The peeling, spotting and streaking is a concern with any brand when they use "fingerprint-resistant stainless steel" or what is called "easyclean stainless steel". That issue is not confined to Bosch. Evidently whatever is that coating to create "fingerprint resistance" is not stable and will peel, spot and streak, and those spots and streaks do not come off. What you want is regular, actual, stainless steel. I don't know if all the Bosch refrigerators have that fingerprint-resistant stainless steel. If they do, then look at Thermador which perhaps has refrigerators with actual stainless steel. Or any other brand refrigerators that do not have the fingerprint-resistant stainless steel.

If you go on the Abt dot com website, it allows you to sort counterdepth refrigerators for finish of just "stainless steel". Do not sort for any of the other varieties of stainless steel that they have listed for choices for color. You can also sort for no water in the door (under "external dispenser"), and of course the size.

Check out Fisher & Paykel refrigerators. Though I do not have one myself, I have heard good things about them.

I have the Bosch 800 series counter depth from 2017. Never had any issues with the finish. I did buy from Bosch a SS Conditioner and it along with Dawn dish soap are the only things I use on it. Actually I use the SS Conditioner on all my Bosch appliances. As for how well it works, it is a great refrigerator. Keeps food at correct temperature and the drawers are really good. My vegetables and fruit (especially berries) seem to last longer than my previous refrigerator.

We have the same model as Toni—so far so good, though it’s only a year old. Also looked at and really liked the Fisher & Paykel but didn’t like the interior design as much and it was more expensive at the time. The only finish issue so far is that a kid dragged a magnet against it and it scratched, but I don't think I can fault Bosch for that! We are very careful only to clean with soap and water (per manual) because of the finish concerns reported here and elsewhere, though. To date that seems to work fine, though some didn’t have issues until several years in.

"Would it be worth $1500 for the Thermador to avoid any potential issues?"

Actually, it's $1850 as shown in this table that compares the Bosch B36CT80SNS, B36CT81ENS, and Thermador T36FT810NS.

Thanks, all. My husband and I both work a ton - so reality is that the only person who will be cleaning this fridge is our once-every-two-week housecleaner. Because we're outsourcing, it's inevitable that someone is going to use the wrong product on the fridge a handful of times over 15 years. I'm sure someone is going to scoff that I should do my own cleaning... but it's just not realistic. I wonder how many cleans with the wrong product cause the peeling issue?

I checked Thermador and it's not clear whether they have fingerprint resistant finish or true stainless. But with that said, even the Bosch webpage uses super vague language. I'll just have to do deeper digging. I think it might be worth the extra $$ if I eliminate the future issue.

I really like the look of the F&P fridge, so thanks for that rec. The only issue is that, on the F&P webpage, one of the handful of reviews complained about slow icemaking. I never even thought about that, so started down that rabbithole: Apparently, Bosch has the faster icemaker of all fridges with something like 80-120 cubes a day, while F&P churns out 8 cubes every 4 hours. My husband works from home and drinks more water with ice than anyone on earth. He probably grabs a fistfull of ice every hour. So I don't think F&P would serve us well. I'm now trying to determine if the Thermador fridge has the same fast ice maker as Bosch.....

Fridges should not be this hard!

Thanks wdccruise. Way to blame the customer for trying to do their research! I'd say having to look at the spec sheet of each individual Bosch fridge to get info regarding whether the fridge has a fatal flaw is "hard". That's why I said I'd have to do "deeper digging". The easy answer is designing a fridge that doesn't peel when you use standard cleaning supplies on it, so it's not on the customer to track down this info.

Classic gardenweb!

“Kitchenaid - but I don't like the grooved handles.”

It seems like Kitchenaid hits your checklist. And the grooved handles - seriously, with your other requirements, the handles are not a big deal. I cannot for the life of me recall what any of our kitchen appliances handles look like. I’ll have to go in the kitchen to check. Can you recall your appliances handles without going into the kitchen to see them?

The most popular frig in Japan is a Hitachi. We need quality products here.

We are also looking at the Bosch 800 counterdepth and Thermador equivalent. The peeling issue is really annoying and in a perfect world, they'd allow you to get it without the coating (I don't want it). Note that adt dot com DOES NOT allow you to search for fridges without the fingerprint coating - you can search plain stainless or stainless with coating and that frst category includes the second (I guess you could write both lists down and see what's in the first that isn't in the second, but who knows if this is accurate). We really need a consumer advocacy organization that had some clout and could listen to common sense consumers and get producers to listen to us.

Refrigerators are supposed to last decades (at least 2, preferably 3). Fingerprints can always be dealt with, no coating is required. Peeling coating cannot necessarily be dealt with at all.

I have been in a appliance showroom where they had a number brands, including KitchenAid and Jenn air refrigerators. When you look at photographs of the handles of these two, they both appear to have grooves. The “rise“ collection of Jennair line has some sort of laser cut grooves that they taut in their marketing. Some people like them, but I find those grooves a bit scruffy when pulling on the handle. However, fortunately, the KitchenAid handles, while they appear to have grooves, are very smooth and only have a very light texture to them. Tactile experience is extremely subjective just like so many other things in design and so it’s always a good idea to see in person whatever you are looking at no matter what the brand is and Explore by touching and feeling surfaces, pulling out drawers, etc., so you can get an actual sense of what it would be like to own such an item.

FWIW, we’re just about at the two-year mark and so far so good with our four-door Bosch 800. The only finish issue we’ve had is that when powerful magnets are dragged across it, the stainless steel scratches—but I‘d call that user error! I have a few other things that I find irritating about it (including the flimsy wide drawer) but none that are dealbreakers.