I don't know where the entrance to the kitchen is, but I think if the majority of the time you are looking head on at the frig it will be ok. Obviously counter depth will look sleeker, but you do lose a lot of space. Can you recess the frig into the wall at all. You could pick up a couple of inches that way.

One other thing I did notice is that your aisles between perimeter and island are huge. They may almost be too big. There's a current thread going on about the distance between aisle and counter. Max recommendation is 48" in most cases.

Here is a link that might be useful: Distance between Island and Counter

We just did an extensive remodel in our kitchen with floor tile, granite, relocating island, new appliances. The fridge my wife wanted was a French door, bottom freezer Samsung. It sticks out about 8" and I told my wife if it bothers her we can pay more for the counter depth. Her reply was, "I love this fridge, if we did that, we would have a much smaller fridge. I guess it's a choice between wanting more space in the fridge or your kitchen. We are both happy with our choice.

With many decisions during a remodel, I would ask myself, is appearance or function most important? Is it most important being happiest when working and living in the kitchen or when looking at it from another room or in a pic?

We strive for both, but often a compromise must be made and by asking yourself a few questions, usually a solution can be reached. Good luck

I will also have approximately 8" protruding from opposite base cabinet distance.

Just wondering, bignich, do you have cabinetry around your refrigerator; if so, how far out does it come on your refrigerator? My kitchen cabinet lady is saying that it should not come out further than the base cabinets. I am challenging that idea.

I will have a decorative shelf above my refrigerator and I just think it might look better if it came out the distance of the refrigerator. Looking for examples of both to help me decide.

Glad you are happy with your decision! I agree on my space!! I am all about storage! :D

cat

Here is some history of my kitchen saga here....IRL it has been far more 'evolving' as I prefer to call it. Dh tends to view it as: "What has changed today?" LOL

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0122014227361.html?19

Of course I found GW after I hired a KD and the plans were finalized. My KD never told me about getting a counter depth fridge. I wish I would have known because I HATE how this looks. I would have lost fridge space I know, but I at least could have figured out something else( the basement stairwell is behind the fridge, so maybe I could have knocked out a wall, etc)

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As long as your refrigerator is deeper than the adjacent countertop, why not extend the MW cabinet to the same depth. The adjustment back would be in the counter to the left, not the cabinetry where the effect is exhagurated.

Ccat, if you're using a full depth fridge, then you want the panels to come out far enough to cover the sides (but no the doors) of the fridge. That helps to give it more of a "built-in" look.

Our fridge has tall cabinetry on both sides, so it's a little bit of a different situation than you have. We made the tall cabinets 27" deep instead of the standard 24" to hide the sides of the fridge:

Many here have used the same strategy with deeper panels to create a similar look, many with their fridge located in the same way as yours. Just be sure to pull the over-the-fridge cabinet out to be flush with the front of the panels and you'll be all set.

We have a Samsung. Here's a pic. When we first installed it I was a little concerned with the depth. However now it's fine after living with it a little while. We had a very small refrigerator in this space previously so I think it was the change in sheer size that threw me at first.

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If you fridge is at the end of the run of cabinets, which it looks like it is, a non-CD fridge won't look bad. That's what I have - you can see pictures on my home page or the finished kitchens blog.

I think it will look fine, especially where your fridge is located. Another idea is to consider making the counters on that wall of the kitchen 30 inches deep instead of 24. We have that and the full-depth fridge blends right in plus the lovely benefit of deeper drawers and more counter space. It may be too late in your process to do this but I just love my deeper drawers and counters. Here's a view that shows how the fridge fits with 30 inch counters --

ccat - others have said most of what I was going to say.

I have been going through the same questioning. I started out assuming I would go with standard depth because I didn't want to give up any capacity and I didn't have room to go wider.

BUT then I started looking at the actual dimensions of the standard and counter depth friges. I then realized that some of the current "standard" depth friges that I was looking at were in fact quite a lot deeper than my existing (circa mid 80's) frig. So I finally decided to go with a counter depth Jenn Air. It turns out to have more capacity than my old one, though not a lot more.

I agree that you should get a panel that covers the entire side of the frig, sans door. If you are going with a stainless frig the sides typically are just painted black and look terrible. You should also pull the upper cabinets over the frig out to the same depth. (Try to get a 24" deep cabinet there, which will be much more useful.)