I think you really limit yourself when replacement time comes. I know two families growing up who had the GE upper cabinet fridges both of which were inoperable, and neither kitchen had a spot for a conventional refrigerator.

This is what my husband said, about having a full-size fridge for resale purposes. We do intend do be in this home for long term (30+ years), but anything can happen. I am leaning towards a full-size, I just like the aesthetic and space-saving by having drawer fridges.

30+ years is nice planning, but we never know what 10 years down the road could bring so for the resale value plan to have dedicated space where you can add a full-size fridge so it can be added if it needs to be installed.

Good luck

My last kitchen had exact space for a 27" wide x 80 high Subzero. They had made this model for years when I selected it

.They now make a 30 or a 24 wide, but 84" high. If this fails and they no longer make repair parts, a major redesign will be necessary, whether the current owner wants one or not. Ideally try and design for flexible replacement.

I would want the full size frig, not the drawers. Keep your drawers for storage.

2K is a big sticking point. You'll end up paying 9K for the same amount of storage as in a standard fridge.

I am generally in favor of people remodeling to suit their needs but I think that what you are suggesting would be completely dysfunctional. I have moderate refrigeration needs and I would not want to go to a garage in order to get anything beyond drinks and bare minimum basics.

Typically those kinds of basic only refrigerators are in places where they serve as a convenience so that drinks and snacks are available in order to avoid trips to the kitchen - not to cause one to shlep stuff from the garage. Garage storage is generally for overflow - i.e. extra cold drinks or party stuff etc.

However I would say ultimately it would depend on whether a standard refrigerator could be installed relatively easily to replace the drawers (or elsewhere) in the *normal* position if needed.

I would also ask why you want to do this? When I remodeled my relatively small kitchen I realized that I didn't want my one wall of my galley kitchen to be dominated by two large stainless appliances - the refrigerator and dishwasher so I opted for paneled DW and refrigerator. Yes they are more costly but the end result in terms of aesthetics is exactly what I wanted and I was willing to pay for the purely aesthetic aspects of my choice.

My blue sky thing would be to have half height glass door refs above freezer drawers - say two pairs of 30" ones. AND a like 24" overflo ref somewhere. I have no logical reason for why this feels delightful to me.

If I tried all drawers, soda and milks would be an entire drawer! I wouldn't be able to see which milk I was grabbing until I got it most of the way out. Thank the gods, I have neither the kitchen size nor the money.

I agree that this seems like a much better idea in principle than in practice. If you currently have that other fridge in the garage - do a little test month where you ONLY keep what would fit/be usable in your drawer fridges in your main fridge now, and then EVERYTHING ELSE in the garage and see if it works the way you "drew it up".

If it really is a good option for you and your family, then I would be sure to plan your space with an easy to swap out 36" high pantry cabinet or the like. That way when life happens over the next 30 years (and odds are good it will) and you don't end up keeping the drawers forever - either because you move, they die and are no longer made, or your eating habits / needs change significantly, or you need to pivot for some other of a hundred other random reasons - you have an easy option to add in a "conventional" fridge.