COUNTER DEPTH REFRIGERATOR OR STANDARD DEPTH

Welcome TLB friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and those of you that are in the East have recovered from the storm. We enjoyed a lovely weekend in Texas, with temps in the 70's....sure hope it stays this way for a bit!

For the past few weekends hubby and I have been taking advantage of sales on furniture, TV's and refrigerators. In the new house our family room furniture will be moved to the game room, hence the need for new family room furniture. And a refrigerator does not come in our kitchen package from the builder, so that was also a necessary purchase.

First step was a new refrigerator. Our builder provided us with the final measurement of the opening. It can accommodate a standard size refrigerator. One side will be cabinets and the other will be a side panel to match our cabinetry. When we viewed the one in the model, the front protruded into the walkway more than we liked. Our refrigerator will face the side of our island, with a 36 inch walk thru, so it is visible from our family room. When we added the additional 6-8 inches that a regular refrigerator protrudes, it made that walk thru even narrower, and the visual from the protrusion not very appealing. Unfortunately, we have no space to steal from the rear wall either. So we decided to check out counter depth refrigerators. This will end up costing more than a standard fridge, however, in our situation we felt it was the best choice.

Now, how do we find a counter depth fridge that gives us enough storage space inside? We visited our friend's Pam and Doug, and they had recently purchased a SAMSUNG 4-door Flex French Door. This fridge allows the lower right area to be customized into 4 different types of zones; Fridge, Chilled, Soft Freeze, and Frozen. Theirs was not counter depth, however, the model does come in counter depth. We knew we were compromising some space, however, the capability of changing a fridge area to a freezer area was intriguing and made a lot of sense for our lifestyle. 

After looking at several brands of counter depth fridges, hands down the features fit our needs perfectly. We purchased a SAMSUNG 22. cu. ft. 4-Door Flex French Door in Black Stainless, Counter Depth, with beautiful LED lighting, and awesome interchangeable spaces.  We also checked out reviews online prior to purchasing and spoke with 3 different dealers here in TX and felt very comfortable with our purchase. We also added an extended warranty that will serve us past the one year that accompanies the fridge.

Counter depth refrigerators are becoming much more popular with manufacturers designing sensible, and useful inside space, along with prices that are not nearly as high as they used to be. 

Our kitchen floorplan is.....stainless steel double ovens and microwave that are stacked on one another to the far left of the kitchen perimeter. The gas cooktop is centered across from the island in the perimeter as well. The refrigerator is built in on the far right side facing directly into the side of the island. This allowed us to be able to purchase the GORGEOUS Black Stainless fairly new to the marketplace. When I say gorgeous.....even if you are not searching for new appliances you owe it to yourself to check out SAMSUNG's Black Stainless....not only is it going to make my life much easier with it's anti-fingerprint coating, it glistens like jewelry!

Designers have weighed in that mixing metals is fine, especially because there are areas in stainless steel appliances that contain black knobs, windows, etc. They prefer they are not next to one another, but in our case our appliances are separated and the fridge is turned to the side, instead of being in one long line or next to one another. 

Before you take the refrigerator plunge, check your dimensions, maybe a counter depth refrigerator will be more appealing to you too! And don't forget to take a look at the black stainless, you'll be glad you did!

Great blog to help give you refrigerator information:
http://blog.yaleappliance.com/bid/52134/The-5-Best-Counter-Depth-Refrigerators

Have a wonderful week! Don't forget to join TLB on Foodie Friday for a simple Lenten
sandwich!


Kathleen