You might have answered your own question. If what you have now works for your lifestyle, and you don’t care about esthetics, get something similar to what you have.

Function over form will suit your needs.

With a family of five and not shopping every week, I assume that means that when you do shop, you buy a lot. We are a family of four, and I am definitely aware of the reduced space in our counter-depth fridge. Pandemic shopping has made it a bit challenging, even though I do pick-up every week, because it's hard to fit a week's worth of groceries in there. Pre-pandemic, I did 2 medium sized shops a week, plus stopping here and there throughout the week, and it was fine. Compare the counter-depth cubic inches to what you have now, and you will probably have an answer.

I am stressing over the same question, and yesterday looked at the 3 and 4 door Bosch among others. I took pictures if you want to see. The shelves are SO shallow! I don't have one, but there is no way I'd consider it if husband wasn't so into aesthetics, and there are only two of us. I told him you couldn't put a pizza box in there, and THAT gave him pause!

Our nest is almost empty now, but we had 5 young kids when we bought our counter depth KA fridge... before we bought it we still needed an extra fridge in the garage, so that didn’t change with the counter depth fridge, we still needed that extra fridge. Back then I used to shop just once a week. As my crew became teens (I had 5 kids in 4.5 years, 3 of them were boys) I started needing to shop a couple of times a week and my counter depth fridge was still going strong, I still needed an extra fridge in the garage, and we also bought ourselves a chest freezer. Our youngest ones are 18 and will be moving out in 2 months... counter depth fridge is still going strong. I don’t regret buying it at all, but only the largest column built ins would’ve been large enough for our family through the years they were all teens. LOL! We couldn’t do those, so an extra fridge in the garage was the solution.

What we noticed that you can not put pizza in, you almost have to roll it. We have 70" wide and 46" deep refrigerator space, wish we could buy non-counter depth refrigerator columns. Sounds like a big waste.

Old house had a full size and new house (3 years old now) has a counter depth. We are a family of 4 and I cook regularly. The only thing i noticed right away is that things didn't get lost so easily. The size is ample enough. I've put ready to bake pizzas in it no problem.

Since covid I've realized that I need a garage fridge but that'd be true if it were full size. I'm buying in bulk more and have recently started doing some catering.

OP, sounds like you have the room for the full depth fridge and the need to maximize space. I'd go full depth and not look back. We are a family of 4 (kids are young) with counter depth. As other posters have said, it's nice having everything in view and nothing gets lost. But even with weekly shopping and a chest freezer, things are really tight with several gallons of milk and wrapped leftovers. It works, but we could use a few more square feet.

; Thanks, everyone, for the comments. To clarify, I wouldn't even be considering counter-depth, but so far, I've only found 1 Bosch model that is full size, and it doesn't have the features I want. (Don't necessarily NEED those, but it would be nice.) I also should have mentioned that I have an upright freezer in the pantry. Honestly, I don't need a refrigerator/freezer combo, but the refrigerator-only models seem to be either bottom or top of the line with nothing in between. I don't have a 2nd refrigerator, other than an undercabinet beverage fridge, but I have considered putting one in the garage.

I'm also not set on Bosch, but I'm trying to avoid the Whirlpool family since my existing KA is only 18 months old and started going bad at 15 months. It doesn't leave me many options; LG, Samsung, & Bosch are the ones that come to mind. I know there are higher-end options, but I'm trying to avoid those price tags, especially since the rest of my appliances aren't high-end.

I told him you couldn't put a pizza box in there, and THAT gave him pause!

LOL! That was the first thing my husband said when he looked inside the counter-depth fridge!

We have a kitchenaid counter depth and love it. We originally got a full depth during the reno and ended up not being able to recess it into the wall (pipes) so it went into our garage. We use the garage fridge for extra drinks and waters for guests and extra frozen foods. We also have a wine/beverage fridge in the kitchen for the kids drinks... and wine.

And do people really put take-out pizza boxes in their fridge? I never understood that. Wrap up each slide individually always, easier for reheating too. Frozen store bought pizzas fit fine.

I have the Frigidaire all fridge/all freezer counter depth combo and we love it! We get groceries once every 2-3 weeks since covid and bulk buy. The fridge stays organized and nothing gets lost in the back or gets tossed because we forgot. I only wish I had seen the Electrolux model with the longer handle bar before buying the Frigidaire.

I highly recommend switching to the all fridge since you have a freezer in the pantry.

I haven't had issues fitting pizza boxes into the fridge. Can you take an empty pizza box to a show room to try?

Wow! People end up with leftover pizza?!?!? :D That almost never happened in our family, LOL! (But when it did we wrapped up slices in tin foil)

@skmom lol - in our house we order a larger size just so there's some left over. Cold pizza the next day is the best.

"And do people really put take-out pizza boxes in their fridge? I never understood that. Wrap up each slide individually always, easier for reheating too. Frozen store bought pizzas fit fine."

@itsourcasa, if I bought or ate pizza I'd be happy to do that. I like to cook, and I'm having a tough time thinking about giving up the space. I like to think I'll be more efficient and there will be less waste. I'm hoping I won't hate it. Life is too short for that.

For folks who have a refrigerator in the garage, are there problems with that? I'm reading there can problems when it's too cold, but too hot is more likely to be a problem for us.

No you can't fit a pizza box in there, but how often are you putting an entire pizza in the fridge? When we have pizza leftovers, we wrap up the remaining pieces in foil and stack on a shelf. I agree with M and love that the shelves are shallower so that condiments and leftovers are not lost for weeks on end.

Actually, you might want to test the assumption that a pizza won't fit. I usually do the same, and repackage left over pizza. But there have been days when I felt particularly lazy and put the entire cardboard box into the Sub-Zero. If doesn't fit on all of the shelves. But there is at least one shelf where it will extend into space that is left available by the shelves in the door. So, it requires a little more careful arranging, but the one or two times a year that I want to store an entire uncut pizza, I can do so.

@nanelle_gw (usda 9/Sunset 14) we are in south florida so our garage gets very hot, no issues so far and mostly everyone we know has one in their garage down here. I cook and we eat a ton of fresh fruits and veggies, several dozen eggs at a time that are refrigerated. Never had an issue with space in the counter depth fridge, if I could I would choose more veggie drawers in the fridge but it's not a big deal to stack them on the shelves.

Please don't judge. Our stove was delivered last night and we celebrated with a pizza. Plus there's a half price special for 4 large pizzas. We have to support local businesses right?

It fits 14" boxes just fine.

We have a large family (although the kids are small) and we make do with one counter depth fridge. During the height of the quarantine when we were on a stay home order, we managed to go 3 weeks between grocery trips. Then, we were really stuffing every inch of it and relying more on pantry staples like pasta.

We find the drawer freezer to be more often full than the fridge, so with a separate freezer we wouldn't have any space issues at all. But, we drink a lot of water. Right now the only drink in the fridge is one bottle of beer. When we are prepping for a party (ah those were the days!) and we are trying to keep lots of drinks cold, the fridge is definitely tight.

We switched to a counter depth fridge three years ago and I wouldn’t go back. So much easier to organize and keep organized. Food doesn’t get lost and forgotten (and spoiled) at the back of the shelves like it did with our full depth.
We’ve always had a garage refrigerator and use it for large Costco sized containers (soy sauce, bbq sauce), cartons of milk, dozens of eggs, ponds of butter. And right now, trays of tomatoes from our garden that are awaiting processing (salsa anyone?).

@M (I can never tag you), I guess I'll have to try in my SZ. Thanks for that tip! LOL

I told him you couldn't put a pizza box in there, and THAT gave him pause!

LOL! That was the first thing my husband said when he looked inside the counter-depth fridge!

who has so much left over pizza that you need to store it in the fridge? :).

@pennfire, a my kids are young and only want cheese pizza, so we usually order 1 cheese and 1 “real” pizza. ;). Unlike teenagers, the younger kids don’t consistently finish the box and sometimes there is more than 1/2 pie left. When that happens, I’m usually feeling lazy and put the entire box in the fridge. When it is only a piece or two, I wrap or put in food storage container. not the end of the world if I had to wrap all the slices. However, we occasionally buy refrigerated pizzas at Sam’s to cook at home. They come in the same takeout boxthat the pizza chains use. In this case the box needs to fit.

FWIW, I was only joking about people having leftover pizza. ;) I’ve kind of just gotten through the stage where all 5 of my kids were teenagers, and when they and their friends were all over, if I wanted leftovers, I had to save some before the sharks got to it. LOL! Anyways, I didn’t want it to turn into some judgmental thing about whether one should save leftovers in the original box or in something else.

I think we're all pizza lovers and there's no wrong way to eat it or store it. LOL I always have left over pizza, clearly from my picture, and a few frozen pizzas in the freezers for emergencies. My husband and I like different toppings, thin vs thick crust... it's just easier to order separate pizzas and sometimes from separate places. Everyone should enjoy pizza night at our house. The left overs never last longer than a day or two so I don't bother packing it.

One thing about the counter depth fridge I forgot to mention. I limit condiments and jars to the door and I'll buy smaller jars for things we don't use up quickly. Yes, it's more expensive but so is tossing a barely used jar past it due date. I have a few friends who have their counter depth fridges filled with condiments and jars and they complain it's too small and they have no space for food.

I looked at counter depth fridges. Measured the actual glass area of the shelves and most wouldn't hold a large dinner plate of leftovers, never mind a pizza. Maybe you can squeeze things in but at the risk of blocking needed a need vent or air space and you are most likely overlapping the lip. I guess they would be ok for ingredients needed to make meals but forget storing a cake or large pie.

@wildchild2x2 unless you use 15" dinner plates (and also don't use food storage containers to store leftovers) and have massive oversized cakes and pies on the regular, that's just an untrue statement. We stored a half sheet cake last weekend just fine.

Also wanted to add, my KA counter depth fridge is a side by side... but it’s still a pretty large cubic volume... because it’s taller than most fridges. Sometimes that means the upper cabinets over the fridge need to be removed before it’ll fit. There are some items that I’ve not been able to fit in that fridge or freezer because they’re too wide with that side by side set up. In those cases I’m always glad that I still have my old school freezer over fridge in my garage.

@itsourcasa and @wildchild2x2, there seems to be a small but noticeable variation in the depth of the shelves that seems to be based on the size of the shelves in the refrigerator doors. The Bluestar seemed to have more deep shelves, and the Dacor and Bluestar may fit in a shorter space than the Bosch.m

I think this is the picture I took of the Bluestar

And the Dacor, which only seems to come with ice and water in the door. I was trying to avoid this.

I just went back to a full size from a counter depth. Many dishes couldn't fit, I could only use the door for milk, juice or a pitcher of water, the shelves were too short. Even something like a tall carton of heavy cream wouldn't fit. We are recessing the regular into the wall, we have re space for it, so it will be perfect.

I am curious to hear which brand fridge you had these problems with. I have encountered none of those issues with our SubZero. In fact, I love the form factor. So much space, and all of it is easily accessible. A all-fridge counter-depth model is IMHO the sweet spot for managing storage -- unfortunately, SubZero is quite pricey, and not everybody has the space for an all-fridge in addition to a separate freezer somewhere else.