KitchenAid - 21.9 Cu. Ft. Counter-Depth French Door Refrigerator - Custom Panel Ready

I've only just received this fridge, so it is far too early to determine long-term reliability. I previously had a side-by-side KitchenAid that failed after 3-years and had to be replaced, so I opted for this French Door design. It's my first french door, and I must admit that the added fridge space is quite impressive. Onto the review: Exterior style is quite impressive. While it looks almost 'odd' to not have exterior water/ice, it also creates a very clean look and I'm hoping the trade-off of added interior space, greater ice capacity and long-term ice/water reliability is worth it. Interior is rather 'basic' for such an expensive fridge, with simple shelving, exposed screw heads (in both the fridge and freezer), visible 'plumbing' (ie. you pull out the crisper drawers and you see the hoses behind it), and just two LED lights shining from the top. There are no fancy features: no temperature controlled cooling drawer (it is fully manual, meaning you just twist a dial to open or close cooling vents - that's it; I was expecting it was digitally controlled), no elaborate LED lighting, no multi-adjustable shelving, no door-within-a-door… not even a concealed area for eggs. The shelving is perhaps the most disappointing part. Many have already commented on the fact that there is a 'gap' at the back of each shelf allowing items to fall down, but I presume this is done to aid cooling circulation. Still annoying as other fridges don't do this. Rather than my old GE (or even my old KitchenAid Side-by-Side), the shelving is a 'ratchet' system, that provides rather limited range of flexibility. Like store shelves at Target or Wal-Mart, they lock into place in two spots per side (see images), but since the railing does not come all the way down, you can't put the shelf at a lower setting as the bottom ratchet will be loose (making the shelf unstable) and one stop up makes the bottom ratchet stick out, again making it unstable. It’s difficult to explain in words, so I hope the pictures help. The freezer is a bit small, which is common for any French Door Counter Depth Fridge, but it does have a deep bin, one full-width rolling tray and another rolling tray, along with a good-size ice tray. That’s the one benefit of the way the water and ice is set up in this fridge. The water is MUCH colder than my old side-by-side and the ice holds 2-3 times a typical French door, and the added benefit of more space in the fridge. The Samsung Fridges have an ice maker in the top left of the fridge and a ‘shute’ on the left door, heavily restricting actual fridge space. This fridge is great in that regard. So why four stars? It’s not fancy on the inside, but it’s functional, looks premium from the outside and KitchenAid offers strong support. So long as it proves reliable, it will have earned the four stars.

I replaced a 24-year-old Amana side-by-side refrigerator with this model. I was constrained by counter-depth requirements, and could not find a side-by-side that did NOT have door dispensers (which, according to our food needs, take up too much room in the freezer). I purchased a small freezer for the garage, to make up for the lost space. Here are the pros: 1. Bright interior lighting. 2. Cute built-in plastic scoop for removing ice cubes. 3. Digital temperature display and water filter canister are unobtrusive and don't take up a lot of space. 4. Outstanding special delivery/installer ("George") assisted with cutting cabinetry that was built around the old, shorter model being replaced. Here are the cons: 1. Freezer space is 2.5 cubic feet smaller than my earlier model (a common problem with French Door styles), even though this model is 4" taller than my previous one. 2. Refrigerator shelves have a 2 1/8" OPEN GAP between each glass shelf and the rear wall of the fridge. Shelves have a 1 1/8" open gap between the glass shelf and the side walls of the fridge. Therefore, all items with diameters smaller than this (jam jars, soda and juice cans, juice packs, glass beer bottles, glass wine bottles -- e.g., dessert wines, condiments, narrow maple syrup bottles, etc.) will go crashing down the back -- or sides -- of the refrigerator. TERRIBLE DESIGN. 3. Appliance is somewhat noisy. When ice is being refilled, for example, you'll hear lots of initial popping/cracking/dropping sounds. 4. Left door of refrigerator has a unique interior folding hinge that seals its closure. But if you don't push this door hard enough, it will not completely close. 5. The Open-Door Alarm does not go off until after FIVE MINUTES (see #4, above). This time-delay is unadjustable. One could easily leave the house within FIVE minutes. TERRIBLE DESIGN. 6. No butter dispenser/bin/shelf. 7. Vegetable and fruit drawers are not "full-extension." In other words, you cannot open them all the way, making it difficult to remove heads of lettuce and other greens. The bins themselves are much smaller than usual, owing to their placement where the refrigerator's door shelves are the deepest. TERRIBLE DESIGN. 8. Considered a somewhat 'high-end' model, I am disappointed that so many features are so poorly designed. But my need for a counter-depth, without spending $8,000-10,000.00 for a "built-in" model, as well as immediately needing refrigeration during a hot summer season, necessitated this purchase. To Kitchenaid [Whirlpool]: YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS!

We have several rental houses and whenever an appliance dies, we get a new one for ourselves and move our old one to the rental. However, we like this refrigerator so much I don't think we'll be giving it up. This is our first counter depth frig and we like the fact that it's shallowness keeps things more accessible. Not to mention how much better it looks in our space. We also like the narrow tray in the freezer as well as having multiple sections. Makes organization much easier. The removable liners in the door compartments make cleaning a breeze. It's nice that the height is taller than other counter depth refrigerators we saw. And the handles and front of the frig resist marks and are easy to clean. We like the water dispenser in the door for two reasons: 1. it makes the front of the frig less cluttered and therefore in our opinion better looking and 2.in our experience with having so many refrigerators over the years, the outside ice and water dispensers are the parts that go out quickly and repeatedly. In regard to the gap at the back of the shelves that others mention, this has been the case with every refrigerator we've had. The advantage with this one is the gap is wide enough that we can set bottles back there. So we haven't lost any space. We chose bottles that we don't use too often but they are not difficult to reach and remove. I attached a picture. On the top shelf, we just used two clear low trays that can be pushed against the back so no loss of space there either. We have not had to use customer service so I can't speak to that but I guess that's a good thing - it means our frig is holding up well!

We had owned the identical refrigerator in our Tulsa home although it was labeled under the Viking brand. We had purchased it because the handle closely matched the Thermador appliances we had put in a kichen redo. We love how nothing is lost in the interior of this fridge...top or bottom. Everything is very visible! The refrigerator and freezer maintain the temperature the best of any we have ever owned. We chose the model with the water dispenser inside the fridge as well as a container and scoop in the freezer for ice. Unlike the shorter model, the water button inside can be turned on by the carafe or pitcher using only one hand. This lessens the job of keeping the SS exterior clean from water drips, and it creates very sleek lines. This refrigerator is 2" taller than the other counter depth refrigerators. The extra height and no front panel dispensers gives the refrigerator very clean lines. We love this refrigerator!

Purchased this to compliment my new kitchen without having to buy custom cabinets for a nice built-in look. Went with this model because it had a couple cubic feet more capacity than other counter depth models of the same width. Right now it's in use in the garage while the kitchen is being finished. So far we like its design, though one star demerit for not having the glass shelves extend further back (there's a big enough gap that smaller jars will fall off the back of the shelves). This is our first French door refrigerator/freezer and we do not regret our choice.

For the price of the product and the reputation of kitchen aid, I had high expectations. Instead I got pretty much the same as my older sears model, except the left door flipper/sealer bangs hard into the right hand door sometimes when the door is being closed. It doesnt seem to open and close the way it should. Every time it happens, I check to see if there was damage. The other thing that drives me crazy is that there is a gap at the back of the shelves. It is big enough for soda cans to fall back there, down to the next level. Otherwise, it works fine, keeps food cold - but nothing special.

I didn't know that this fridge would not fit fully enclosed. It's black and the sides stick out by design. The cabinet painter painted the sides and it looked fine. The problem was not the doors sticking out it was that the fridge wouldn't cool. Best Buy was great. I called and they immediately ordered me a new one. My issue is that I have to wait over a month for a relacement and have to pay for the doors to be repainted and have to pay for take out as we got rid of our old fridge when this one was installed.

I purchased this panel-ready refrigerator for our new home, currently under construction. We are having custom wood panels made for the refrigerator to match the kitchen cabinets. This refrigerator is sold without handles. Yes, really...no handles.. Finding appropriate handles is like searching for hens teeth; i.e. there are none commonly available. After extensive sleuthing, I found handles, handle mounts, and mounting screws (all of which are required) available from Whirlpool (KitchenAid). I ordered the parts about 3 weeks ago. All are on back order with no anticipated delivery date. This is not good .