"HomerS" wrote in message
...

I have not seen the plans that YOU provided, but if you had anything
at all to do with the design then you need to fix this NOW at YOUR
expense.

The cabinets definitely need to come out rather than everybody having
to find a special fridge. I don't see the big deal. Just do it and
worry about who pays later. Read the first paragraph again.

No, the Realtor sells houses, she is not a construction foreman. If
you did something long-distance, then you did a poor job. Again the
problem is 90% yours. You are the honcho on this and you screwed up
with your design.


On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 17:39:13 -0700, kris3432 wrote:

Hello everyone. I thought I would stop here and ask everyone's advise
about a problem that we have ran into on the house we are having
built.

We have been building the house long distance and just moved to the
area this week. We are supposed to close on the 25th.

We have ran into a problem with the fridge opening in the kitchen.
The height and width seem fine, but there is a drawer and door in the
cabinet corner that will open onto the fridge. The problem is that if
you allow space for the drawer to open the depth of the fridge can not
be any larger than 27 inches. A standard fridge is at a minimum of 34
inches, not including the door handle. We spent the evening going from
store to store measuring and pricing cabinet depth fridges, and it
looks like the ones that may work are about twice the price of regular
fridges (about $1900 versus $1000 for the regular fridge). And it is
questionable if the counter depth fridge will even work since they
measure about 29 inches with handles. (we did find a fridge that
measured under the well under the 27 depth but it was $2800)

We had our realtor meet us at the house today and she said that she
didn't think it was a problem. She didn't think it would be a big
deal to put a regular sized fridge there and just not use the door and/
or drawer.

I really think this is unacceptable. We have asked the the realtor
and builder since the beginning what size fridge we should buy and
they have told us repeatively that a standard size fridge would work.
We never planned on spending so much for a fridge.

A picture of our kitchen from a couple of weeks ago can be found here
(if is finished now):
http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s...7-4797_IMG.jpg

Am I being unreasonable wanting something done about this or at least
expecting the builder to pay part of the extra cost for the fridge?

Thanks,
Kris

Kris -- "Counter-depth refrigerators" are a standard item and help achieve a
"built-in" look. From the picture it appears the corner cabinets are mostly
wasted volume due to inaccessibility no matter what kind of refrigerator you
buy, and when you add the larger refrigerator that part of the kitchen is
going to be unattractive and appear very crowded. Also, with the larger
refrigerator your cabinets over the refrigerator are going to be very
difficult to use.

If this were my house I would do two things --

(A) Extend the lower corner cabinet out and provide a double-opening door,
with a lazy-susan interior to let you use the space. This will give you a
lot more cabinet space for things like pots and pans and storage units than
you now have. I would also consider doing the same thing with the upper
corner cabinet, although that space is more accessible. This also means a
change to the counter-top to fit the new counter dimensions. Save the old
cabinet and use it in the garage for storage or tools.

(B) Buy a counter-depth refrigerator to make that end of the kitchen more
usable and appear less crowded. This will also make the overhead cabinets
more accessible and useful. (If my budget were big enough in this case I
might even try for a built-in refrigerator, but now you're talking real $.)

Making these changes will provide a better appearance and more useful
kitchen.

Sidenote: With new construction I don't think these sorts of conflicts are
unusual, and a good homebuyer ought to hold an additional 10-20% of the
price in reserve to meet needs that weren't anticipated when the project was
first planned -- whether it's interior upgrades, new equipment, or changes
that create new requirements such as for irrigation, storm protection,
revised building codes or a security system. -- In other words, I don't
think problems like this are unexpected, they're just imperfections that
will cost money and have to be dealt with. If the contractor was also the
designer you may have some leverage, but if he is building to someone else's
design these may be costs you have to deal with. Been there, done that --
Regards --