HELP! New Build Kitchen Island to Close to Fridge

11 years ago

We just built a new house that has an awesome kitchen island. But during the construction process, I didnt realize that the refridgerator would stick out from the cabinet as much as it does not to mention the granite overhang on the island sucks up so much space. I love the kitchen at face value, but really need to have the island moved over about a foot. To complicate matters, we have hardwood in the kitchen and it doesnt float underneath the island - just around it.

What is a girl to do? I dont want to stand at my refridgerator for the next 30 years and not have space to access anything in it. HOw costly of an endeavor is this? Why wouldnt the builders take this into consideraton? Arent they the experts?

Any insight would be much appreciated!

Featured Answer

annzgw

11 years ago

I've learned over the years that it's up to the home owner to check details such as refrigerator clearance (and many other issues) if you want everything perfect.
To know what the cost will be, and the work involved, you'll need to bring your GC back and show him the problem.
Is it possible that only the granite needs to be cut back?

Since the flooring is new I doubt that will be difficult to patch, unless it was sanded/stained after install, but either way it can still be patched and matched.

I agree that you need to fix it now or you'll forever hate working in your kitchen.

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Comments (9)

virgilcarter
11 years ago
Instead of "moving the island", perhaps you may be able to redonfigure the part that is opposite the refrigerator in order to provide the desired clearance? What sort of clearance are you looking for? A minimum of 3'-0 will let likely let you open the door, standing to the side and 4'-0 to 5'0 is much better.

I agree, it's up to the designer and/or homeowner to evaluate and verify critical clearances and to tell the builder where and what they are. That's what construction drawings are for.

Thre is no way to know what the cost will be until you decide what you want to do and get your builder to give you pricing options.

I'd agree that if this is a major problem, it's better to fix it now, rather than hate it and have it be unworkable for the next 30 years (or as long as you're in the house).

Good luck on your project.
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erinsean
11 years ago
Do you know they make "counter-depth" refrigerators? My step son has one. One of those would not stick out so far...maybe that would give you the needed room. If you don't want to get a new refrigerator, then I think moving the island and patching the floor is your best bet.
hosenemesis
11 years ago
I'd consider replacing the fridge with a shallower model before moving the island.
sonorous
11 years ago
We are doing a kitchen remodel right now. And like your home, our hardwood floor doesn't not go under the cabinets. But in hindsight, we were thinking just in case we ever need to move the island, we should have installed the floor first.

We worked with a "kitchen designer" that helped us plan out the layout. Her measurements took into consideration even the up to the refrigerator's door handle...that is how the standard measurement of refrigerator's is taken.

I don't know if kitchen designer and builder would fall under the same category in terms of what their job should include. But i would think that the builder should have this type of knowledge and experience to make you aware of these things.

Did the builder help in the layout of the kitchen island at all or did you just come up with the plan and have him install it?

As other poster stated there are counter depth refrigerators, but i don't think they hold that much. If you need a large capacity refrigerator, I would move the island. In our old kitchen layout, our fridge stuck out and made the passage way by the island too small. So we definitely made sure there was more than enough space this time and I love it! It's definitely worth it.

I don't think fixing the flooring would be that big of a problem. Just adding a few pieces near the island. And if they are experts, it shouldn't take them any time at all.

We had a hood vent changed from downdraft to up and out just today. What seemed like it could take days...actually the project manager said it could take 2-3 days prob because they didn't want to correct the venting...took only a few hours. It really was a piece of cake for the guy who did the work.

There's the matter of how much will they charge. But like annz says, you don't want to hate it every time you step into your kitchen.
virgilcarter
11 years ago
Good comments, above. The options are:

--Change the island in some fashion;
--Change the refrigerator;
--Both of the above;
--Find a way to live with the existing conditions.

Sorry you are in this situation. Good luck with the best solution for your situation.
renovator8
11 years ago
This mistake should have taught you that to design a kitchen well it is necessary to work from an accurately scaled drawing showing all of the appliances and clearances. That's what you need to do now if you want to solve the problem for the least disruption and cost.
amandapadgett
11 years ago
Our carpenter made island about 4 inches too big, then granite installers did 1.5 overhang. Island ended up being only 33" from fridge. So I bought a the Samsung counter deep fridge and now we are at an acceptable 36" from island.

Now, we just upgraded to slide-in range so now we have the same problem on the stove side - 32." But, it doesn't bother me much as that side of kitchen doesn't get as much traffic.

Anyway, all that to say try a counter deep fridge.
Nancy in Mich
11 years ago
If you don't already have one, a french door fridge may solve your problem. It takes far less room to open the doors and leaves much more space in the aisle for moving around when one person is using the fridge and others are nearby.