Built-in refrigerator

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irvinehomeowner said:
You should check but those home warranties I mentioned before also cover appliances.
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That makes sense if you are planning to keep renewing the home warranties.  How much do home warranties usually cost?
 
Irvine2Irvine said:
irvinehomeowner said:
You should check but those home warranties I mentioned before also cover appliances.
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That makes sense if you are planning to keep renewing the home warranties.  How much do home warranties usually cost?
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$355/year includes A/C coverage.  Service calls are ~$55 each, but they'll replace the $2000 [insert appliance here] if they can't get it repaired.
http://www.ahs.com/homeowners/plans-costs/plans-costs.html

-IR2
 
I almost go for the build in refrigerator but end with the non build in one. My contractor fill up the holes for free with the leftover woods from the builder and it looks pretty good for $2000 refrigerator. The builder cabinet company want $700 for filling the holes.

I still have the build in refrigerator cabinet in my garage that I might use later down the road if I want to spend 8k to on keeping my beer cool.
 
Does anybody know the cabinet company for Sonoma?  Mike, you definitely came up with a slick idea.  Can you share a picture of your refrigerator if you don't mind?
 
So I got the skinny from the design studio.  They actually don't change the width of the cabinets for the build in fridge.  What they do is get rid of the cabinets that were above the fridge and replace the remaining space with a panel.  They also have a small siding around the edge of the fridge to close any empty spaces (a 42" build in, is actually 41.5").  They only other modification is you need the power outlet up high - which we added as a upgrade so that we can do the fridge upgrade on our own
 
nytransplant said:
So I got the skinny from the design studio.  They actually don't change the width of the cabinets for the build in fridge.  What they do is get rid of the cabinets that were above the fridge and replace the remaining space with a panel.  They also have a small siding around the edge of the fridge to close any empty spaces (a 42" build in, is actually 41.5").  They only other modification is you need the power outlet up high - which we added as a upgrade so that we can do the fridge upgrade on our own
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Actually they DO CHANGE the width.

I made a bunch of measurements today at the model homes and almost completed houses with cabinets already built-in (both with built-in cutouts and freestanding cutouts).

If you pay Sonoma to put in a built-in, they make the opening width 41 3/4 inches.  If you don't, then they make it 42 .0 inches.
So, what's only a quarter of an inch, you might ask?

KithenAide spec says that the width should be between 41 1/2 and 41 3/4 inches.
I also measured the widthe of the built in fridge and their width is only about 42 1/8 to 42 1/4 inches.
So, if you end up with 42 inches because you did not buy a built in from the builder, you are cutting it VERY close.
Maybe the overlaps of the fridge will barely cover the opening.  Maybe there will be some gap between the fridge and the cabinet.
It really depends on how plumb the cabinets are and how close you can adjust the built-in fridge to match the cabinet walls.

It really ticked me off that the Sonoma builder seemed to go the extra mile to screw you up if you don't get the built-in from them.
 
There might be some extra wood that is placed around the frame but the design studio rep said very bluntly that there is no change in the width.  I think anything noted on the built-ins on the models probably came from customizing the base fridge cutout after the fact to accomodate the built-in.  I asked the rep 3x so unless she lied I don't think it should be too hard to fit the built in after the fact - I guess there will be only one way to find out since my cutoff date is in one week for this upgrade phase
 
nytransplant said:
There might be some extra wood that is placed around the frame but the design studio rep said very bluntly that there is no change in the width.  I think anything noted on the built-ins on the models probably came from customizing the base fridge cutout after the fact to accomodate the built-in.  I asked the rep 3x so unless she lied I don't think it should be too hard to fit the built in after the fact - I guess there will be only one way to find out since my cutoff date is in one week for this upgrade phase
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That's what my design studio rep said also, but I honestly think they don't have all the details.  The openings at the model homes and the homes fitted for built-in were identical.  These were 2 homes from phase 7 that actually opted for built-ins and had the openings for built-in.

Like I said ealier, it may not matter between 41 3/4 and 42 inches.  But, it will not make it any easier when the fridge manufacturer specifices 41 3/4 as the maximum opning width.

For myself, I am going to do some custom cabinet work in the plan 3 dining room and will have the cabinet guy put in a quarter to half an inch of filler to make the opening width meet the manufacturer spec at a minimal cost.
It just bugs me that they are not letting the customers pick  a built in cabinet dimentions as an option when it actually requires less amount of cabinets to do a built in opening!!!
 
sonoma said:
Does anybody know the cabinet company for Sonoma?  Mike, you definitely came up with a slick idea.  Can you share a picture of your refrigerator if you don't mind?
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www.hartmark.com wants ~$700 to fill up the holes but my contractor offers to do it free ... can't complaint Sonoma builder as they gave me both built in and non built in cabinets as they make a mistake for putting a built in even I didn't order one... plus some leftover wood planks.

My non built in refrigerator in a free custom fill in gap cabinet. Nice little ..... Draw/touch screen, with photo album and messages functions refrigerator for $2000. You can notices the right side fill in wood is smaller than the left as one of the builder left over wood is thinner, and I want to keep the gap small, just enough to put in the refrigerator. My cabinet opening is not symmetrically uniform, but my contractor did a great job filling it.

I'm happy now as without filling the gap the cabinet looks unfinished .... and saving a few thousand dollars from getting a built in.

Mike
 
nytransplant said:
I2I, good luck with the modifications. Lets us know how it works out.  What other modifications are you making in the kitchen?
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Only other thing I am doing for sure is to add the cabinets to the dining room area.  I was set to pay the builder to add the cabinets in the dining room for $7500 even though I knew I can save some money if I do it after the COE.  But, when I asked about the glass doors like they have at the model house, they wanted to charge addtional $2600+.  That pushed it over the edge and I said screw you to the builder and let them know about it at the design center.  Guess what?  They just lowered the price to around $1400 for the glass doors.  But I already called my cabinet guy who remodeled my house 8 years ago and his price is less than $5K including the glass door.  So I will go with him.  He really did a good job and everyone just praised about my cabinets in my previous house.

As far as the built-in fridge goes, I am still on the fence.  It looks really nice, but it's still over priced.  Yesterday, I did put a deposit on the built-in fridge for $3K less than what the builder was offering it at so it is a little better but is still a lot of money.  I may cancel it and go with a freestanding, but I have time to think about it.
 
Mike,

That was an awesome job that your contractor did.  Thanks for sharing.  I might consider doing something like that.  I am on the fence too whether or not I want a built in.  ???

sonoma
 
Irvine2Irvine said:
nytransplant said:
I2I, good luck with the modifications. Lets us know how it works out.  What other modifications are you making in the kitchen?
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Only other thing I am doing for sure is to add the cabinets to the dining room area.  I was set to pay the builder to add the cabinets in the dining room for $7500 even though I knew I can save some money if I do it after the COE.  But, when I asked about the glass doors like they have at the model house, they wanted to charge addtional $2600+.  That pushed it over the edge and I said screw you to the builder and let them know about it at the design center.  Guess what?  They just lowered the price to around $1400 for the glass doors.  But I already called my cabinet guy who remodeled my house 8 years ago and his price is less than $5K including the glass door.  So I will go with him.  He really did a good job and everyone just praised about my cabinets in my previous house.

As far as the built-in fridge goes, I am still on the fence.  It looks really nice, but it's still over priced.  Yesterday, I did put a deposit on the built-in fridge for $3K less than what the builder was offering it at so it is a little better but is still a lot of money.  I may cancel it and go with a freestanding, but I have time to think about it.
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wow, that's amazing that they keep lowering prices for you!  we've never experienced that at the design center before...  granted, i actually don't feel like they are pushing us to spend more either, so that's a nice thing.
 
Mike, that looks great.
What kind of fridge is that?

Also on the built-in front, I did a little more digging.  The actual width including the overlap trim of the KitchenAid built-in is 42 1/4".  So there will be 1/8" overlap on each side of the 42" opening if you are going to mod it later.  It's close but should work.

As for the lowering of the options price, it actually happened after our cut-off time, so it was for later phases.  I found out by looking at their "new" options price list.  They also lowered prices on some electrical options and  cabinet options between the time I put in on the wish list and paid for them.  However, their price was much higher on many things when compared to Montecito options (which I did mention to the design center) so it just brought them closer to what others were charging.
 
Nice pics.

Maybe I'm just used to it or not that picky but I don't even really think about the gaps between my fridge and cabinet walls. Then again, I've used that space to store a broom so maybe that's not the most stylish thing.

 
Irvine2Irvine said:
Only other thing I am doing for sure is to add the cabinets to the dining room area.  I was set to pay the builder to add the cabinets in the dining room for $7500 even though I knew I can save some money if I do it after the COE.  But, when I asked about the glass doors like they have at the model house, they wanted to charge addtional $2600+.  That pushed it over the edge and I said screw you to the builder and let them know about it at the design center.  Guess what?  They just lowered the price to around $1400 for the glass doors.  But I already called my cabinet guy who remodeled my house 8 years ago and his price is less than $5K including the glass door.  So I will go with him.  He really did a good job and everyone just praised about my cabinets in my previous house.
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Got a question from the wife.  What cabinet style and color did you go with? She wants to know b/c she is concerned that any post-escrow contractor might not be able to match the rest of the kitchen - especially if it is an usual stain finish.

 
nytransplant said:
Got a question from the wife.  What cabinet style and color did you go with? She wants to know b/c she is concerned that any post-escrow contractor might not be able to match the rest of the kitchen - especially if it is an usual stain finish.
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I got the standard glazed stain finish.  My cabinet guy swore that he can match it close enough that it will not be an issue.  I am also planning to get a quote from Hartmark, which is the cabinet maker for Sonoma.

But more importantly, I am not going to try to match the cabinets exactly.  For top part, I am going with glass doors so they will look different anyway.  For the bottom part, I am going to add wine rack or wine fridge opening or something like that to break up the continuity from the kitchen cabinet to the dining room cabinet.
From there, it's just the stain color.  Good cabinet maker should be able to match the stain color almost identically.  They might have to do some trial and error on scrap pieces of wood until it comes out close.

If you are really worried, then there's always an option to make it completely different.  For example, make it match the dining room table.
 
It's a cheap Kenmore 36" refrigerator ....., need to cut some corners to make end meets. I spent that built in money on windows shutters and drapery instead.

Mike

Irvine2Irvine said:
Mike, that looks great.
What kind of fridge is that?

Also on the built-in front, I did a little more digging.  The actual width including the overlap trim of the KitchenAid built-in is 42 1/4".  So there will be 1/8" overlap on each side of the 42" opening if you are going to mod it later.  It's close but should work.

As for the lowering of the options price, it actually happened after our cut-off time, so it was for later phases.  I found out by looking at their "new" options price list.  They also lowered prices on some electrical options and  cabinet options between the time I put in on the wish list and paid for them.  However, their price was much higher on many things when compared to Montecito options (which I did mention to the design center) so it just brought them closer to what others were charging.
Click to expand...
 
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