Side-byside refrigerator against a wall?

[Justpaula]

We are renovating our kitchen. We are only planning on staying in this home for four years or so. We have found a perfectly decent Whirlpool side-by-side that is on sale this week at Best Buy for $749. Regular price is $1099. Nothing fancy, but suits our current needs. The refrigerator needs to be in the corner of the kitchen, therefore against a wall. The wall in question is actually where the entrance into the kitchen from a hallway is. So, the wall extends about nine inches from the front of the fridge - and then the open space of the doorway. Our concern is opening the door of the fridge. It will be the left door, the freezer side. Will we have a problems using it properly if we can only open the door 90 degrees (maybe a tad more)? The issue impacts the freezer side, as the wall is on the left side. We would prefer to not have to spring for a french door or bottom freezer style (our current fridge is top freezer with a right side hinge). And do not want another top freezer model. Thanks for any feedback or advice.

[DGresh]

I think that would be *extremely* inconvenient. I myself put an extra fridge in our basement and there is a support post that keeps the refrigerator door from opening all the way (but not nearly as badly placed as your wall)-- it makes it very hard to get wide things into the space, since the door itself is fairly bulky in thickness. If you can't "peel it back" then the width of the door is going to intrude on the opening, making it hard to put things in.

[cpingenot]

A stock kitchen supplier told me once that the general rule of thumb is that you need 3" between the fridge and the wall for the door to open fully and allow drawers to pull out without interference. Individual models may vary, and I would go to BB and do a little mockup. Even though you'll be able to borrow space from the adjacent doorway, I would still try to get that extra space. It works well as a place to store brooms and dustpans and grocery bags.

[Justpaula]

I have done some reading, and it seems that people do not have to worry as much about this with french door models. Is this true? If so, we may just have to do that. However, if the problem would still exist with french doors, I guess I am back to up and down options.

[DGresh]

I have both a french door and a side by side so I took a look. I think the FD would definately be less of a problem, since you've got the whole area of the fridge on top, with only a bit obstructed by the door, rather than the narrow slice of the freezer. And the drawer on the bottom shouldn't be a problem at all. As far as the side-by-side you would have to make absolutely sure that any handle on the door is *beyond* the end of the wall; otherwise you're not even going to get to 90 degrees. As far as the 90 degrees itself, you would certainly have trouble sliding in anything close to the width of the freezer (might have to do it sort of sideways then down) but with a bit of patience you could probably manage. I agree that you ought to go take a look at it with a piece of cardboard and measuring tape to fully simulate your situation.

[Justpaula]

Thanks for the info. We are going to head back to Best Buy tonight. I appreciate the explanation as to why French doors do not create so much of a problem. It makes so much sense. My husband, though, is now heavily leaning to the bottom freezer LG. He also worries about the door banging into the wall. To me this is an easily resolved issues. I don't like the right hinged full size door, because it just always seems in the way. The rest of the kitchen is to the right of the fridge.

[RGC1982]

You will have difficulty sliding out baskets and shelves for cleaning. I have to open my door a good 135 degrees in order to get the baskets out.

I am assuming that when you say that the wall extends 9 inches past the fridge, that the wall is deeper than the fridge. If the fridge extends out beyond the wall, you will have enough clearance.

Personally, if I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a French door fridge five years ago. At the time, I couldn't find any with water and ice dispensers, which we use constantly, so I didn't get one. What I really like about them is that you can open both doors, even if the left can only open partially, and store large items like catering trays in them.

If you really don't want to go French door, my suggestion is to see if you can put the whole unit on a set of large silicone sliders, or perhaps the unit comes with it. When cleaning it out, you may just be able to pull the whole unit forward. Considering how infrequently most people clean out their freezer, it won't happen more than a couple of times a year, plus you'll have incentive to actually clean behind and under it, since the fridge will already be pulled out.