Tech Tip #3 - Refrigerator Openings

Refrigerators come in many sizes but before you install your next kitchen you might want to take note of a few things and beware the common pitfalls that plague most installers.

In most cabinet designs, the fridge is installed between tall panels, fillers, and cabinets for a more built-in look like the example below.

Stock refrigerator cabinets are typically 36 inches wide, which determines the width available for a refrigerator opening below the cabinet when we attach the panels or adjacent cabinets. Most spec sheets will show that a 36 inch fridge is typically 35 3/4 inch wide so in a perfect world, it SHOULD fit in a 36 inch opening with 1/4 inch to spare. If we look below, the refrigerator does show this to be the case.

Unfortunately, the center of the fridge can bow out up to and inch in shipping due to the insulation inside the unit shifting or expanding.

There is a simple fix, just add a half inch filler to each side of the 36 inch upper cabinet to make the opening to compensate for the extra inch. Note this only works in the case where you have the space to work with an extra inch. But if the initial design only has an inch of room for error, you may have to have a conversation with the designer instead. Below we have a drawing to show how to add half inch fillers on both sides of the face frame and spacers in the back of the cabinet to get the 37” desired width between the tall panels.

In the case where you have cabinets without a face frame, the cleats would just be a 1/2 inch so there wouldn't be the same need to account for the overhand of the face framed cabinet.

- The Cabinet Talk Team