If I had a dollar for every fridge that sticks out too far...

What does the contractor say? Is it not within his scope of work to make this right?

Is this a true built-in fridge, like Sub Zero…or what’s known as counter depth? Because, despite it’s name, a counter depth fridge will not sit flush to the cabinetry.

Removing the drywall is a fairly common solution. Because of strict air flow requirements, you may actually have to flush up the drywall (run it between the studs instead of over the studs).

Please provide the brand and model number of the fridge, and a photo showing how it sticks out. Photo should not be too close up - we need to see what is going on. Without photos and which fridge model you have, we are just throwing darts in the dark. As @sheloveslayouts alluded to, there are hundreds of posts on this forum with your complaint of fridge sticking out, and a dozen different reasons why they are sticking out. It depends on several different things, so please give us more information.

Sorry I didn’t include all that detail to begin with- yes, it’s a true sub-zero. I’ll attach a picture. It’s a Fisher Paykel panel ready fridge. Thank you 🙏

It probably sticks out around .5 - .75 inches when is pushed back as far as it can go.

Our contractors… well… let’s say we are waiting on them for a number of fixes. I’m starting to just do my own research now to see what our options are.

K Merritt, I don't have a solution for you - I'm just a poor, lost soul who has been reading manuals trying to understand how the fridge models work. But I just wanted to add that you might want to provide the model number for your Fisher Paykel. I seem to recall from my recent delving that F-P makes more than one integrated refrigerator size. I saved links to three manuals, so I know there's at least this many:

https://assets.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/itemdocs/RS36A72J1_N_Installation_Guide.pdf

https://assets.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/itemdocs/RS3084WRU1-InstallGuide.pdf

https://assets.ajmadison.com/ajmadison/itemdocs/RS36W80RJ1N-InstallGuide.pdf

They all seem to specify a 25" deep cavity.

I had this happen as well and was so pissed to have dropped 10 grand on buit-in fridge to have it be off by 3/4 of an inch. I honestly can't remember what we did to get it flush. We lived in an old house and the walls were plaster and crooked so we must have just jimmied some space somewhere.

Can you have them remake the panel that goes alongside the fridge so it has enough depth to cover the white strip of the fridge and be flush with the front doors? It is the white strip that is really bothersome. Although I completely feel your pain of the fridge itself not being 100% aligned with the counter, I don't think it will be obvious so long as the white strip disappears.

Any chance the cord / outlet placement be bumping the fridge out an extra half inch?

Pretty much the only choices are to make the hole bigger or the fridge smaller. Anything sticking out on the back of the fridge that can be taken off? If not you''re left with wall surgery.

Not an unusual problem when trying to make an appliance look like a cabinet. When you let an appliance be an appliance you have much more wiggle room.

Not an unusual problem when trying to make an appliance look like a cabinet. When you let an appliance be an appliance you have much more wiggle room.

Why stop there? Why even bother with nice cabinets in a kitchen since it is a workspace...when you let workspaces be workspaces you have much more wiggle room.

You could literally make this same argument with every aesthetic decision you make in your life, from the color of your car, to the color of your clothes, to your hairstyle, then to almost everything in your house that has any coloring or decorative purpose. This is just the standard version of deciding something shouldn't be important to anyone because it isn't important to you.

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This is not an unusual problem when kitchens are designed without referring to the appliance manuals regardless of whether or not you are trying to let appliances be appliances. Fortunately, the solution to this problem is typically pretty easy and so it is not a big deal. Were the width wrong that would be a whole different problem.

Thanks so much for the comments, really helpful!

Kristin Petro our fridge doors open forward (not sure if that’s how to describe it) but they won’t hit the counter. Did you mean replace the wood panels on the fridge with a flatter panel?

@kendra I’m sorry you had that frustration too!

The end panels need to be replaced. These are the panels on the sides of the refrigerator. They should be about 25.5" deep ending flush with the countertop. So you are bringing the end panels out, not pushing the refrigerator in.

Replace the side panels next to the cabinets. They need to come to the end of the counter. Your builder put up the panels that go with a freestanding regular frig.

Oh wow okay I see what you mean (I think!)

But won’t the fridge then stick out farther than the cabinets above the fridge?

That cabinet need to be out also.

Oh wait, I understand now- so the area that I put the red Exxon, that is actually part of the cabinet tree, not the refrigerator.

• red X

Sorry, Siri can’t spell. What I was trying to say, is that the side of the refrigerator, where I marked with an X, is part of the cabinetry not attached to the fridge.

Yes, The handles will still be out, but you won't see the unfinished side. I don't have one of the built in, but my son does.

The cabinet above the refrigerator should be pulled out too.

Ok gotcha. I’m tracking now. Thanks so much!

Like this...

My SIL had the same issue with a very expensive kitchen re-do. Her contractor caught it early, and cut into the wall that was shared with the garage. Her refrigerator is perfectly flush. She lost a bank of storage cabinets that were built into the garage.

Was it worth it? For that fraction of an inch, I don't think I would have insisted. I'd have seen the issue for a couple of weeks, gotten used to it, put it behind me and probably never noticed it again. But that's me, you'll have to decide what its worth to you. Little adjustment of the end of counter panels might do it, but please understand. There is no one who will ever be in your kitchen who will notice this perceived flaw as it is now.

That is a beautiful fridge Kristin Petro- how I wanted ours to look exactly!!

Charles, agree completely. I wish our contractor shared that philosophy l.

That is a very long story. We did a complete kitchen remodel- knocked a wall down, everything rebuilt. Our contractor used a subcontractor for the cabinets. Our project was ‘finished’ about 4-5 weeks ago, and since then we’ve had drawer faces come loose, a drawer pull fall off, a piece of wood under the dishwasher just fell off one day (wasn’t attached), and on and on. We have had them come back multiple times to address issues as they come up. We feel at this point the main contractor should send someone out to do a complete inspection of all of the cabinetry, as it’s clear the subcontractor did not install properly at all.

I would welcome any recommendations for how we could deal with this. We are really at our wits end.

Sorry for what you're going through. That does sound like a really poor cabinet install. I hope your contractor makes it all right. Just wanted to add, make sure you have (or order) a filler piece. It looks like your fridge is at the end of the cabinetry run. So if you pull the cabinet above the fridge forward, you will have a gap between the cabinet and wall on one side. Check whether you will need new crown molding pieces as well.

Mcarroll16, thank you. Great points.

Thank you. Agree the GC should be holding their feet to the fire.

We don't have enough information to ascertain whether this was designer or contractor error. If the person taking the measurements failed to place a level against the wall and the wall was out of plumb, the room was actualy 1/2" shorter than the floor measurement indicated.

And while "drawer faces come loose, a drawer pull fall off, a piece of wood under the dishwasher just fell" are an inconvenience, they certainly fall under the catagory of normal punchlist items.

I'm all for getting to the bottom of who's at fault, but I'm also quite tired of manufactures and contractors getting the blame for problems beyond their control or that were created by others.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC said, "We don't have enough information to ascertain whether this was designer or contractor error."

Why not? The required 25" depth is fairly standard for most major built-in refrigerator brands. If the contractor knew the homeowner intended to use a built-in refrigerator, something that seems pretty likely, then it was their duty to know it required 25" of depth. The designer and/or installer might also be at fault for this, but which one is most responsible doesn't change the fact that any of the three should know this.

That's a bummer.

I'm wondering if the installer did this on site, so the fridge right door hinge would open.

You can try putting a book or piece of wood up against the fridge door space exposed

(area shown in blue) to test if a deeper panel will allow the door to open as is.

If it does, great! Then a deeper panel & pulling cabinets around friidge forward to be flush will work.

If it does not open, then it will need another solution.

Ugh, I'm sorry. This same thing is happening to us right now too. Our team designed the cabinets for a standard installation instead of a flush paneled installation. They're blaming the appliance company who measured, but I wonder why no one double checked the dimensions. Our range sticks out too far also. Anyway, what they're going to do next week is cut out the wall behind the fridge, rebuild the area behind it with solid framing, possibly move the plumbing, and scoot the fridge back. We did several mockups to confirm that the doors will still open beyond 90 degrees. Beyond frustrating that an expensive appliance that we waited more than a year for doesn't fit. But they are going to make it right. I'll be interested to see how yours turns out--hope it goes smoothly!

Stiley, I'm sorry that happened to you. Please pardon my curiousity--why the wall rebuild, instead of ordering new side panels for the fridge? Is rebuilding the wall and moving plumbing actually cheaper than a new fridge surround?

I recently worked with Fisher and Paykel appliances on a job and their specs are very convoluted. One of the worst brands for clear and concise specs. Their quick specs indicate a required depth of 23.75". But it's only when you look into the more detailed specs (that you have to search their site for) that you see this dimension is less the panel. It's generally the kitchen designer's job to know this, not the contractors. The kitchen designer would also have to know to order the cabinet above the refrigerator deeper or fur out the wall behind a standard depth cabinet. But an experienced contractor should have questioned it during install when they saw the fit of the appliance.

@mcarroll16 our fridge is in the middle of a wall of cabinetry, so unfortunately we can't do new side panels. We can rebuild the cabinetry wall or move the fridge back. As frustrating as all these cabinet mistakes are, we paid a fixed fee for our remodel and our design/build firm is fixing everything. So how much it costs doesn't affect us. :) Just the inconvenience of living with this fridge for three months plus doing another construction project around the holidays.

Ah, yes, that is complicated. Glad that your contractor is fixing this for you!

In my previous house I had very detailed KD and GC. Integrated SZ 24" freezer and 36' fridge columns.

In the house we built last year I didn't want/need to spend as much on fridges, so I went with the SZ 42" FD, which is not fully integrated, so you don't get as tight a fit, but I still wanted that built-in look. The FD model in general is not as tight a fit, because of the way the two doors meet and close in the middle. Old photo and toe kick under fridge was still missing!

K Merritt,

No, not more mistakes! I remember your other thread. ☹️

My first thought, like others, was the panels were ordered too short. Pretty sure that is the KD’s fault, not the contractor or installer.

But if I remember correctly, you are dealing with an all in one type design/build company. And the head honcho is a complete jerk. Sorry you are still dealing with this mess.

Chipsa, omg both kitchens are stunning! But that wood fridge / freezer is the prettiest I have ever seen, and I look at lots of kitchens 😆 on here. I would never had guessed it was anything but a gorgeous custome built armoire!

Thanks Rebunky! The Ribbon Mahogany really helps with that furniture look. When I did the kitchen it was the first wood stained kitchen the KD had done in 8 years! Most of his customers were doing white kitchens in Los Angeles. The house was Spanish style and white would have been too bright/stark for that particular house.

I went with white in the new house because my 2 previous houses had stained cabinets and I was ready for a change!

Oh… I would be so mad/disappointed/whatever - but that’s just not right and I sure hope you get a resolution to make it right!

Resurrecting a dead post. K Merritt, did this ever get resolved? We have pretty much the same issue...

@Steven Constantino, it isn't rocket science!

You just need the side panels to be deep enough to cover the side edge of the fridge doors/drawers, which will be deeper than a standard cabinet and counter. The upper cabinet will need to be pulled out, or built deeper, to sit flush at the top.