids.

Personally I prefer the side-by-side. Yes the freezer is a little narrow, but I hate french door freezers because they're deep and it's too easy to bury items. Either way, every freezer I've ever had was "too small" for me so I always have a basement deep freeze anyway, so visibility/convenience is more important to me

Fridge width on french door models are super convenient IMO so I wouldn't buy a side-by-side unless if it was 48"

Remember that build ins hold much less than standard depth freestanding fridges. A built in 48 holds less than a standard 36” french door. With poorer organization too. Separate larger units are the way to go.

It’s no problem to just have an all fridge in the kitchen itself, and an all freezer in the adjacent pantry. It cuts down in frozen convenience food use. And ice cream consumption. When frozen food is needed to prepare, “shopping” for the green beans and chicken breasts isn’t a chore. Especially if the canned tomatoes are on the shelf next to them.

I suppose the question is not how much we eat but how much we cook.

Blame Costco. Blame Covid. Blame not wanting to have a freezer some place else.

I understand we have too much freezer (and fridge space). It is a luxury. The OP is building a $40k appliance package so nothing practical or value choice in that.

As far as Thermador vs Subzero - Thermador is probably more popular around my area. I believe you save $50 which for a $15k purchase is not a big deal. So I didn't consider Subzero as the default/easy choice. I can't remember why, but we considered both and went with the Subzero. Not saying it is any better but to each his/her own.

Thermador makes great columns. So does Subzero. The cost is very similar.

Personally, we have a remote blower Viking hood.

So I have had a side by side with water and ice in the door for 30 years and use it multiple times daily. So having water and ice in the door is a must. I have never owned a counter depth refrigerator but knew I needed a bigger one than 36” but I have only been able to find them in a 48” sxs or 18” freezer column. After comparing the cubic ft of them against a non-counter depth French door, the FD has more room than the 48”. Since we are building new I have decided to just set the wall back behind the French door so that it will look like a counter depth but have the size we want. I forgot to mention that I will have a separate upright freezer and a top mount freezer refrigerator in the hidden pantry beside my main refrigerator. We plan to keep the everyday stuff in the 36” and all the overflow from Sams in the other freezer and refrigerator in the pantry. We like the width of the fridge on the FD but we know we will have to adjust to having to dig through the baskets in the freezer. Also the new French door refrigerators have dual ice makers. One that makes cube ice for the door and a special one in the freezer drawer that makes craft ice balls. No molds!
I’m going to look at those post about the hoods. I know I don’t want one with a blower up high in the duct because that allows grease to gather in the duct. I can deal with some noise to avoid a fire hazard. I am more about function than style. I’m tired of how hot my kitchen gets now on my small stove 30” stove with a ducted vent hood. I can’t imagine what it would be like with a 48” range with high output burners.