There are several reasons to give the refrigerator a
"Built-In" look. The first of course, is appearance.
Hiding the huge sides of the refrigerator may be an
excellent improvement on the look and feel of your
kitchen.
Here is a drawing of a typical refrigerator before and
after being Built-in. To see the photo in a new browser
window, hold down the CONTROL button and click on N .
Then copy and paste
http://www.SlidingShelf.com/Enlarge_Refrigerator_Photo.htm
in the address window of the new browser and hit GO."
As you can see, The appearance is a lot different if the
side of the refrigerator is hidden. The refrigerator in
both drawings are the same size, but the refrigerator in
the ' After ' drawing doesn't look as large because your
eye focuses on the new wooden panel. You see only the
edge of the refrigerator door instead of the large white
side. Shown is a standard-depth refrigerator.
Cabinet-depth refrigerators are also available, but are
more expensive.
To accomplish this, we've added full-height matching
panels on each side of the refrigerator, and changed the
wall cabinet above from 12" to 24" depth.
The change is a convenience as well. Now, when using the
countertop adjacent to the refrigerator for meal or
snack preparation, any loose items cannot fall between
the refrigerator side and the cabinet. That makes the
kitchen much easier to keep clean.
If our wall cabinets are 36" or 42" tall, (not the 30")
we'll add to the convenience by adding vertical dividers
on at least one side of the cabinet above the
refrigerator. We can store lids, cookie sheets, or any
other flatware vertically in a cabinet 18" or 24" tall.
That gets those troublesome storage items out of the
regular cabinet space and makes more room in them for
other items.
To store flatware above the refrigerator, you don't need
to be able to reach all the way to the back of the
cabinet. You just have to be able to reach the front
edge of the cookie sheet or lid you need or want to
store. Very handy. See details in a sketch at
http://www.SlidingShelf.com/div_above_ref.htm.
