I have always found the need for giant fridges in a country where grocery stores are everywhere never makse sense to me Right now I run a catering biz from my home so my fridge is bigger than i would even need for us. We are selling our home to move to anew city and no more catering so back to a nice European type fridge with just what we need . I shop almost everyday even for us so no need IMO for storing huge amounts ofanything on a daily basis .I like shopping everyday it is kind of fun and takes mayve 10 mins usually. BTW I dodo have a 36" range and double wall ovens and will probably go range and one wall oven in the new place because I will continue to entertain and cook

I’m still baffled by how people use huge fridges. sure if you have 4 growing kids you need space but otherwise… we are family of 3 and fridge is 17 cu ft. we don’t shop every day and eat lots of fresh veggies. if i had more space it would just mean more hidden wasted food. switching to a 36” cooktop was by far best thing we did in our reno!

@lharpie and @Patricia. Thank you! Would you please lmk what fridge brand and model worked for you? The last concern would be resale of house and if a family would reject our house based on the "small fridge." I'm thinking they could always add a 2nd fridge or freezer in the finished basement area or garage. We have solar, so the energy cost would be negligible. My DH is freaking out about this, but I just might win him over.

I have a full size fridge for two people. It's rarely full but I like not having to fit things in like a jigsaw puzzle. We also like to keep a variety of cold beverages in there so that takes up a bit of space. I had a 36" cooktop in my last house and I do miss that so I understand the desire for a 36" cooking appliance. It sounds like the small fridge would work for you. We recently bought a different home. A small fridge would have been a showstopper for me. Even the 36" counterdepth is a PITA. Fortunately there is an overflow fridge in the garage that we can use if needed, primarily when we have overnight guests.

We have a 17 cu ft. fridge (32" wide, counter depth) and the times we have trouble with its capacity are when we're trying to juggle large objects into it. If there's a gallon of milk occupying the top shelf, and I make a batch of chocolate mousse, I better not want to fit much else on the top shelf ... oh, and when the milk gets delivered, only 4 of the 6 bottles go in the main fridge; the other two are in the mini fridge. (We have milk delivered once a week ... the gallon is purchased after the delivered milk is finished before the next delivery ... sometimes I have to buy half gallons because there isn't room for the gallon.) We cook every day. We throw out very little ... usually it means a cooking experiement didn't come out right and neither of us liked it. I generally shop every few days.

The freezer is where we tend to miss the space ... the second mini fridge runs purely for its freezer. What's in the freezer you ask? Well, the main freezer has the normal stuff: ice cream, ice packs for injuries and lunch boxes, frozen fruit (generally used for baking or smoothies), homemade tomato/pepper sauce, homemade broth, those little appetizer things that are way too much work to make from scratch, butter, the extra pack of english muffins, more ice cream ... and maybe some eggos or something. The mini freezer holds the ice packs for coolers and more sauce and broth. We make broth every time we have a poultry carcass or a pile of beef bones, and we make sauce from our homegrown tomatoes and sweet peppers every summer; whatever isn't being used right away goes to the freezer. I suppose we could cut back on the ice cream ... though then we couldn't have a many flavor options.

@3katz4me and @BlueberryBundtcake Thank you both for those thoughts on the jigsaw puzzle image. I remember what that was like before we got our 28 cu ft fridge when we were in the thick of raising 3 kids. However, I may have to pick my battles and go with at least a 20 cu ft fridge that is 36" wide and counterdepth. DH does cook, so I can't always overrule! This means tossing out my favorite visual layout design, but that is also not the most functional layout design. I will maximize the visual with the most functional.

btw, the most functional design DOES have the 36" range too. I appreciate everyone's comments that makes it seem the 36" range is a good choice.

Where are the pictures of the kitchen with the current fridge? Are you remodeling? Where is THAT plan?

Post pictures and a jpeg with the dimensions of all......the whole kitchen.

Yes a 36 inch range is nice.......it also needs venting at 42 inches

Show the current and the PLAN: )

If you do not yet have a plan?

A kitchen begins with a hard measure of every wall, window , opening doorway, and a noting of where the openings lead. every foot and inch.

FWIW, we replaced a 28 cf standard fridge with a 20 cf counter depth fridge. It’s just the two of us at home now. We do have another fridge in the garage. I’d miss the extra freezer space the most without it.

Hi Jan - I will upload info! Thank you for taking a look! In real life, our fridge is located next to the DW and there is a door to the patio next to the fridge. The dining room patio slider is next to that single kitchen door, so we are going to frame out that door and slide the fridge over there. We are removing the walls to the LR and DR. This layout design shows a 27" double wall oven, but we are removing that and going with a 36" range and an undercounter MW. The home is a raised ranch built in 1960, with original and gorgeous white and red oak flooring from that era. We plan to carry that flooring into the kitchen. I will send more photos in a sec.

We've already moved the fridge in front of the single kitchen door to patio just to get some ideas. (As you can see, I'm not afraid of color. I tried to downplay the brown grout with that bright red/orange). The kitchen will be gutted. We keep trying to change the design, but realize this is a pretty functional design as is! We want more countertop for prep and storage and will get that with the island too.

IRL house layout. Rendering for electrical.

This rendering doesn't show the DW, for some reason.

Clean & Bright Kitchen Renovation · More Info

This is the Houzz photo of the layout I was hoping to achieve for looks, but the 36" fridge doesn't allow enough space for prep next to the range. We just need 4 more inches! grrrr.

However, having the fridge on the same wall as the sink and next to the DR, does have it's conveniences.

This maximized the window, but we realize this doesn't allow a convenient way to unload the dishwasher, so we are back to a smaller window and adding cabinetry next to the fridge, above the dishwasher. Also, there is nothing lovely or fun about this design, just makes me sad that this is how my kitchen would look.

Just my opinion, but I think that there should be some relationship between the size of a house, particularly the number of bedrooms or the amount of entertainment space and the refrigerator size. I have been home shopping of late and see homes with 6 burner stoves, double ovens, five or more bedrooms, extensive outdoor pool and patio space, massive dining rooms with tables for 10 … and a dinky fridge thats not large enough to hold a chilling turkey or a cookie sheet.

Kind of hard to see what you are doing?

I'd ask this.....The color rendering is a lot different than these cad.

Could you live with ONE oven if a 36" range? Put the micro as a drawer micro in the island?

Change fridge to SZ 30" left of sink?

On whole the color rendering looks busy on the top. Too much open : ) Not enough "order" : )

We have a 15 cu. ft., 30" counter depth Liebherr and it's fine for the two of us. We do not have an overflow fridge or freezer. We do not drink many chilled beverages, mostly some refillable water bottles. I could fill a bigger freezer, but don't need one.

In the islands we have a 15 cu. ft., 28" Haier, which also meets our needs. It's short on space for beverages if we're holding a big party, so we fill a cooler with ice.

I'd had a 29 cu ft fridge for years. (feeding 3 teen sons & I worked full time.) When it died 7 years ago, I learned modern fridge configurations are different now. Large standard fridges don't fit through our interior doorways anymore, even when the fridge doors are removed. So I bought a 23 cu ft counter depth model. I was prepared to hate it, but it's been surprisingly good.

The shelves are easy to reconfigure, so anything fits. It has better in-door storage. The bottom freezer is more capacious than it appears, as is the top freezer tray. There's a tilting cubby in the freezer door, perfect for butter or opened veggie bags. I do rearrange things a lot & transfer stuff into stackable Glad storage containers, but don't mind it. The fridge storage is much more efficient & flexible, & it's so much easier to keep clean than the cavernous, awkward big fridges of old.

We're empty nesters now, but have had adult kids move home periodically. Our son's family of 6 lived with us from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The 23 cu ft fridge did fine. Stuffed with food & holiday items, but there was room for it!

Patricia Colwell, very best of luck to you in your new life & location! I hope you'll love your new kitchen as much as your old one. (If not, & you end up redesigning your kitchen to your preferences, I hope you'll keep us posted about your design decisions!)

@JAN MOYER. Yes, color photo is different han the CAD drawings. I posted it just to show the variations we've been considering. I think the color photo is the layout that makes the most sense, but it is just so BLAH to me! Do you think doing the below design but with 36" fridge on far left of DW wall, with counter/cabinet inbetween fridge and DW would look good? Center the 36" range on the short wall? Or maybe do wood lowers and white uppers to create some interest? or all of the above? I'm driving everyone nuts with all my small changes, but it's important to get it right!

Clean & Bright Kitchen Renovation · More Info

Yes! I downsized to a Haier no ice maker or water (I only will drink bottled water) and love it. I do have an extra freezer in my garage which offloads bulk frozen

I went bigger, to make room when needed. Seems like it is full often. My concern would be for resale if it means a smaller frig for a larger family. In my own kitchen I set the cabinets away from the wall so I can get a 36 in standard (not counter depth) so the frig LOOKS like a built in. I also surveyed many frigs and left a extra inch of top room and back room to allow for future possible replacement. I found standard depths are less expensive for more room. So I am an outlier it seems.

I downsized to a GE counter depth French door fridge (17.5 cu ft) from a counter depth side by side fridge a few years ago. Just two in the household and it's been fine. I shop once a week.

The colored rendering is "blah" and but more than that? Cluttered!! . Who says you can't have color on the backsplash? What about a color on the cabinets? What I would NOT do is half and half top/bottom. Island in a different color? Fine!

Before you focus on that? Focus on the way you cook. WHAT you cook! How you entertain. Remember you will have the island for prep space.

A kitchen is both function and looks. I think you need more time prowling inspo pics!

I'm confused about what you are calling the "colored rendering". I think you are talking about a photo of my current kitchen where I've taken off the doors to several cabinets? Or are you talking about the Houzz photo of the kitchen with the sliding cabinet doors? I agree the current set up is too cluttered, so new design will have a lot less open shelves. The " blah rendering" I'm referring to is this.

Blah.

I was talking about the one with sliding upper doors and too many open shelves: )

Don't use an inspo unless....lol

THIS? Is simply a lack of great computer software!! It's allllllll b.r.o.w.n lol and the same shade! You make it exciting! there's nothing wrong with the layout

Aha! Thanks for clarifying! I've nailed down how we cook and where things need and the above "blah" layout is going to be it (almost). I plan to make the window smaller, slide the sink over to the right, and add a 30" cabinet to the right of the fridge to hold the dishes from DW. The range will slide over a bit to the right and won't be quite centered on that wall, but will allow more workspace to the left of the range which is closest to the sink (DH's request). Haven't decided about enclosing the hood or making it a statement piece. Thanks for your feedback!

@happyleg. It's a small kitchen, so sliding the range over a foot at the most. We are leaving 48 inches from range to island. Right now I'm feeling like everything is perfect, but we shall see!

The advantage, then, is we could fit a 36 inch range in.

Nope, nope, nopety-nope: I would not trade fridge space for a larger range. I rarely use more than two burners on my stovetop, and I can bake wedding cakes in my 30" oven. In contrast, I fairly often have a full refrigerator.

The freezer is where we tend to miss the space

Yes, I was going to say this same thing.

We are staying with a 36" fridge. Also fitting in the 36" range. It's a win-win!