I have only posted a couple of times. I'm certainly not an expert but I have spent countless hours/weeks on this forum and have gained so much knowledge. Thank you all. We are nearing the end of our renovation. My countertops are going in right now. I hope I like them.
I had originally planned to do the SZ 736 and a set of under counter frig/freezer drawers. I then found a picture of a refrigerator armoire I wanted to copy. I didn't have room for an additional 36" of refrigerator or pantry space to achieve the armoire look.
I ended up doing two side by side 27" SZ 700TCI Refrigerator/Freezer units.
It made a nice sized refrigerator armoire and I got more refrigerator and freezer cubic feet than I would have had with the SZ 736 and two under counter drawers.
The two 27" units gave me 20.4 cubic feet of refrigerator space and 10.2 cu ft of freezer space (4 freezer drawers). Two of the freezer drawers have ice makers that are removable. On an everyday basis, I'll just have one ice maker in use. If we have a party, I can add the second ice maker.
You could also do the 27" all freezer unit combined with a 27" all refrigerator unit. The other nice thing about the 700TCI unit is that the motor is on the bottom. I was able to put 3 pretty glass cabinets on top of the two units. We added some crown molding and it is like a piece of furniture.
This doesn't answer your question about how much refrigerator space you need, but it's another option.

Thank you for this suggestion, and it's funny you mention the armoire look because that is what I had hoped the fridge wall could look like, since I planned to make this wall in a contrasting wood (quartersawn oak panels, vs the white cabinetry elsewhere) but at 9feet wide (fridge plus freezer plus pantry) it is just too big to look like an armoire, it will just look like a wall, hence my dilemma, how to make this smaller! I am familiar with the 700tci, I had one in another house, and liked it.... It sounds like yours is beautiful with the glass, can you post a picture by any chance?

I've never posted a picture so if this doesn't work send me your email. I am trying to post my inspiration picture. They are in the middle of the countertop install so I can't get a pic of my frig. I also don't have the pulls installed yet. I did square beveled glass on the upper cabinets, rather than the curved mullioned glass. Also, this piece looks wider on the right side.

The pulls and valance are not on yet, but here is a picture of my two 27" 700 TCI's. With the compressors on the bottom, I'm sure there are a lot of options for design. There's another current thread about counter depth refrigerators that has a lot of comments regarding frig/freezer size & needs.

romy718 .... Really like your kitchen. I did a quick search and didn't see any other pics of your kitchen. Do you have any more that we could see?

HappyTimes-another frig/freezer wall idea (not my kitchen). I have tons of pics. Email me if you want more.
Aries61-Thanks. I plan to post more pics when I'm closer to being finished. My counters were partially installed last night. Not happy with the seam but thanks to Gardenweb I know it can be fixed & I'm going to ask them to fix it today.

thanks Romy, yours are gorgeous. It's similar to what I currently have planned on my fridge wall - with stacked glass front cabinet on top to the ceiling, but 36s with an additional 36" pantry too.... I've been reading the counter depth fridge discussion, but I'm definitely not considering anything other than integrated counter depth units, just debating widths and whether to do all fridge/all freezer separately etc. thanks for the great pictures

Agreed, I would LOVE to see more of your pictures of your new kitchen romy718.