If you are asking what I think you are asking, I have the same thing. My refrigerator is in a corner of my kitchen. To the right is a wall and the fridge door swings toward that wall. I have a side by side model, which is a narrower opening due to style....so when putting something large (or as large as it gets for a side x side) it can be cumbersome getting the door wide enough open. There are times when I could use a couple of inches beyond just fully opened. More swing would make it easier. I hope I am making sense. I'm replacing my side by side with a french door style, which will rid me of the problem. BUT with the french door style, I worried the left side which is against my counter might become dented if it hits the corner of my granite. I am going with counter depth on the french door, my current fridge is full depth. I am totally lost what to do myself.

I should add, it isn't as bad as I make it sound. Alot does depend too on how much space there is between the fridge and the wall, and how much the wall extends beyond the side of the fridge. I hope I am making sense. Of course either way you will get a 90 degree swing with no problem, as long as you have the stated minimums for the fridge you plan to buy.

Thanks Debbie,
I did understand what you were saying and it did help. :)
Ours is not an actual wall, but counter and cabinets, I am a little worried about kids and denting the door. I think I will go and shop and do a little research. We currently have a side by side and it seems to need about 9" past 90 degrees to 'naturally' swing open. I could change the placement, but (excepting potential refrigerator issues) the design as is feels perfect. Thanks for your response.

Sherilynn,
Thanks for the detailed description and the pictures! I was thinking of doing 2 things, adding some space on the wall side and recessing the stack of cabinets by the door-this would gain us about 10" for the door to swing before hitting anything. Seeing your picture and reading about your experience convinces me that we should decide between the two kitchen layouts based on their other merits and not worry so much about the refrigerator up against the wall-Thanks again!

I would never put the refrigerator next to a wall again. I had that in my last house and it drove me crazy not be able to open the door all the way back to clean shelves or take vegetable bins completely out. I felt so confined. If something got spilled behind the shelves or bins, I would have to pull the whole fridge out until I could turn the fridge enough to get the door open enough to get the bins out, especially that deli meat drawer, and get my head in there to clean. In my new kitchen I insisted from the start that the fridge had to be somewhere I could open both doors completely. Just my opinion but this was a big deal for me.

LuckyMom...What Sherilynn did is one idea. Another idea is to install a 4" wide broom closet b/w the refrigerator and wall. This way, you don't lose as much cabinet space. IKEAFans has a couple of threads describing how to make this 4" wide closet.

Also, not all refrigerators will necessarily pull out as easily for a couple of reasons: floor type and water lines. If you have water lines going to your refrigerator you need to be very careful you don't kink the line when moving the refrigerator. If you have a vinyl floor, be careful b/c the wheels can rip the vinyl...that happened to us and we had the highest grade/strongest vinyl put down in our kitchen.

Refrigerator next to wall...

In our old kitchen our refrigerator was about 3" away from the wall (dead/air space). We could open the door about 90o...enough to get into the right crisper drawer but not pull it out for cleaning. However, our refrigerator was designed so that once the left crisper drawer was removed the right one slid over to the left and we could then remove it. Getting it back in took a little work when trying to get it in the glide on the right, but we eventually were able to. To avoid having to remove the drawer as often for cleaning we (1) put paper towels down in the bottom of the drawer and replaced them regularly and (2) periodically wiped down the drawer so there wasn't a buildup of dirt, etc. It was only when we either did a whole refrigerator cleaning at once (maybe once a year) or if something spilled and made it's way down...like the grape juice one of the kids put back w/o a tightly secured top that fell over!

I usually clean one or two shelves (& wall) every week or so so I do not have to do a whole-refrigerator cleaning that often!

Hi all - I have an issue with just about no clearance for my fridge door up against a wall - its so bad the current fridge has a right side hinge - even though a left side hinge makes most sense with the layout

I want to replace the fridge and could deal with some issues of not being able to go beyond 90 degree's open but I even need a flush mount for the left hand hinge door ( on a stainless steel with a bottom freezer no less! )

Any idea's welcome

many thanks -

Pogue

I had the same issue where my stainless steel fridge door would bump into the handle of a cabinet. Apparently the fridge manufactures do not care about this issue. I looked and looked for a door stop on line that would fit my need.
I solved my problem by having the door stop (in my case stopped the door at 180 degrees) modified to stop the door at 130 degrees. It had to be custom fabricated and it cost me plenty, but it worked to perfection. If anyone would like to have me get something which would be appropriate for thir model fridge and specific problem, contact me at sutter336@aol.com.

I am Putting in 33 inch French door fridge. My opening is 40inches. To the left side is a wall. I will have about 5 to 6 inches away from wall on left side . Hope this is enough for door to open against wall on the left side. Thoughts?

I have a single door, bottom freezer next to a wall. I think the one door helps cuz you can come in from the open side. I have the hinge near the wall.