Fridge - is 24" wide too small?

[wildbeast]

We have a narrow kitchen - 9'10" on the side where the sink and fridge would be best located.  Having a regular sized fridge is making it difficult to achieve a balanced look in the space.  If we get a 24" fridge, the problem would be solved (we have a wall that can't be moved and it's creating a problem for the fridge door clearance needed.)  The smaller fridge would be in scale with the rest of the kitchen and the kitchen would look balanced, open and well-designed.  Right now the fridge is very dominant in the space and throws everything off. 

Does anyone currently have, or has had, a narrow fridge like this?  Right now we have a 32" wide, counter depth model and it's more than enough space for the two of us. 

I'm really liking this Bosch model with the white glass doors (we have white cabinets, our kitchen gets very little natural light, and I don't like the stainless steel fingerprint issue.)  The price is high, but we save money in other areas, so it's not too bad:
 https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-B10CB80NVW-Refrigerator-Spill-Proof-HydroFresh/dp/B00XL296PE

[AMandM]

I had a fridge that small, or maybe smaller, when we lived in Germany. I think it should be fine for you. It worked for our family of nine, doing about 3 shopping trips a week. (I would have shopped that often anyway, because of how the markets work in Germany.)

Proportion is really important to me, so in your position I would definitely buy the fridge that fits the kitchen. 

[bacchi]

We have a 24" wide fridge in our 1-wall open galley kitchen. It works fine.

That's an expensive fridge. I prefer dual condensers but, wow, $2000 for 10 cubic feet?

[ixtap]

We have a fridge that is one less square foot and only have to grocery shop more than once a week when we have company. Even then, it usually has more to do with my inability to plan for more than the two of us than actual space.

[wildbeast]

We have a fridge that is one less square foot and only have to grocery shop more than once a week when we have company. Even then, it usually has more to do with my inability to plan for more than the two of us than actual space.

@ixtap - How long have you had your fridge?

[wildbeast]

We have a 24" wide fridge in our 1-wall open galley kitchen. It works fine.

That's an expensive fridge. I prefer dual condensers but, wow, $2000 for 10 cubic feet?

@bacchi - Yeah, $2k+ is hard for me to swallow too.  There are many cheaper fridges that size, the extra cost is the Bosch brand and the luxury-looking white glass doors and sleek profile.  Maybe the interior space is better designed as well.  We normally keep our appliances till they die, so if the unit lasts 20+ years like our old one, the investment doesn't seem as bad.  But I hear you.

[wildbeast]

I had a fridge that small, or maybe smaller, when we lived in Germany. I think it should be fine for you. It worked for our family of nine, doing about 3 shopping trips a week. (I would have shopped that often anyway, because of how the markets work in Germany.)

Proportion is really important to me, so in your position I would definitely buy the fridge that fits the kitchen.

@AMandM - I tend to shop a couple of times a week too for the fresh produce and as things run out.  The European standards is what got me thinking of going smaller.  I keep thinking, do two people really need such a huge fridge?

Ours was a family of 10 and we had a much smaller fridge growing up.  It's funny how we become convinced that we need 'more' and actually feel fearful of what will happen if we don't have it.  Thanks for that reminder and wake-up call!  Is this where the famous face punches come in?

"I would definitely buy the fridge that fits the kitchen."  So smart.  So obvious.

[bacchi]

As an aside, our old fridge was 24" wide and over 6' tall, like the Bosch you're looking at. I had to cut out the above-the-fridge cabinet to get it to fit.

The newer 24" fridge is shorter and deeper and, instead of adding a cabinet above it, I built a 12" tall drawer for underneath. The fridge is lifted, making it easier to reach, and the ground level drawer is much easier to access than the above-the-fridge cabinet. I'm planning an open shelf above the fridge instead.

[dreams_and_discoveries]

As I Brit I would have to ask why you'd want a bigger than 24" fridge? What sort of things do you keep in it?

[MyHilariousUserName]

As I Brit I would have to ask why you'd want a bigger than 24" fridge? What sort of things do you keep in it?

My husband's British. He notes that we keep a ton of condiments loaded with sugar and salt that doesn't need to be refrigerated, a ton of drinks and things he doesn't think should go in a fridge, like jam. I think about the only things we don't put in fridge are dry and canned goods.

[ixtap]

We have a fridge that is one less square foot and only have to grocery shop more than once a week when we have company. Even then, it usually has more to do with my inability to plan for more than the two of us than actual space.

@ixtap - How long have you had your fridge?

Nearly four years.

[dycker1978]

We have a 24" wide fridge in our 1-wall open galley kitchen. It works fine.

That's an expensive fridge. I prefer dual condensers but, wow, $2000 for 10 cubic feet?

@bacchi - Yeah, $2k+ is hard for me to swallow too.  There are many cheaper fridges that size, the extra cost is the Bosch brand and the luxury-looking white glass doors and sleek profile.  Maybe the interior space is better designed as well.  We normally keep our appliances till they die, so if the unit lasts 20+ years like our old one, the investment doesn't seem as bad.  But I hear you.

From my experience in the repair racket, there are very few fridges that will last more then 7-10 years that you can purchase now.  Bosch is a well recognized brand, but as everything now, they are sharing components with many other manufactures.  I know many Bosch models used Panasonic or Samsung compressors for example. 

So the question is why are you wanting to spend 2k on a fancy pants white doors?

[wildbeast]

We have a 24" wide fridge in our 1-wall open galley kitchen. It works fine.

That's an expensive fridge. I prefer dual condensers but, wow, $2000 for 10 cubic feet?

@bacchi - Yeah, $2k+ is hard for me to swallow too.  There are many cheaper fridges that size, the extra cost is the Bosch brand and the luxury-looking white glass doors and sleek profile.  Maybe the interior space is better designed as well.  We normally keep our appliances till they die, so if the unit lasts 20+ years like our old one, the investment doesn't seem as bad.  But I hear you.

So the question is why are you wanting to spend 2k on a fancy pants white doors?

Because I'm weak, vain and foolish?

[wildbeast]

As I Brit I would have to ask why you'd want a bigger than 24" fridge? What sort of things do you keep in it?

Having a lot of big stuff is central to American culture, unfortunately. 

Last month I was at my in-laws, they're in their 70's and 80's, they eat very little, rarely cook, and yet have this huge fridge that makes it impossible to open one of their pantry doors.  You also can't open the fridge door all the way because it bumps into the pantry, so you can't open one of the produce bins.  The bottom freezer, same problem.  So they go through all this hassle, every day, just to have extra space that they "might need."  It's sheer madness.  And their house isn't that old, from the 70's, so the space for the fridge is decent. 

They also keep adding on to their house so that they can have room for more stuff.  Their house is about 2500 sq. ft.  and they have tons of storage sheds outside as well as a separate property with three barns full of stuff. 

I keep patting myself on the back because I'm "not like that" and yet here we are, dh and I, in a 1450 sq. ft. house with way more stuff than we need.  A garage with a bunch of stuff in it that hasn't been used in years and worried about downsizing to a smaller fridge.  I think I remember seeing a sticker that a fridge the size we have now can hold 18 bags of groceries.  Who needs to store 18 bags of groceries at all times?

Madness.  All of it.  But surprisingly hard to escape it. 

[mm1970]

As I Brit I would have to ask why you'd want a bigger than 24" fridge? What sort of things do you keep in it?

Some of this depends on the size of your family and how often we shop.  At the beginning of the week, our 30" fridge is packed top to bottom:

Cheese, sliced deli-meat, large containers of food cooked over the weekend (beans & rice, stew).
2 gallons of milk, a gallon of filtered water
The doors mostly have condiments (mayo, mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, jam, natural peanut butter)
Then there are the fruits and veggies: 2 heads of lettuce, a bag of mixed greens, a large head of kale, 2 lbs each of apples and oranges, carrots, onions, peppers.
2 dozen eggs, a 3 lb can of coffee.  Two 32-oz tubs of yogurt.
Tortillas

By the end of the week, the thing is totally empty.  I avoid mid-week shopping (lack of time), so what you see in the fridge on Sunday night is generally everything that we will be eating (family of 4 with 2 growing boys) in the next 7 days.