It sounds like this is the best option given the footprint. A floor plan of the entire kitchen and adjacent areas is needed to make any other suggestions. Could the partition wall to the left of the fridge be pushed further into the adjacent room?

You could cheat the faucet over to the right as far as possible while still being functional.

We need to see the whole layout and IMO function always trumps every thing in kitchen design.I think builtin fridges ae a huge waste of money just get a nice counter depth one . I need to see the whole space so post here in a comment DO NOT start another post . There is IMO no way to answer this dilemma with alsmost zero context.

Side note from your main question: Is there a perpendicular wall to the left of the refrigerator? If so, make sure to check for conflicts between the door swing and the wall. Getting the door to just 90 degrees will work for day to day tasks, but a lot of refrigerators require the door to open beyond that point for the internal bins to be come out for cleaning, etc. If there is such a conflict, you may have to pull the entire frig out from time to time and then push it back, which may or may not deter you.

The wall to the left of the fridge will have to be cut back to counter-depth so the door will open correctly.

It appears this is being accounted for.

Thank you everyone. At least you have not said it is crazy. Inconvenient, for sure. But I do dislike every rendering of a hulking fridge on the opposite side of the room, essentially dividing a long narrow space in half.

Answers to some of your comments: I wish I could move the wall down, but it would then make the entrance to the kitchen too narrow. And yes, getting the faucet over as much as possible is also good. I plan to have a single-bowl sink and that will help. I have been doing comparisons of built-in v. counter-depth, and I'm having a hard time seeing much difference with how much the handles protrude into the space. I'll do more research on that.

Would you consider a 30” refrigerator? That might pick up some counter space to open up that corner (and there are single door option—-36” counter depths are only in French door at this point unless you do a built-in.) There are some taller 30” models that would give you similar space to a standard 36”.

Does the wall to the left of the fridge need to exist at all? If not, that would gain you four more inches.

Would it be helpful to have the fridge handle on the other side? If you are at the sink and you husband needs to get in the fridge, he may not need to fully open the door, thus keeping him and the door out of your space

I am waiting for the floor plan IMO we are just spitting out ideas with still no context.