We are faced with a kitchen space in which there is actually no OK place to put a conventional tall against-the-wall refrigerator.
There is plenty of room in the budget, and the unit, being built on spec, will for sure be just a weekend and vacation place. Two bedrooms plus a sleep loft.
We’re considering three side-by-side SubZero undercounter fridge units . . . a two-drawer freezer, a two-drawer fridge, and a one-glass-door “beverage center.” All are 24-wide.
We’ve used undercounter units before, but only as a gratuitous little add-on in a high end kitchen with a big built-in fridge in it.
Whaddya think of having only these three units for all your cold storage?
Replies
DW is a chef in a professional kitchen. Other than the "always bending over" issue. I don't see a problem.
What about getting the type that the compressor is in a different location. That should give you even more space under the counter.
Check out the local restaurant supply places for used equipment.
Sounds like an expensive solution for a design error. And its for a Spec?
Must be 80%plus of the kitchens in the UK use under counter units and everybody is fine with it. So its no problem. I often wonder where to place the tall fridge so its useful but out of the way. Sub-zero are not the only game with these units.
Being a tall person that has been in the trades most of my life I can't stand under counter anything. Bending over to get things just isn't fun.
And I don't care if the Brits do it. They can keep their under counter units!
To ask about something and then say "well they do it" is just stupid. ;^)
Here is the kitchen with the fridge problem. Three dormered windows look N, W, and E.
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With nothing but kneewalls, we proposed the fridge go in the E window dormer. The view out that window is of HVAC equipment immediately outside on the rooftop, and then out at the side of a retail shop with an old house in its backyard. Nothing of any scenic value whatever.
The other two windows look out at the lake, with mountains beyond.
The owner/developer/builder, who ended up having to put the kitchen in this room, because another room adjacent would not handle any kind of a kitchen at all, feels that since the E dormer window is there, it should not be closed off. He wants another solution for where to put the fridge.
The closet which contains the 24-wide tall pantry cab cannot be enlarged to house a fridge. That's a for-sure.
The ODB stood in the room with me and suggested that the fridge go against the wall that's to the L of the closet housing the pantry. With a kneewall to its L as you face it, it is the only piece of wall with any height to it above 54 inches.
Trouble is, to jam a fridge (and a conventional counterdepth one, not a built in SubZero) into that space, you infringe lots of adjacent spaces and stuff with door swings and passage access. See this pic here, in which the translucent gold thing is a GE Profile counterdepth fridge.
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With this scheme, you need to cut out whatever against the wall stuff you might want to do under the now-preserved window, and you will lose 20 inches or more of the island, so there is sufficient passage between fridge cab and island. Not pretty.
You also need to find a new place for the stack which contains the wall oven and warming drawer, plus the atop-counter cab that contains the MW. The cooking unit in the island is a cooktop, and there are deep cookware drawers below it, but shallower than "standard," because we have a downdraft hood works going on back there.
The under-the-counter refrig units, three in all, were proposed for the area to the L of the sink. See where Martina is standing with her cocktail. These would be in front of her and to her L as she looks down, adjacent the sink. The DW would move to the other side of the sink.
Can you use under counter units but place on a buildup pedestal for better access? In the area to the left of the sink.
That's a great idea, actually!
I'll have to examine specs for the units. Typically, they are meant to be floor-standing, and may have a toekick louver for the compressor to be able to breathe. I would prefer to do something below them that looks to be integrated into all the wood and cabs elsewhere.
We'll come back with a proposal for you.
I agree undercounter is not the best. But it is workable! I've been trying to talk my Mum into letting me move her fridge to a shelf in the pantry so its of the ground (think wall oven layout) and easy to access, But stuck in her ways and its what she is use to!