Reality check, please! Fridge anxiety.

11 years ago

I am in desperate need of a reality check before proceeding with my kitchen project. I really want to get the fridge out of the main space and put it at the end of the sink run, which will put it in a very short hall.

I have 70 inches from baseboard to baseboard and the fridge is 36 inches deep from the wall including handles. That leaves 34 inches of space in front of the fridge. It is a french door model, and I have tried to mock up the space to mimic a wall 34 inches in front of it and I can put in/remove a 15 inch box fan with little problem (tried to mimic a pizza box, the largest thing we put in there). The freezer opens all the way with room to stand in front of it.

I'm just terrified I will make some horrible mistake with the kitchen. This is all new territory, and it's a lot of money. And I can't try it out first.

Is this a reasonable amount of space for the fridge? Anything that would replace it in the future would be less deep, I just made a poor choice when I bought it a few months ago. Lesson learned: don't but a fridge the same day the old one fails, too much stress to make a good choice.

Thoughts?

Comments (6)

GreenDesigns
11 years ago
You will not be able to actually physically get a fridge into that location as the aisle width will not be enough room for it's placement if there is any other cabinetry adjacent to the fridge. You need 42" in order to be able to roll a fridge down the aisle and turn it into it's spot. Remember that a 36"x36" box will be at least 42" on the diagonal as you try to turn it.
corgimum
11 years ago
When our behemoth french door fridge (Samsung 29 cu. ft.) was installed, the installers did not roll it down the aisle. Our doorways are tight so they opened the doors and sort of twirled it into the kitchen. The freezer drawer was out too. You could also remove the doors which will give you more clearance for turning.
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User
11 years ago
36" wide fridge is not going to fit down a 32" aisle.
Sherrie Moore
11 years ago
It can fit. They might need to take off the handles or even the doors to fit down the aisle. Been there and have done that twice!
palimpsest
11 years ago
If there is no other cabinetry in the hall,on the far side of the fridge from the sink base. the refrigerator is fitting through a 70" wide space, of which it takes up 36" If there is a cabinet, it will be 25" deep leaving 45" for it to fit through. It may not need to be angled, it could be pushed straight in and then straight back.

Remember, the 36" fridge with handles is what is CREATING the narrow aisle. Cabinetry will leave a wider aisle because it is more than ten inches shallower. The narrowness will only exist once the fridge is in place. The problem Then would be trying to get Another fridge through.

As to whether it will fit, generally the doors need to be taken off. A 36" doorway does not have a 36" wide opening: with jambs it is already reduced to 35", if the door doesn't swing past 100 or so, the knob and edge of the hinge side of the door will interfere. Often interior doorways are 32" so it it pretty common to have to take fridge doors off to move them in and out. Moving it all the way out to clean it will be an issue, you may need to take the doors off then to pull it out enough to sneak the vacuum wand behind it.

That said it might be a bit tight for comfort even if technically it works.
williamsem
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the the input so far, food for thought!

Assuming I have 30 inch deep cabinets above and side panels,, that leaves 40 inches for the aisle to maneuver in. Leaving 34 inches in the aisle when in place.

This would go where we are removing a 30 inch door opening and separator wall with no purpose, so 34 inches would not look out of place.

I am assuming we can get the fridge in the space, it will be next to 24 inch deep cabinets and we should be able to push it in front of the opening facing the way it needs to go in instead of having to turn it.

But I want to make sure that having a 34 inch space in front of it won't be a problem IRL. Like I said, I have mocked it up the best I can and it seems to work fine, but I know very little about this stuff.