I have the Summit 28". The shelves do not slope even a bit. That said, I seriously considered the Blomberg... it seemed more substantial, somehow. But I spent $1000 less and I love my fridge.

This is my fridge, still wrapped in plastic.

I'm also looking at narrow tall fridges, and like yebo I'm considering the Summit 28" and Fagor 24", as well as the new GE 24" (GBC12IAX, unfortunately not EnergyStar rated). I really like the size, price and look of the Summit (and thanks for the great photo Becca) but it makes me nervous that I can't find a dimension spec sheet or installation guide anywhere. I even contacted Summit and they said they didn't have any documentation to send me. They did tell me that I would need 1.5" clearance space on each side, the back, and top for ventilation, which seems like a lot of ventilation room. Becca, did you allow that much clearance?

My fridge would go next to a wall so I'm also trying to figure out how thick the door is, and how much clearance space (i.e. cabinet filler panel) I'll need on the hinge side to allow the door to open completely. No showroom in my area has this model on the floor...
Thanks in advance for any info!

yebo, those comments on other sites were (n my evaluation) written by phonies who would say anything just to create doubt, to tarnish the name. There is no possibility that shelves could be anything other than horizontal...

lushkalo, if it's any help, consider this: the Danish (Vestfrost) make great fridges but don't write much in any language. I browsed the Danish language web site and found almost no PDFs or written information. Summit would spend a fortune compensating for this if they started to write a lot of original material.

The first three mentioned above are good fridges. The GE probably is, too. (I don't know much about it).

-david

I realize that noise is a major issue for me. A number of postings on Summit comment it's noisy, though others say no and there are lots more posts on the Summit, period.
Any experiences or sources of info on Blomberg and Fagor for noise?
And - as far as I can figure, all 3 are now frost-free. Some info. says the Blomberg is "semi frost free" some that it's frostfree. Any solid info on this?

I disagree with David, I think those people's fridges just aren't level!

I do have the side clearance but it's an accident. I was supposed to have a 30" wide fridge and left the space for it. Unfortunately, it had to be pushed further forward than I thought and didn't have enough front clearance to open 90 degrees. So I sold it on Craigslist (store wouldn't take it back) and bought the Summit. The original, a Frigidaire, was really noisy. The Summit isn't noisy at all and my kitchen opens into the LR/DR in my small apartment, so this is important to me.

WRT to the top clearance, you can see it is slightly curved so you're going to get that no matter what.

Are you in the Northeast? Major cities with small apartments probably are the best bet for seeing them on the sales floor. In NYC where I am, they are even at Home Depot.

Your two questions are the same as my 2 big questions so I'll give you what I have learned in my search for the ideal fridge.

1. Fagor definitely makes lots of little weird noises that they describe in their Use and Care Guide as normal for the fridge. It's available in PDF on the web. Another GW post mentioned these noises yesterday, here or in kitchens.

2. The three larger Blombergs are half-half (that is my term for it). The Freezer is Frost Free (which suits me fine) and the top portion (Fridge) is Static Cool (which I love) and that is definitely not Frost-Free. Your fresh produce lasts longer. Frost-Free circulates air which dries out all your stuff, and the Frost-Free proces removes humidity from the air which then dries your stuff out even more, continuosly for ever and ever. If you are willing to spend thousands more, you would get a fridge that managed to be both Frost-Free and not dry your produce too fast. Static cool keeps humidity high in the fridge portion. Air does not get mixed with the Freezer air. This is good. I can't explain how it helps reduce bacterial growth ("rot") but it does have a positive impact there too, so things stay good longer.

Summit has a lot of models, that often seem almost the same.
Some Summit Fridges are Frost-Free, some are Static Cool, some are Automatic Defost (this doesn't mean you 'defrost' them...)
Some Summit Freezers are Frost-Free, some are Manual Defost.
Some models may be semi frostfree like the Blomberg...
(In fact, they may come from the same factory).
They have a lot of options, but not in 27.5" or 28" wide.
I would check to see if the 28" Summit you are looking at is the same internally as the Blomberg.
Email to Mark AT summitappliance (.com) and he will answer a day or two later.
He is a high level guy who you might get transferred to if you called and went through a hundred questions.
Often the tech support people can give you a first level answer but not any more information.

HTH
-david

Oh, by the way! You should know that my cabs on that side are 23". So yours will probably be more flush if you have standard size.

Thanks for all of the info! I'll try emailing Mark at Summit next week. Glad to hear that the Summit is quiet -- I also have an open plan.

And I'm in San Francisco; the local appliance people who I've called will order a Summit for me but don't keep them on the floor, unfortunately (and surprisingly)... If anyone's seen the 27.75"-wide Summit (FFBF285SS) in a Bay Area store, please let me know -- thanks!

I forgot Summit has a 28". I shouldn't round, mine is the 27.5" one you mentioned, FFBF285SS.

Also, I am looking through the manual and don't see anything about 1.5" clearances. Just, "make sure sufficient room is provided around the appliance to ensure free air circulation."

What about Amana? I just found that Amana ABL1922FES is 29.63 wide. Bottom freezer, stainless. What appeals - it's predictable US brand -- and bigger.

If you're going for a regular depth, there are plenty of 28" and 30" choices. GE, Frigidaire, Amana... several big brands have them.

yebo and lushkaloo: we've had our Summit (the 30" wide CD model, 15.8 cf) for about three months now. We are pretty satisfied with it overall. The temperature does seem to fluctuate a bit, and we have to be careful where we stash vegetables in the refrigerator section (we have lost some lettuce leaves to freezing). But it is very quiet, the size is perfect for our space, and it stays sufficiently cold. It is frost free, no icemaker (though you can get it with an icemaker).

We did call for service RE the freezer temperature after we'd had it about a month, and had a rather odd experience: The manufacturer gave us a service place to call, and a guy came out and declared that the compressor was dying and that they would replace with a new refrigerator. A couple weeks later, delivery showed up, but after they wheeled our unit out the door, they noticed that the new one was damaged (it had a big dent in the door). They tried to switch the doors but couldn't get that to work, so we refused delivery and they brought the old refrigerator back in the house.

We decided we'd just wait and see; if it fails, we'll call them again and hash it out. However, it's been working fine (as described above). Maybe it just needed a little scare :)

Our problem with this whole refrigerator purchase was that we need a CD to fit in our space. I did a lot of research before we bought this, and it was the least expensive CD model I could find that wasn't an LG or an Amana (I refuse to buy an LG because they have so many reported problems, and we hated our old Amana, which died after 8 very noisy years). The big name brands were all $2,000 and up. This was less than half of that, including delivery. It is probably too small for some, but as I said, the size is just right for us.

HTH