counter depth refigerator opinion

[Mikepier]

I am going to be remodeling my kitchen soon and one of the appliances I was considering was a "counter depth" refrigerator to save some space. I know the obvious disadvantage is the shelves are not as deep as a conventional fridge, but I saw some on the showroom floor and the differnece in shelf space was not that much. In particular 2 models caught my eye: Kitchen Aid and Whirlpool both make a 24.5 cu ft counter depth fridge, almost equivelant to a 25 cu ft conventional fridge. I was just wondering if anyone has a counter depth fridge and what your opinions are. Thanks.

[dadiOH]

My opinion is that *all* domestic refrigerators are too deep. Stuff winds up being pushed to the back where it stays until it gets green and hairy. IMO, 14" deep would be plenty. Shame they don't make such.

[valvejob]

I have the full size one and love it. In addition to sticking out, I pull it out 6 inches from the wall so the condensor coils have room to breathe.

I'm all for counter depth but make sure there is ample room to move the hot air from the coils.

[Nancy Young]

"Mikepier" wrote

Just a thought ... you might try asking at rec.food.equipment.

I think they are a good idea, but I've never had one.

nancy

[Tom G]

Most of the counter depth refrigerators that I remember selling were just as deep as a conventional refrigerator but were redesigned so the the main box of the refrig. was counter depth and then the door(s) were thicker so that it still stuck out as far but gave the illusion of being basically as deep as the counters. More storage was allocated to the doors.

Tom G.

[dpb]

Depends on what your storage requirements and patterns are as well as whether you will have room for what is possibly a wider profile.

The other alternative you might consider if can is to recess the space. If it's not an exterior or wet wall, that could be possible...

[Abe]

I've had a counter depth Amana for over 10 years, and have been very pleased with it. No problems related to not having enough space.

[Nick Hull]

Refrigerators should have rotating shelves to solve that problem

[Dave Martindale]

We bought a new refrigerator a month ago, and not a single one of the units we looked at had exposed condenser coils on the back. Instead, they all had fan-draft condensers down in the compartment where the compressor lives. This allows the fridge body to be a couple of inches deeper, with more useful space inside.

Dave

[Noozer]

Deeper fridges do NOT have more usuable space. My next fridge is going to be WIDE and SHALLOW.

[Mark Lloyd]

Limiting usable space to a circular area within a rectangular one (less the additional space for the rotating mechanism), wasting a lot of space which still needs to be cooled. You "save" space by wasting even more.

[Nick Hull]

Properly designed you lose little space. The rotating shelves should have a flat spot facing the door, and the 'wasted" space in the back corners could house machinery or even tall built in shelving accessable when the flat spot is in the right position. I have rotating shelves in my corner kitchen cabinets with very little wasted space.

[Mark Lloyd]

There would be a lot of POTENTIALLY wasted space in a rectangular refrigerator. Is there really that much machinery?

Any particular reason why you mentioned only 2 or the FOUR corners?

That flat spot would either block rotation of waste space itself.

I can't tell that much without a picture. Note that pictures in ads usually show very poor utilization of the space.

[Tom G]

I would imagine that the shelves are half shelves and rotate only 90 degrees each, thus the front corners could go all of the way to the corner where they meet the door shelves. I think that is the way General Electric made a refrigerator back in the 50s or 60s. I only saw one once.

Tom G.

[Mark Lloyd]

I think I follow that (a diagram would have really helped). So, the shelf can rotate only with the door open?

Considering the interior of my refrigerator, 29*16=464 inches:

Largest full-circle shelf: 8*8*pi=201 square inches. 43.3%

Largest half-circle shelf: (14.5*14.5*pi)/2=330 square inches. 71.1%

The half-circle has some space advantage over the full circle, but is still wasteful.

BTW, the depth figure here is deducting 6 inches for the door shelves and 1.5 inches for the rear shelf supports.

BTW, the way I figured the half-shelf width is the lesser of the width of the refrigerator's interior or twice the depth.