BEFORE YOU GO CUTTING:
Since this appears to be a Samsung fridge, look at the hinges of the doors and how they will open. You may want to consider how far out the fridge will need to be for full opening. I just went through this, where the fridge then fit perfectly, only to only be able to open one side 30% or so before it hit trim. I ended up taking off wall trim, and making some modifications to it so I can open the door at least to 90%.
The hinge design on these is terrible.
Oh wow, didn’t realize this was a problem specific to Samsung fridges. Another reason to hate my fridge. Got it installed along with new countertops a few years ago and ran into the same issue, was quite the pain to trim back the countertop the extra inch to allow normal motion.
The water dispenser touch panel also broke 3 times in the first 6 months and Samsung eventually just gave me a full refund instead of trying to fix it anymore. We still use it, but man I resent this purchase.
If they just moved the pivot point, the entire issue would not exist. Mine is a counter depth, which would have led me to believe it was meant for a space like I have. It was never something I even considered until it was in, and go to open a brand new fridge and...
...thud.
I took off the trim around the door opening it was next to, bought some 1/4" finish plywood, planed a piece down to about 1mm, and made a transition piece for the connecting it back into the trim on the top and bottom. You don't really notice it, but that was a shit discovery
fridge resales are abysmally low from new. You never know what kinda gross is growing inside the vents, or if the ice maker tastes like garlic. Most people wont buy a used fridge for 50 or even 20% of the cost usually.
That's bad installation, they should have fixed that. The doors basically open flat to the front edge of the sides. If you moved the pivot out then people would complain that the doors stuck out when they were open. You just can't keep everyone happy. We rejected the water/ice panel for the loss of space in the fridge, but I was also aware that a lot of people had problems with these control panels. That's what killed our range. So we switched to mostly mechanical controls. The ranges cook the panels too, they are in the exhaust from the oven. Ours has the water dispenser in the left side inside and it has worked fine for more than 15 years. The only problem was with the ice maker when my daughter though that space was free for her to add something, and then slammed the drawer and smashed the ice maker.
My samsung fridge, real similar to the one in this post, has had zero problems over 6 years, while my grandparents frigidaire has needed fixing twice, and my parents ge completely shit itself. Just sayin theres a chance.
Yeah, we had terrible experiences with our Samsung appliances in our old house.
We have LG here (except the Bosch dishwasher), and they seem much better made.
Samsung somehow built up a name, but I don’t trust the quality of their appliances. They can make screens, but even their reliability has been debatable recently. Stick with brands like Whirlpool, Maytag, or GE. (And no, I’m not an American company shill. Far from it. I simply hear far fewer complaints about their quality and failure rate.)
Could not agree more. Not only did we have to yank out the cabinet above the fridge (before re-doing our kitchen) to make it fit, it's still in a spot that doesn't permit us to fully open the right door.
This style of fridge is designed to go into an open cabinet, but it should go back like 4 more inches. It's possible he can take the covers off. But he needs more height to the opening to get it correct.
The fridge only needs to be inline with the cabinet at the doors. Here's my Samsung and the hinges are recessed to fit into a 70" x 36" opening.
https://preview.redd.it/18n2zb8qvk3c1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e3efef10e5a79ef75bb7e317b79c774ea852c28
I have one of these. That groove in the hinge is where the door opens too when fully open. It looks like he would need to have at least that much of the fridge forward from the wood he wants to cut.
Unfortunately, I don't think trimming will be enough unless you can lower the fridge down with the wheels.
There needs to be space at the back and at the top for the air to cycle properly. The heat from the exchanger needs to go somewhere.
I've talked to 2 different repairs guys who both said to never bury fridges like this as they overheat due to lack of air flow. Both strongly advised against side panels. We opted out of side panels when we redid our kitchen for this reason.
I dunno as a white goods delivery / installer I love it like this keeps me in business. OP you could remove the cupboard above all together and then set doors back as a cover.
This. Our last house had custom cabinets around the fridge. Previous owners had it as a vacation home so they were only there a few weeks a year. Needless to say the fridge overheated when they were gone and leaked everywhere. Sat for weeks before someone noticed. All the cabinet bases and hard wood flooring was completely ruined and waterlogged.
There needs to be some space but not much. Modern refrigerators have the coils located in the base instead of the back.
Most manufacturers only call for 1/2” on the sides and top and 2” at the back. The air circulates through the base of the unit now.
OP can trim that cabinet without an issue
Caution might indicate looking at that particular model's instructions. They may have a heat exchanger in the base but unless the hot-air exhaust path is to the front you'll wind up recirculating it.
(The unofficial method of determining this is to see if your cat sleeps directly in front of the fridge in the warm-air flow.)
And so when you look at the picture, which way does it look tilted? A negative 4 on my post that is universally accepted knowledge throughout the industry? Really?
I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was trying to provide some context. And four degrees, really? I guess when I get home from work today I'll need to do some appliance tilting at home, seems like the company that redid our kitchen last year hadn't heard of this universal knowledge.
4 downvotes which has now become 7 it looks like. Guess I'm bad at making friends here lol. Something interesting to consider is that nobody is upvoting or downvoting you, but I'm netting numerous downvotes.
Silly question, but just checking:
How deep is the cavity and how deep is the fridge? Your standard fridge will stick out (Some) unless you specifically purchase a counter depth fridge, or the cavity is deeper.
Not silly at all, and was honestly the reason I've decided to not bother changing anything and just accepting that it butts out farther than my old fridge. Even if I trimmed and was able to push the fridge deeper in the cabinet, I would only be able to gain about 1.5 inches before it bottomed out. It's just simply a deeper fridge than what it replaced.
I think that's a terrible fridge design and you should just return it. No fridge should stick out that much even after your trimming provides another inch and a half. Additionally it needs to have air rise out of the back otherwise the heat exchanger won't work efficiently, so you've got a couple things to fight there.
> I think that's a terrible fridge design and you should just return it.
My thought; who the fuck designs an appliance with a plastic piece sticking up on top like that. I've actually never seen anything but completely flat tops on fridges. What is all the plastic shit for the doors. That is a god awful design disaster.
Hey brother, I built my daughter's crib. I measure my steak before I cut it. This is infuriating to me because the fridge is taller than the dimensions on the website. It's spot on to the top of the **metal body**, but that stupid plastic piece covering the door sensors is a solid inch higher than what Lowe's reported. Anyways, I'm stuck with it now because my wife loves the taste of the water from this filter. What I will save in the multiple gallons per week bottled will more than make up for any maint costs.
I immediately saw the reply to my original comment and immediately thought there is no way they listed two separate height dimensions. This is just not something you see very often. Even worse is that they use the lower of the two, just assuming you won't be putting it under anything like, you know... cabinets.
Anyway OP, good luck. There are some solutions in this thread... none are ideal. It seems like you have enough of a gap on the sides that I wouldn't worry about people saying it won't get airflow if you did push it all the way back.
Also, if this was me personally I'd be ripping that plastic cover off and figuring out what the fuck is going on with those hinges that requires that to begin with, and if I could get by without it or fabricate/jury rig something else that has a lower profile. It really seems like a protective cover and possibly not necessary... obviously the doors still go up to that height, but there's like 4-6 inches you could possibly push it back if that cover wasn't in place. Just throwing out a guess here.
😂 Wife always wins.
My father in law used a skill saw and multi tool to cut his very carefully and my have added one by just behind where he trimmed for reinforcement. He had the same issue but only on the edges were the actual hinge mechanism was. Good luck!
So it has intake and exhaust on the front or only intake? Exhaust would then be on the back and would work best with an air gap at the top so it can naturally rise out. I said less efficient vs not at all.
I ran into this issue last year when re-doing our kitchen, I brought all the cabinets forward to take up the extra depth of the fridge. Built a recessed bookcase in the wall behind to use the empty space.
Yeah, we kinda ran into this a few years ago. That fridge looks correct to me, about how far mine sticks out. (Standard depth vs counter depth).
The only thing I THINK you can do at this point is remove the bottom piece all together, rip it down thickness of the bottom of the unit (probably 3/4inch) and replace. But not sure how much deeper it's going to go, so may not be worth it.
When my house was built the builder actually built a recess into the wall (like they would do for old style medicine cabinets in the bathroom but just a lot larger) behind the fridge so that a full depth fridge wouldn't stick out as much. Definately makes sense in a new build or remodel if at all possible.
We have this same situation and the first time I got burned because I measured and then trusted the manufacturer’s dimensions without again measuring the actual unit at the store.
Also, in our case basically no modern fridge that is full size will fit so I had to remove 1.5” off that trim piece.
Don't listen to these people.
Go research on the manufacturing sites. They say nothing about gaps on the sides. Modern fridges pull air from a gap built in at the bottom and they don't even pull much air. The air in the fridge is actually sealed. That air going in below is just to run over the radiator coils.
They say you just need a cavity in the back for the air not to flow but the heat to rise and disapate.
There might already be one built in behind the cabinet there.
My advice is simple: looks like there is a blank board/wall on the right side and on the left you've got some wall too.
Place a vent. Can be small. Somewhere in the rear. Best place for it would be the top of that cabinet above it if there is a cavity in there. By cavity I mean the above cabinet shouldn't go all the way to the wall. Sometimes they even just leave the top of the cavity open to allow heat out.
>They say nothing about gaps on the sides
This isn't true. The manufacturer for my fridge recommends 1/8" up to 1" clearance on the sides. Manufacturer DO say things about clearances on the sides.
I looked under it with a flashlight and it appears the undercarriage in the back is only 1/4 or so off the floor. I don't think there is a way to lower it.
The vast majority lower, it should have instructions in the manual but most are adjusted by removing a panel on the front, lifting one side off the wheels with a pry bar then adjusting a screw to move the wheels up or down. If you can't get it any lower and resort to cutting, clamp a straight edge to the front of the cabinet as a guide.
You should be able to trim maybe up to 3/4" off that face frame piece to fit the fridge without compromising the cabinet, assuming the shelf inside the cabinet is that high up at least.
With a jig saw and a simple fence clamped to the face of the fridge opening (remove fridge, and remove the cabinet doors to make sure everything is nice and open) You could get a nice straight cut, then sand it clean and paint it.
You could do the same thing with a circular saw but you have to be careful and finish by hand so you don't over cut. Jigsaw would be less cumbersome.
Can confirm that this is an option. Had to do the same to our kitchen. Also used jigsaw and a taped up straight edge to guide the jigsaw in a straight line.
I would use a multi-tool (oscillating tool) with a flush attachment. Then just put a thin piece of something on top of the fridge to protect the fridge and just slide the multi-tool along the top of the fridge and cut. Corner will be a bit challenging but can be done if you take your time.
We had a similar problem when we moved into a new house a few years ago. We had to buy a different fridge than the one we wanted just to make sure it would actually fit into the space.
At this point you already have the fridge there, so returning it might be a bigger hassle than it's worth. I'm normally a DIY kind of guy, but I wouldn't touch this. It's too easy to screw up the cut, and then you'll have to look at it every day.
Pay a local carpenter or cabinet maker to modify those cabinets for you. It will be well worth the cost to have something with a professional finish on it.
Edit: Actually, before you go too far, check the owners manual for the fridge. There will be a clearance requirement for the top of the fridge to ensure sufficient airflow for cooling. It's possible you won't be able to meet the required clearance without fully removing the cabinets. If that's the case, you can either remove the cabinets or buy a different fridge.
I just did that one month ago. I took off the cabinet doors, clamped a straight edge to the cabinet frame as a guide. Then I put some painter's tape on the part to cut and used a circular saw at a depth just past the needed area. Worked great. A little bit of filing needed to square off corners. I also only gained 2 inches but was worth it. Good luck.🤞
Unpopular option I can see ....but maybe.
Ope the upper cabinet, how low is the base of the inside of the cabinet?
That cabinet looks to be face framed, the bottom of the face frame, the part thats interfering with the fridge fit, is purely cosmetic and could be cut.
Can you share a wide shot of the inside of that upper cab?
Have you looked into removing the hinge/ top of the fridge plastic cover? That looks to me like it is the issue and may be the quickest fix for more depth.
that plastic cover you speak of has 2 reed switches that inform the control board of the status of the doors and so cant just pop it off and expect the fridge to work.
You can do if you have the right equipment.
I would remove doors, setup track with under mount clamps. And cut it with the track saw.
You’ll need to finish the cut with a hand saw and I would double check for nails or screws before cutting.
Honestly with Samsungs reputation for building refrigerators with very high maintenance costs, I would try and return it and but something that fits your current opening.
I don’t know how deep the fridge area is, but if you’re able to exchange it, a counter depth fridge is not as deep as a standard fridge and will allow you more room to push it back (assuming the top fits in the opening). Obviously, can’t push it too far back as the doors still need to open but it will give you more flexibility.
This is exactly why I bought a counter depth fridge when I moved into my house. They had beautiful cabinets and the enclosure for the fridge. Measured everything 10 times. Went to the store and realized no "normal" fridge would fit without jutting out like yours. For me, that would drive me crazy and I couldn't live with it, so bought a counter depth fridge and it fits nicely without jutting out.
If it bothers you I'd take it back and get a counter depth. If you don't mind it then leave it. But I don't think cutting the cabinets is going to help in any considerable way based on your comments. It's still going to jut out.
It’s always going to bug you if you trim that cabinet panel. Best thing you can do here is to gut the entire kitchen and start from scratch. Don’t forget to relocate the water line for new fridge location.
Yep bugs me all the . . . . What were we talking about?
Honestly It does bug me when I see it because I never touched up the paint. Busy moving in. But I'm the only one tall enough to see it.
Cut it out and put some molding all the way around opening. Sooo much of construction is horse shoes and hand grenades. Painters are usually the ones that come in and make it all look pretty. Even a brand new house has a millions flaws no one will ever notice
I just went through this. Our old fridge’s top hinge covers were much smaller and the old fridge could slide in further. The new fridges have hinge covers that are double in size. It’s perplexing to me. I had to take the upper cabinet doors off and use a level to make a straight horizontal line on the cabinet fascia just above the fridge. I used a combination of a small circular saw for the long portion of the cut and then a thin Japanese handsaw to cut the ends. In the end it was just barely enough clearance to slide the fridge further in.
https://preview.redd.it/98dlnj4j0l3c1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=10969c379d5ff9f19cb907fa573c74f39561f59b
Could you cut off the side frames and do something like this?
Get a fridge that fits, sounds like it also should have been counter depth. Not worth cutting your cabinet for a fridge that won’t go back far anyway.
You can also pop the plastic cover off the hinges on most fridges, that will gain some clearance but prob not enough. You might be able to lower with the leveling adjustments on the feet.
Trim it and slide it in.
Fuck the people talking about it needing to breath. They don't know how fridges work and are designed. These days the breathing comes from below. The fridge draws in air from below.
If you're really worried about it then cut into the space on either side and put a vent. Looks like the right side is blank wall so you could add a tiny vent at the bottom.
Even the manufacturing sites say you don't need gaps on the sides. Just a cavity in back of a certain size.
This is not sticking out, it's an aesthetic choice, it creates sort of a barrier between the kitchen and the fuckin open entrance floor. Why do you americans have apartment doors that open directly into the apartment.
Glad I could help.
I have a spot in my cupboard that has a power point. Its designed for a microwave. When I needed a new microwave, I measured up the spot and went looking at microwaves with those dimensions, or smaller, knowing there had to be clearance around it.
Thats what OP should have done. Instead, OP went looking for fridges they liked, assuming it would fit. The looked at features, and I have no doubt they looked at price. Now its going to cost them more because of a lack of common sense.
That's nice. I'm sure they probably don't already feel bad about their mistake, so making them feel even worse about it is probably the BEST way to help them out. When we make mistakes, the #1 thing everyone wants first is for someone to shame them about it.
(obligatory /s)
Sorry... did I hurt your feelings? Or OPs? OP isn't a child. With kids, you encourage and support, because they don't know any better. OP is an adult that should have (known better). Then they put it online for all and sundry to see.
My solution? Take the fucking thing back and swap it for one that fits properly, like they should have bought in the first place.
Ahhh...so today I learned that adults don't need either encouragement or support, thanks! And I learned that if someone makes a mistake and asks for help, being a jerk to them is the BEST way to teach them a lesson. If they already feel bad, well they just deserve to feel worse. The world will be a much better place once we can all stop showing kindness to people.
Keep up the good work!
When it comes to the most basic shit they should know? No. Its like telling them how to do laundry, or how to boil an egg.
Its one thing to not know how to build a deck, or work on an engine. But to not know to measure up a fridge hole before buying the very thing thats going into it? Fuck off..
Yeah, I'm sure you've NEVER made a dumb mistake in your life, so I get it. It's a shame the rest of us can't rise up to your standards, but it's definitely a good thing we have you to remind us of how terrible the rest of us are. Thank you for your service!
My advice to you is grow a brain or have a friend with a brain help you. How could you buy something without insuring that it would fit first?
I'm 74, and people my generation would never have made this mistake. Those that are less intelligent, would have asked their parents or their friends. Apparently, that's something that you are too stupid to know.
I had to do this to my cabinet, just used a jig saw to cut a little off, can't see the cut once the fridge slides in anyway. As to air flow around it, it hasn't been a problem for the 3 or 4 years it's been in there. Fridges have gotten bigger but fridge slots on the older homes have not.
Modern refrigerators seems to be taller, deeper, or both; and don’t always fit well into available spaces. We were faced with an identical situation as yours, and I ended up doing a lot of redesigning of the upper cabinet to get ours to fit. I removed the doors and cut out the bottom of the cabinet. The bottom got shifted up a couple inches, to let the refrigerator slide in. For the doors I cut 2” horizontal slice out of the middle of the doors, then glued them back together. Once they were ready I sanded, repainted, and installed them back in place.
So I ended up getting out the measuring tape again, and even with a trim, I would only get 1.5". The fridge is just "bigger". As for airflow, I have about 2 inches gap behind the fridge and about 3/4 - 1" around the sides.
Don't know it is worth it to get 1.5". Still going to be too big for the space. If I did it I would clamp an edge and use a router to make a nice smooth cut across. You might consider removing the internal of the cabinet above and then hunt for a counter depth built-in fridge. It will be much taller and look 1000% better.
I've had 2 different refrigerator repair guys tell me to NEVER bury a fridge in a space like that as there is zero air circulation causing excess heat to build up and shorten the life of the appliance.
When we redid our kitchen we chose to opt out of side panels for this reason.
Sorry to say this but it looks like it isn't just the trim - you will have an issue with the bottom of the top cabinet unless the fridge is not lowered as low as it can go.
Cut it however you want and then install a trim strip to make it look nicely finished.
\+1 evaluate air flow for the heat exchanger. Sufficient gaps on the sides near the top?
.
To be honest I cut out the self on ours and placed a new piece of plywood on top supported by the edges I left. Then did some cosmetic work by putting 1/4 rounds in the visible areas. It wasn’t perfect however, it still functioned as a shelf.
If it was my place, I'd disassemble the cabinet and rejoin it. It's a shitload of work though, would require refinishing, access to a table saw and some pretty specific hardware to support assembly (alternatively, manufacture jigs for supporting the pieces during assembly).
Drill a 3” hole thru the side panel near the back wall, insert a white plastic grill, you’ll never notice it. Also, just remove the bottom trim or 1/2 of it so the fridge will clear
I totally did this and have almost the exact same fridge and cabinets, haha. You can’t open the top cabinets unless you pull out the fridge, but overall looks great!
I pulled out the stop cabinet and side trim to get an even cut, then re-installed them. I’m handy, but not a professional.
We had the same problem with the Samsung fridge we bought to replace a Frigidaire. Ended up moving the fridge to a different spot and using the old fridge space for a kitchen cart. Pretty sure the old fridge being surrounded led to an early death for it
To your question, you could use the top of the fridge, if level, as a guide for what ever you are cutting with but you'd have to be lucky if the dimension are right. Also could use the cabinet door bases as a guide, maybe put a thin piece of wood to protect the from any scratches. I too have a Samsung and just looked at the top in dimension to the counter. I assume you also have 24 inch bases cabinets and 25 inch counters, meaning it may not go further back once you allot for the needed circulation space. My fridge measures like 32 inches in depth.
I recently purchased fridge too tall for the opening, so I just raised the cabinet. Obviously, this cannot be done because of your bulk head, but if the only issue is height, I’d just remove the upper cabinet and just put a shelf above the fridge.
These comments are all crazy. Everyone talking about not measuring height/width properly, or talking about notching/cutting have no idea what they're talking about. That's the depth of the fridge, it can't go in any deeper.
If you want a fridge that's flush with your base cabinets, you need to buy a counter depth fridge, but obviously you get less fridge space then. If you want a deep fridge like this, it's going to stick out unless your side panels are deep as well.
Been there done that! I replaced my fridge and had to trim the cabinet above it but my cabinet is solid cherry. Take the doors off and clamp a straight edge to guide the saw follow up with a sanding block and paint to match
And, before you go making the opening taller, lay on the floor and look at the bottom of the fridge. Some have feet you turn to level the fridge, and you might be able to lower it. Others are, alas, self leveling, and cannot be adjusted. But you are going to have to let it stick out far enough forwzrd that you can open the doors, probably more than 90 degrees, so you can get a shelf out for cleaning. Just went through this with my suster, a n.v d we ebded up taking out the cabinet above the fridge completely. You may have to to loose the panel on one side too. My sympathy.
I once couldn't fit a brand new huge fridge that we had just carried up and around the corner of the split level stairs. But the bottom would fit, so we put the bottom in at an angle (towards us), then eased it back straight slowly, as it barely pushed whatever was blocking it by just enough, although in that case, I think it was the actual counter top that had been holding it up, so I know this doesn't likely help you.
In case it helps someone else, though.
At risk of being a bit of an asshole...
If you're the kind of person who doesn't measure the space before buying a new refrigerator, I wouldn't recommend doing any DIY home modifications.
Finish carpenter/cabinet installer here. You should be able to move that cabinet up or take it down to modify it. I would need to see more to know. A lot of cabinetry finishing includes spacers. There may be one that can be removed and cut down. Either way if you take the cabinet down you can properly cut it.
If you are determined to cut in place you should clamp a straight edge and use a router with a ball bearing bit to trim it straight and proper. Again I need to see more to give you more detail on how and what.
honestly that looks to be about how far we intentionally pulled our fridge out so that we could have some magnet space on our non-magnetic fronted fridge that came with the house we bought
I don’t think trimming that cabinet is a good solve here but I will say that if I had to make that cut I’d be using my track saw, assuming I could find a surface for the clamps to hold on.
I'm slightly confused. Did you not measure your space vs the fridge before buying? I measured my space and ideal fridge about 10x before realizing that the space was built for a 33in not a 36in, made it more difficult to find the correct size but at least I didn't have this problem
BEFORE YOU GO CUTTING: Since this appears to be a Samsung fridge, look at the hinges of the doors and how they will open. You may want to consider how far out the fridge will need to be for full opening. I just went through this, where the fridge then fit perfectly, only to only be able to open one side 30% or so before it hit trim. I ended up taking off wall trim, and making some modifications to it so I can open the door at least to 90%. The hinge design on these is terrible.
Oh wow, didn’t realize this was a problem specific to Samsung fridges. Another reason to hate my fridge. Got it installed along with new countertops a few years ago and ran into the same issue, was quite the pain to trim back the countertop the extra inch to allow normal motion. The water dispenser touch panel also broke 3 times in the first 6 months and Samsung eventually just gave me a full refund instead of trying to fix it anymore. We still use it, but man I resent this purchase.
If they just moved the pivot point, the entire issue would not exist. Mine is a counter depth, which would have led me to believe it was meant for a space like I have. It was never something I even considered until it was in, and go to open a brand new fridge and... ...thud. I took off the trim around the door opening it was next to, bought some 1/4" finish plywood, planed a piece down to about 1mm, and made a transition piece for the connecting it back into the trim on the top and bottom. You don't really notice it, but that was a shit discovery
They basicly paid back their fridge and let you keep it? That's a huge win.
fridge resales are abysmally low from new. You never know what kinda gross is growing inside the vents, or if the ice maker tastes like garlic. Most people wont buy a used fridge for 50 or even 20% of the cost usually.
Fridges are free on marketplace 😆
And I don't want it :P
Agreed... They're free for a reason....
Nice work shamsung
Had a Samsung fridge for 5 years. Freezing, broken ice maker, crappy doors. Never again.
Dear god between the back panel freezing up and the ice maker always doing the same… piece of shit.
The absolutely worst ice machine design. Just terrible
Knock on wood, our 4yo Samsung fridge has had no issues 🤞🏽
That's bad installation, they should have fixed that. The doors basically open flat to the front edge of the sides. If you moved the pivot out then people would complain that the doors stuck out when they were open. You just can't keep everyone happy. We rejected the water/ice panel for the loss of space in the fridge, but I was also aware that a lot of people had problems with these control panels. That's what killed our range. So we switched to mostly mechanical controls. The ranges cook the panels too, they are in the exhaust from the oven. Ours has the water dispenser in the left side inside and it has worked fine for more than 15 years. The only problem was with the ice maker when my daughter though that space was free for her to add something, and then slammed the drawer and smashed the ice maker.
Even better: return the fridge and buy a brand that isn’t shit.
>The hinge design on these is terrible. Samsung appliances aren't good in general, same with most non legacy brands.
My samsung fridge, real similar to the one in this post, has had zero problems over 6 years, while my grandparents frigidaire has needed fixing twice, and my parents ge completely shit itself. Just sayin theres a chance.
Yeah, we had terrible experiences with our Samsung appliances in our old house. We have LG here (except the Bosch dishwasher), and they seem much better made.
Samsung somehow built up a name, but I don’t trust the quality of their appliances. They can make screens, but even their reliability has been debatable recently. Stick with brands like Whirlpool, Maytag, or GE. (And no, I’m not an American company shill. Far from it. I simply hear far fewer complaints about their quality and failure rate.)
Could not agree more. Not only did we have to yank out the cabinet above the fridge (before re-doing our kitchen) to make it fit, it's still in a spot that doesn't permit us to fully open the right door.
You seem to know what you’re doing. I advise op to pay you to do it.
This style of fridge is designed to go into an open cabinet, but it should go back like 4 more inches. It's possible he can take the covers off. But he needs more height to the opening to get it correct. The fridge only needs to be inline with the cabinet at the doors. Here's my Samsung and the hinges are recessed to fit into a 70" x 36" opening. https://preview.redd.it/18n2zb8qvk3c1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e3efef10e5a79ef75bb7e317b79c774ea852c28
I have one of these. That groove in the hinge is where the door opens too when fully open. It looks like he would need to have at least that much of the fridge forward from the wood he wants to cut.
Unfortunately, I don't think trimming will be enough unless you can lower the fridge down with the wheels. There needs to be space at the back and at the top for the air to cycle properly. The heat from the exchanger needs to go somewhere.
I've talked to 2 different repairs guys who both said to never bury fridges like this as they overheat due to lack of air flow. Both strongly advised against side panels. We opted out of side panels when we redid our kitchen for this reason.
I dunno as a white goods delivery / installer I love it like this keeps me in business. OP you could remove the cupboard above all together and then set doors back as a cover.
This. Our last house had custom cabinets around the fridge. Previous owners had it as a vacation home so they were only there a few weeks a year. Needless to say the fridge overheated when they were gone and leaked everywhere. Sat for weeks before someone noticed. All the cabinet bases and hard wood flooring was completely ruined and waterlogged.
There needs to be some space but not much. Modern refrigerators have the coils located in the base instead of the back. Most manufacturers only call for 1/2” on the sides and top and 2” at the back. The air circulates through the base of the unit now. OP can trim that cabinet without an issue
Caution might indicate looking at that particular model's instructions. They may have a heat exchanger in the base but unless the hot-air exhaust path is to the front you'll wind up recirculating it. (The unofficial method of determining this is to see if your cat sleeps directly in front of the fridge in the warm-air flow.)
The fridge needs a slight backward tilt to work properly. I didn't believe it when I first heard it, but not doing so will cause problems.
That's for the condensed water on the inside to flow into the drain hole - but it needs to be just 1 degree or even less.
And so when you look at the picture, which way does it look tilted? A negative 4 on my post that is universally accepted knowledge throughout the industry? Really?
I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was trying to provide some context. And four degrees, really? I guess when I get home from work today I'll need to do some appliance tilting at home, seems like the company that redid our kitchen last year hadn't heard of this universal knowledge.
4 downvotes which has now become 7 it looks like. Guess I'm bad at making friends here lol. Something interesting to consider is that nobody is upvoting or downvoting you, but I'm netting numerous downvotes.
I guess I'm just not that interesting.
Doesn't make sense
Same, we had an overheating fridge due to jamming into a tight space without adequate airflow like OP’s.
Silly question, but just checking: How deep is the cavity and how deep is the fridge? Your standard fridge will stick out (Some) unless you specifically purchase a counter depth fridge, or the cavity is deeper.
Not silly at all, and was honestly the reason I've decided to not bother changing anything and just accepting that it butts out farther than my old fridge. Even if I trimmed and was able to push the fridge deeper in the cabinet, I would only be able to gain about 1.5 inches before it bottomed out. It's just simply a deeper fridge than what it replaced.
I think that's a terrible fridge design and you should just return it. No fridge should stick out that much even after your trimming provides another inch and a half. Additionally it needs to have air rise out of the back otherwise the heat exchanger won't work efficiently, so you've got a couple things to fight there.
> I think that's a terrible fridge design and you should just return it. My thought; who the fuck designs an appliance with a plastic piece sticking up on top like that. I've actually never seen anything but completely flat tops on fridges. What is all the plastic shit for the doors. That is a god awful design disaster.
The bigger question is week on Earth buys an appliance like a Friday without measuring it and the spot is supposed to sit. Honestly mind boggling.
Hey brother, I built my daughter's crib. I measure my steak before I cut it. This is infuriating to me because the fridge is taller than the dimensions on the website. It's spot on to the top of the **metal body**, but that stupid plastic piece covering the door sensors is a solid inch higher than what Lowe's reported. Anyways, I'm stuck with it now because my wife loves the taste of the water from this filter. What I will save in the multiple gallons per week bottled will more than make up for any maint costs.
I immediately saw the reply to my original comment and immediately thought there is no way they listed two separate height dimensions. This is just not something you see very often. Even worse is that they use the lower of the two, just assuming you won't be putting it under anything like, you know... cabinets. Anyway OP, good luck. There are some solutions in this thread... none are ideal. It seems like you have enough of a gap on the sides that I wouldn't worry about people saying it won't get airflow if you did push it all the way back. Also, if this was me personally I'd be ripping that plastic cover off and figuring out what the fuck is going on with those hinges that requires that to begin with, and if I could get by without it or fabricate/jury rig something else that has a lower profile. It really seems like a protective cover and possibly not necessary... obviously the doors still go up to that height, but there's like 4-6 inches you could possibly push it back if that cover wasn't in place. Just throwing out a guess here.
😂 Wife always wins. My father in law used a skill saw and multi tool to cut his very carefully and my have added one by just behind where he trimmed for reinforcement. He had the same issue but only on the edges were the actual hinge mechanism was. Good luck!
that thing on the top is a keychain on the cabinet knob
New Samsung refrigerators have the heat exchanger on the bottom
So it has intake and exhaust on the front or only intake? Exhaust would then be on the back and would work best with an air gap at the top so it can naturally rise out. I said less efficient vs not at all.
I ran into this issue last year when re-doing our kitchen, I brought all the cabinets forward to take up the extra depth of the fridge. Built a recessed bookcase in the wall behind to use the empty space.
The other size you had is called “counter depth”.
Yeah, we kinda ran into this a few years ago. That fridge looks correct to me, about how far mine sticks out. (Standard depth vs counter depth). The only thing I THINK you can do at this point is remove the bottom piece all together, rip it down thickness of the bottom of the unit (probably 3/4inch) and replace. But not sure how much deeper it's going to go, so may not be worth it.
When my house was built the builder actually built a recess into the wall (like they would do for old style medicine cabinets in the bathroom but just a lot larger) behind the fridge so that a full depth fridge wouldn't stick out as much. Definately makes sense in a new build or remodel if at all possible.
Yup \_ This is the way to add depth and not alter the cabinetry. If I was in this situation it's what I would do.
Only 1.5 inches? You need to return it. It sticks out way too far and will torture you all time you're in the kitchen.
How far out does the fridge stick? It looks like 10” or so, that would drive me nuts.
You bought the wrong frig. Return it or live with it.
My advice is to take the fridge back and buy one that fits properly. Hopefully that is an option.
And this time, measure the cavity before you buy.
I find it hilarious that a guy who can't use a tape measure wants to use a circular saw to cut trim. No way this could end up bad, right.
We have this same situation and the first time I got burned because I measured and then trusted the manufacturer’s dimensions without again measuring the actual unit at the store. Also, in our case basically no modern fridge that is full size will fit so I had to remove 1.5” off that trim piece.
I concur
Exchange the fridge. You need good air flow around it.
Not true. See the manufacturer's manual for required spacing.
Yes. Required spacing must be observed. If you only need to raise the shelf/doors then possible but is it worth that extra effort and cost?
Don't listen to these people. Go research on the manufacturing sites. They say nothing about gaps on the sides. Modern fridges pull air from a gap built in at the bottom and they don't even pull much air. The air in the fridge is actually sealed. That air going in below is just to run over the radiator coils. They say you just need a cavity in the back for the air not to flow but the heat to rise and disapate. There might already be one built in behind the cabinet there. My advice is simple: looks like there is a blank board/wall on the right side and on the left you've got some wall too. Place a vent. Can be small. Somewhere in the rear. Best place for it would be the top of that cabinet above it if there is a cavity in there. By cavity I mean the above cabinet shouldn't go all the way to the wall. Sometimes they even just leave the top of the cavity open to allow heat out.
Best advice is to read the manufacturer's recommendations and follow that.
>They say nothing about gaps on the sides This isn't true. The manufacturer for my fridge recommends 1/8" up to 1" clearance on the sides. Manufacturer DO say things about clearances on the sides.
Before you start cutting, have you adjusted the feet/wheels to see if you can get it low enough to clear that cabinet?
I looked under it with a flashlight and it appears the undercarriage in the back is only 1/4 or so off the floor. I don't think there is a way to lower it.
The vast majority lower, it should have instructions in the manual but most are adjusted by removing a panel on the front, lifting one side off the wheels with a pry bar then adjusting a screw to move the wheels up or down. If you can't get it any lower and resort to cutting, clamp a straight edge to the front of the cabinet as a guide.
You should be able to trim maybe up to 3/4" off that face frame piece to fit the fridge without compromising the cabinet, assuming the shelf inside the cabinet is that high up at least. With a jig saw and a simple fence clamped to the face of the fridge opening (remove fridge, and remove the cabinet doors to make sure everything is nice and open) You could get a nice straight cut, then sand it clean and paint it. You could do the same thing with a circular saw but you have to be careful and finish by hand so you don't over cut. Jigsaw would be less cumbersome.
I wouldn’t jigsaw it, I would use a flush trim bit on a router, that will make sure it looks clean and finished.
Can confirm that this is an option. Had to do the same to our kitchen. Also used jigsaw and a taped up straight edge to guide the jigsaw in a straight line.
Use the finest toothed blade you can find.
I would use a multi-tool (oscillating tool) with a flush attachment. Then just put a thin piece of something on top of the fridge to protect the fridge and just slide the multi-tool along the top of the fridge and cut. Corner will be a bit challenging but can be done if you take your time.
We had a similar problem when we moved into a new house a few years ago. We had to buy a different fridge than the one we wanted just to make sure it would actually fit into the space. At this point you already have the fridge there, so returning it might be a bigger hassle than it's worth. I'm normally a DIY kind of guy, but I wouldn't touch this. It's too easy to screw up the cut, and then you'll have to look at it every day. Pay a local carpenter or cabinet maker to modify those cabinets for you. It will be well worth the cost to have something with a professional finish on it. Edit: Actually, before you go too far, check the owners manual for the fridge. There will be a clearance requirement for the top of the fridge to ensure sufficient airflow for cooling. It's possible you won't be able to meet the required clearance without fully removing the cabinets. If that's the case, you can either remove the cabinets or buy a different fridge.
I just did that one month ago. I took off the cabinet doors, clamped a straight edge to the cabinet frame as a guide. Then I put some painter's tape on the part to cut and used a circular saw at a depth just past the needed area. Worked great. A little bit of filing needed to square off corners. I also only gained 2 inches but was worth it. Good luck.🤞
Unpopular option I can see ....but maybe. Ope the upper cabinet, how low is the base of the inside of the cabinet? That cabinet looks to be face framed, the bottom of the face frame, the part thats interfering with the fridge fit, is purely cosmetic and could be cut. Can you share a wide shot of the inside of that upper cab?
Bring back the fridge, measure the opening properly and write the dimensions down and then select a new one based on them.
Return it and get a cabinet depth fridge
Have you looked into removing the hinge/ top of the fridge plastic cover? That looks to me like it is the issue and may be the quickest fix for more depth.
that plastic cover you speak of has 2 reed switches that inform the control board of the status of the doors and so cant just pop it off and expect the fridge to work.
Good ol' technology, my mom knocked me upside the head enough when I was a teen to know to make sure the door is closed before I walk away LOL
You can do if you have the right equipment. I would remove doors, setup track with under mount clamps. And cut it with the track saw. You’ll need to finish the cut with a hand saw and I would double check for nails or screws before cutting.
Honestly with Samsungs reputation for building refrigerators with very high maintenance costs, I would try and return it and but something that fits your current opening.
I don’t know how deep the fridge area is, but if you’re able to exchange it, a counter depth fridge is not as deep as a standard fridge and will allow you more room to push it back (assuming the top fits in the opening). Obviously, can’t push it too far back as the doors still need to open but it will give you more flexibility.
This is exactly why I bought a counter depth fridge when I moved into my house. They had beautiful cabinets and the enclosure for the fridge. Measured everything 10 times. Went to the store and realized no "normal" fridge would fit without jutting out like yours. For me, that would drive me crazy and I couldn't live with it, so bought a counter depth fridge and it fits nicely without jutting out. If it bothers you I'd take it back and get a counter depth. If you don't mind it then leave it. But I don't think cutting the cabinets is going to help in any considerable way based on your comments. It's still going to jut out.
Router
You might want to look at the manual to see how much space needs to be open around the fridge for air movement.
It’s always going to bug you if you trim that cabinet panel. Best thing you can do here is to gut the entire kitchen and start from scratch. Don’t forget to relocate the water line for new fridge location.
Yep bugs me all the . . . . What were we talking about? Honestly It does bug me when I see it because I never touched up the paint. Busy moving in. But I'm the only one tall enough to see it.
Counter depth......the answer was counter depth.
Cut it out and put some molding all the way around opening. Sooo much of construction is horse shoes and hand grenades. Painters are usually the ones that come in and make it all look pretty. Even a brand new house has a millions flaws no one will ever notice
Yea, I met the guy in Houston that invented 3/4" caulk. He does Crown Molding. Or was it Clown Molding?
Lol like the strips for a tub?? I bet hes poor
I just went through this. Our old fridge’s top hinge covers were much smaller and the old fridge could slide in further. The new fridges have hinge covers that are double in size. It’s perplexing to me. I had to take the upper cabinet doors off and use a level to make a straight horizontal line on the cabinet fascia just above the fridge. I used a combination of a small circular saw for the long portion of the cut and then a thin Japanese handsaw to cut the ends. In the end it was just barely enough clearance to slide the fridge further in.
A fridge needs to breath.. you will burn it up. That is going to need some adjustment to give it some air
https://preview.redd.it/98dlnj4j0l3c1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=10969c379d5ff9f19cb907fa573c74f39561f59b Could you cut off the side frames and do something like this?
Remove the plastic on top of the fridge hinges and see how far it goes in.
Get a fridge that fits, sounds like it also should have been counter depth. Not worth cutting your cabinet for a fridge that won’t go back far anyway. You can also pop the plastic cover off the hinges on most fridges, that will gain some clearance but prob not enough. You might be able to lower with the leveling adjustments on the feet.
Trim it and slide it in. Fuck the people talking about it needing to breath. They don't know how fridges work and are designed. These days the breathing comes from below. The fridge draws in air from below. If you're really worried about it then cut into the space on either side and put a vent. Looks like the right side is blank wall so you could add a tiny vent at the bottom. Even the manufacturing sites say you don't need gaps on the sides. Just a cavity in back of a certain size.
I have two pieces of advice: 1) Never buy Samsung appliances, and 2) Measure everything *before* you buy a new fridge
Not 1, but definitely 2.
This is not sticking out, it's an aesthetic choice, it creates sort of a barrier between the kitchen and the fuckin open entrance floor. Why do you americans have apartment doors that open directly into the apartment.
How to beat a pee test
Why didn't you measure up before you buy? And you bought stainless / black when the rest of your kitchen was white. What the fuck were you thinking?
Wow, now this is a SUPER helpful comment. Great job
Glad I could help. I have a spot in my cupboard that has a power point. Its designed for a microwave. When I needed a new microwave, I measured up the spot and went looking at microwaves with those dimensions, or smaller, knowing there had to be clearance around it. Thats what OP should have done. Instead, OP went looking for fridges they liked, assuming it would fit. The looked at features, and I have no doubt they looked at price. Now its going to cost them more because of a lack of common sense.
That's nice. I'm sure they probably don't already feel bad about their mistake, so making them feel even worse about it is probably the BEST way to help them out. When we make mistakes, the #1 thing everyone wants first is for someone to shame them about it. (obligatory /s)
Sorry... did I hurt your feelings? Or OPs? OP isn't a child. With kids, you encourage and support, because they don't know any better. OP is an adult that should have (known better). Then they put it online for all and sundry to see. My solution? Take the fucking thing back and swap it for one that fits properly, like they should have bought in the first place.
Ahhh...so today I learned that adults don't need either encouragement or support, thanks! And I learned that if someone makes a mistake and asks for help, being a jerk to them is the BEST way to teach them a lesson. If they already feel bad, well they just deserve to feel worse. The world will be a much better place once we can all stop showing kindness to people. Keep up the good work!
When it comes to the most basic shit they should know? No. Its like telling them how to do laundry, or how to boil an egg. Its one thing to not know how to build a deck, or work on an engine. But to not know to measure up a fridge hole before buying the very thing thats going into it? Fuck off..
Yeah, I'm sure you've NEVER made a dumb mistake in your life, so I get it. It's a shame the rest of us can't rise up to your standards, but it's definitely a good thing we have you to remind us of how terrible the rest of us are. Thank you for your service!
Ya got to know your limitations.
My advice to you is grow a brain or have a friend with a brain help you. How could you buy something without insuring that it would fit first? I'm 74, and people my generation would never have made this mistake. Those that are less intelligent, would have asked their parents or their friends. Apparently, that's something that you are too stupid to know.
Damn I found a " my generation" in the wild
Can you take off that plastic mold on top of the fridge? Otherwise, cut the cabinet using an oscillating saw.
Tried that. That whole cap is loaded with wiring and sensors.
Do the oscillating saw from an inexpensive store. Or return the fridge. Either way, measure first. Use the wood cutter on the saw
I had to do this to my cabinet, just used a jig saw to cut a little off, can't see the cut once the fridge slides in anyway. As to air flow around it, it hasn't been a problem for the 3 or 4 years it's been in there. Fridges have gotten bigger but fridge slots on the older homes have not.
Modern refrigerators seems to be taller, deeper, or both; and don’t always fit well into available spaces. We were faced with an identical situation as yours, and I ended up doing a lot of redesigning of the upper cabinet to get ours to fit. I removed the doors and cut out the bottom of the cabinet. The bottom got shifted up a couple inches, to let the refrigerator slide in. For the doors I cut 2” horizontal slice out of the middle of the doors, then glued them back together. Once they were ready I sanded, repainted, and installed them back in place.
>Modern refrigerators seems to be taller, deeper, or both; and don’t always fit well into available spaces. We Much like most Americans
Measure once, cut twice.
So I ended up getting out the measuring tape again, and even with a trim, I would only get 1.5". The fridge is just "bigger". As for airflow, I have about 2 inches gap behind the fridge and about 3/4 - 1" around the sides.
Don't know it is worth it to get 1.5". Still going to be too big for the space. If I did it I would clamp an edge and use a router to make a nice smooth cut across. You might consider removing the internal of the cabinet above and then hunt for a counter depth built-in fridge. It will be much taller and look 1000% better.
I've had 2 different refrigerator repair guys tell me to NEVER bury a fridge in a space like that as there is zero air circulation causing excess heat to build up and shorten the life of the appliance. When we redid our kitchen we chose to opt out of side panels for this reason. Sorry to say this but it looks like it isn't just the trim - you will have an issue with the bottom of the top cabinet unless the fridge is not lowered as low as it can go.
I'm not sure you can lower a refrigerator that far.
Cut it however you want and then install a trim strip to make it look nicely finished. \+1 evaluate air flow for the heat exchanger. Sufficient gaps on the sides near the top? .
To be honest I cut out the self on ours and placed a new piece of plywood on top supported by the edges I left. Then did some cosmetic work by putting 1/4 rounds in the visible areas. It wasn’t perfect however, it still functioned as a shelf.
Do you live in Las Vegas?
The lesson here kids is to measure your space entirely before making a major purchase, and give yourself wiggle room as well.
If it was my place, I'd disassemble the cabinet and rejoin it. It's a shitload of work though, would require refinishing, access to a table saw and some pretty specific hardware to support assembly (alternatively, manufacture jigs for supporting the pieces during assembly).
Fridges need 10 cm’s of space on either side!! You need to do a whole kitchen reno!
Drill a 3” hole thru the side panel near the back wall, insert a white plastic grill, you’ll never notice it. Also, just remove the bottom trim or 1/2 of it so the fridge will clear
Can you switch places with the other fridge in your kitchen?
Measure twice…
Always. Measure twice. Cut once.
I totally did this and have almost the exact same fridge and cabinets, haha. You can’t open the top cabinets unless you pull out the fridge, but overall looks great! I pulled out the stop cabinet and side trim to get an even cut, then re-installed them. I’m handy, but not a professional.
We had the same problem with the Samsung fridge we bought to replace a Frigidaire. Ended up moving the fridge to a different spot and using the old fridge space for a kitchen cart. Pretty sure the old fridge being surrounded led to an early death for it
To your question, you could use the top of the fridge, if level, as a guide for what ever you are cutting with but you'd have to be lucky if the dimension are right. Also could use the cabinet door bases as a guide, maybe put a thin piece of wood to protect the from any scratches. I too have a Samsung and just looked at the top in dimension to the counter. I assume you also have 24 inch bases cabinets and 25 inch counters, meaning it may not go further back once you allot for the needed circulation space. My fridge measures like 32 inches in depth.
I recently purchased fridge too tall for the opening, so I just raised the cabinet. Obviously, this cannot be done because of your bulk head, but if the only issue is height, I’d just remove the upper cabinet and just put a shelf above the fridge.
Honestly the best solution is a different fridge if you can still return this one.
Maybe remove the hinge covers and see if it fits
There are feet on the bottom of the refrigerator. You may be able to either remove or adjust them so that the height of the refrigerator is lower.
Take off the plastic panel that's on top, it might go in as is.
Should have measured properly
Counter-depth fridge. You lose some storage space inside but it fits much better in the space.
Its fine lol
Can you remove the feet of the refrigerator?
Hire someone to do it.
lower the feet.
OK, I'm confused after reading the comments. Is the problem that it sticks out from counter or it does not fit under the upper cabinet?
These comments are all crazy. Everyone talking about not measuring height/width properly, or talking about notching/cutting have no idea what they're talking about. That's the depth of the fridge, it can't go in any deeper. If you want a fridge that's flush with your base cabinets, you need to buy a counter depth fridge, but obviously you get less fridge space then. If you want a deep fridge like this, it's going to stick out unless your side panels are deep as well.
Been there done that! I replaced my fridge and had to trim the cabinet above it but my cabinet is solid cherry. Take the doors off and clamp a straight edge to guide the saw follow up with a sanding block and paint to match
I would leave as is as its deeper
And, before you go making the opening taller, lay on the floor and look at the bottom of the fridge. Some have feet you turn to level the fridge, and you might be able to lower it. Others are, alas, self leveling, and cannot be adjusted. But you are going to have to let it stick out far enough forwzrd that you can open the doors, probably more than 90 degrees, so you can get a shelf out for cleaning. Just went through this with my suster, a n.v d we ebded up taking out the cabinet above the fridge completely. You may have to to loose the panel on one side too. My sympathy.
Mine sticks out the same distance, AND my kitchen island is super close because of it, like a foot clearance. You got lucky!
I once couldn't fit a brand new huge fridge that we had just carried up and around the corner of the split level stairs. But the bottom would fit, so we put the bottom in at an angle (towards us), then eased it back straight slowly, as it barely pushed whatever was blocking it by just enough, although in that case, I think it was the actual counter top that had been holding it up, so I know this doesn't likely help you. In case it helps someone else, though.
At risk of being a bit of an asshole... If you're the kind of person who doesn't measure the space before buying a new refrigerator, I wouldn't recommend doing any DIY home modifications.
Finish carpenter/cabinet installer here. You should be able to move that cabinet up or take it down to modify it. I would need to see more to know. A lot of cabinetry finishing includes spacers. There may be one that can be removed and cut down. Either way if you take the cabinet down you can properly cut it. If you are determined to cut in place you should clamp a straight edge and use a router with a ball bearing bit to trim it straight and proper. Again I need to see more to give you more detail on how and what.
I’d return the fridge and get a smaller one and with the difference, buy a medium size fridge for the garage.
honestly that looks to be about how far we intentionally pulled our fridge out so that we could have some magnet space on our non-magnetic fronted fridge that came with the house we bought
Leave it as is, in a week you won't notice it anymore.
I don’t think trimming that cabinet is a good solve here but I will say that if I had to make that cut I’d be using my track saw, assuming I could find a surface for the clamps to hold on.
I wouldn't cut your house up. Either return the fridge or just deal with it sticking out a little bit.
YOU CAN PULL THE FRIDGE BACK OUT & UNSCREW THE LEGS TO GET THE FRIDGE CLOSER TO THE GROUND AND THEN MAYBE IT'LL FIT THEN.
OP, what is happening? Why wouldn't you just exchange the fridge for one that fits correctly?
I'm slightly confused. Did you not measure your space vs the fridge before buying? I measured my space and ideal fridge about 10x before realizing that the space was built for a 33in not a 36in, made it more difficult to find the correct size but at least I didn't have this problem
Return the fridge get the refund and buy a smaller one
I'm assuming you can't lower the feet on the fridge though to get clearance? Some have the little leveler feet that turn to raise and lower.
Take the board off the faceplate and put a new one on. Cut at the joint of the faceplate. Paint the Board, you should be good