Life is too short to live with something you hate longer than you need to. If you have the means (and it sounds like you do), I would replace it. I would shop til I dropped to make the right decision.

Whether a built-in would make sense depends on your capacity need (how much you cook, what you cook, how often you shop, entertaining needs, etc), whether you have another fridge, the layout of your kitchen and whether the space is enclosed, you have the height, etc. I think it could be challenging for a family that cooks and doesn't have a secondary fridge in a utility room, basement or somewhere. It would have been for us -- but maybe not quite as much as we thought, because the space tends to be used well and less things get left hiding in the back.

I've had bad experiences with Kitchenaid, but mostly on customer service. To be fair, they tend to make some pretty good refrigerators in both freestanding and built-ins. I have an LG in my utility room (cuz I did go built-in) and I'm very happy with it. Mine is a single door bottom freezer because DH didn't want the door storage chopped up or lost.

Could you use the current fridge in a utility room, basement or garage to give you some extra fridge space when you need it?

Pictures would help

Hmmm. . . I'd like to see pictures too. We bought that same fridge for our new house.

Our line up of appliances are these:

Samsung RFG293HARS 29.0 Cu. Ft. Stainless Steel French Door Refrigerator{{gwi:807}}
Bosch SHV7PT53UC 800 Plus 24" Custom Panel Fully Integrated Dishwasher - Energy Star
Wolf 36" range cooktop
Viking double oven with french doors

Our appliances and cabinets are in the house, but are not yet installed. I'm hoping I don't feel the same way you do about the fridge.

I'd say though if it's been three years and you hate it, it might be time to figure out how to make a change.

This post was edited by neroselover on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 22:21

Not all standard depth refrigerators feel/look clunky/junky. You said you researched your choices...did you check on the Appliances Forum (different than this one)? If not you might try posting this on that Forum and ask for recommendations for a new one.

Perhaps if you could describe exactly what it is that you hate about how your current refrigerator works, looks, feels, etc., it might help.

Depending on how much $$ you have left from your appliances budget (if any since you obviously have purchased & installed all appliances) or are willing to spend now on a refrigerator, have you checked into Liebherr or other higher end refrigerators? (You could sell the one you have now to help with the cost.)

Was it installed to look "built-in" with finished end panels on each side and a full-depth cabinet above? (This is where pictures would help.) If not, perhaps building it in would help - assuming you have a couple of inches to work with (most end panels are 3/4" thick). It might make it look/feel more solid - of course, it won't help the functionality of the refrigerator itself.

Here is a link that might be useful: Appliances Forum

I totally get where you're coming from! When we bought our house, there was a built-in GE Monogram ... but the small one (36" - 20.7cuft) and we hated - HATED - H-A-T-E-D it. Noise, total lack of usable space, everything about it. It was actually the driving force behind our kitchen redo - because of the size it needed to move to the other side. So you could say we hated it almost $50k worth!

That said - you really need to go to the appliance store(s) with very specific goals in mind - what food goes where, do you want bottom freezer, how do you use the doors, shelves, etc. Really spend time "pretending" on your placement of stuff.

I looked at Samsung vs. LG and ended up with LG (28.7cuft french door, probably looks very simiar)- and have no regrets (other than very small amount of ice - need to plan ahead if we have a party ... or get the model with dual icemakers). We built the cabinets & panels for a built-in look and it worked for us.

Going to a built-in means a lot of changes - both to the kitchen and how much & how you lay out your food in there.

Maybe you need to look at swapping out a similar size unit - they have improved in the last few years, but that's a value judgement you need to make.

This post was edited by marcojohnson on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 22:37

Since SZ is making some changes to their line, I think that you may be able to find a great deal on a 36" Subzero with a bottom freezer. I found both of my SZs on ebay for the price I was willing to pay.
A friend of mine went through a similar scenario. Her kitchen designer from a very high end firm suggested the 36" side-by-side GE Monogram built-in, and since she had never had a built in, she went with the suggestion. She cooks a lot for a family of 5, and hated that neither side was very big, so after several years, she purchased the 36" SZ with bottom freezer, and it seems huge compared to what she had. She is so glad she made the switch. Good luck!

I replaced a 36" bottom freezer, 10 y.o. Viking built in that didn't age well. I've linked that thread as there is a good deal of information that might be useful to your process. Determining what will fit gets tricky so attention should be paid.

I had a real case of sticker shock and, though I paid the bill for it yesterday, I'm still not completely over it.

One point -- don't forget to factor in the installation cost, which is on top of the fridge price. It took 3 people to bring the fridge into the house and 4 hours to install it. It also required some carpentry. This is not plug and play.

I started out looking at French door built ins. The doors sacrificed some interior space and, while many here are happy with them, I didn't feel that style would work for me. I went with the single door, bottom freezer Miele.

We are very happy with the new refrigerator. The Viking was sturdy but this one is much higher quality and more heavy duty. The lighting is outstanding. It holds way more than the 2 of us would need at any point. Our DD has the same fridge with 3 little ones and she crams it full. They have another fridge, mostly used for drinks, however. We also have the original s x s in the garage (but you have the beverage fridge).

Here's a photo of the installed fridge and another of the inside which I took just after I went to the grocery store for the week. It's nowhere near full or even half full.

Here is a link that might be useful: Built in Fridge

This post was edited by rococogurl on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 8:17

I just had a look at AJ Madison to get some hard numbers about the difference between a 36" built-in and a 42" built-in. It's really not much of a difference at all.

Most 36" built-ins have at least 20 cu. feet, and Marvel apparently makes a few 36" built-ins with 23-23.6 cu. feet capacity. Most of the 42" built-ins have 24-26 cu. feet.

I think the difference here between what is easy (36") and what you want (42") is not big at all -- the same or less than the capacity of a mini fridge. I'd get the 36", and decide later if I missed the extra few cu. feet enough to get a mini fridge to tuck in another corner of the house. If you have room in the dining room, you could build a mini drink fridge into a buffet.

And if it's any comfort, this guide says a family of four needs a combined 18-20 cu. ft. of fridge and freezer storage: http://insideadvantage.com/content.jsp?sectionId=44

This guide also pegged a family of four needing around 20 cu. ft:
http://www.cnet.com/topics/refrigerators/buying-guide/ (It said you'd not want much less than 20, might want a little more.)

And this says 18-22 cu. ft for a family of four:
http://www.overstock.com/guides/refrigerator-fact-sheet

So you should be absolutely fine with a 36" built-in fridge.

I'd definitely go for the 36" built-in. We have a 30" builtin Thermador which is fine for us, and the 36" is even better (because it has normal-height vegetable bins, which the 30" does not). It's solid, hefty, with beautiful lighting (not kidding - the interior LED lights are striking). I can't imagine what your DH doesn't like about the Thermador, and its certainly a better price point than the Sub-Zero.

Another vote for looking at a 36" built in. I have the same Miele fridge as rococogurl and it's fantastic. I truly love everything about my fridge. I bought it about 5+ yrs ago, we're a family of 4 and it holds plenty of food. And it's our only fridge. The suggestion to look at fridges with placement of your food items in mind is excellent advice. Different layouts (french door, single door etc...) work for different people, and knowing what you store in your fridge will help you in your decision making process.

We had a 1 year old Samsung counter depth French door that we replaced with a BI 36" French door Sub-Zero. LOVE this fridge! The width of the drawers and shelves are amazing. Way more useable space than the Samsung! It was about $10K installed.

I appreciate all of these posts - I've got to digest all that I've read here. I've posted one dark picture. In addition, and even more so than not liking the look, it's the quality that feels like a piece of tin, squeaks, the deli drawer gets stuck and off track all the time, and it's just plain awful. I also appreciate those who commented on the 36" size - and I do have a beverage fridge so maybe it will work just fine (except I can just hear my DH complain about how ridiculous it is to get a new fridge with less space!) Anyway, I'm going to read all of your suggestions and start my research. Thank you!

A word of advise ruster. It will save you endless aggravation. Call the kitchen designer, or pull out the kitchen plans and find out exactly -- to the 1/16-inch -- the size of the opening.

You likely know that in order to install most built-in refrigerators you would need to remove the cabinet above and reshape the entire opening. Those are usually 84-inches tall.

Looks like the Liebherr, Fisher & Paykel (repair guy had good things to say about this one) Jenn Air and Kitchen Aid might be candidates, depending on size.

Wishing you luck.

And when you measure as rococogurl suggested, don't just measure in one spot - measure at the front/middle/back, and top/middle/bottom.

If you can't do built in maybe look into a fridge that the doors are flat, straight as opposed to curve as in the french doors you have now. I got a CD Fisher Paykel, not built in, a very small kitchen but the flat doors makes a big difference in look. I really like the Fisher Paykel.

"And when you measure as rococogurl suggested, don't just measure in one spot - measure at the front/middle/back, and top/middle/bottom."

Also note, from some other threads, people have found the refrigerators can bow out. So having things too tight can be a problem if the appliance has irregularities.

Here's another aspect. Replace the undercounter fridge with fridge drawers. My Electrolux fridge drawers, while about $2k, hold tons of overflow especially of produce. It is very handy for kids to get their own yogurts, drinks, etc. It is advertised as 6 c.f.

The undercounter drawers are facing the eating area so it is out of the cooking traffic. You might be able to place the exisiting undercounter fridge somewhere else.

Do what you have to do to figure out the main fridge but the undercounter fridge drawers are a superb supplement to our full size, 36 inch wide, f.d. LG., which is 25 cf of easily navigable and visible space. Very little, if anything, is ever nested or stacked.

It is perfect, and cheap, but the icemaker is imperfect. DH says old ice is smelly but I dont like ice so I dont care. He replaces the ice every couple weeks in the foil lined icebucket of the fridge.