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Most builders here leave 72"-76" of height for a modern refrigerator. When I redid my kitchen, I put cabinets over my fridge with a pullout and I store my stockpots there. I can easily grab the pullout and get them and I'm 5'5". Put in a pullout and it will be much more functional.
We have a refrigerator-depth divider panel between the fridge and the adjacent countertop.
When we had the cabinet installed over the fridge, we had it pulled out to the front of the refrigerator.
It is much easier to access when it is at the front. That placement also allows air flow behind the unit for better cooling.
And, of course, it is at a height that allows the most common appliances to fit easily under it.
Refrigerators have gotten bigger. I just bought a fridge for a house that is relatively new-ish. It was built in 2005 and has quite a nice kitchen. I wanted a French door fridge and of all the French door fridges available only one of them would fit under the overhead cabinet. In the same house, a standard washer and dryer must be used because a set of the big front loading machines will not fit in the space.
But yes, the cabinet over the fridge is used to store things that aren't used often. Modern kitchens are short on storage. Open floor plan removes a lot of kitchen cabinets, so you use whatever space you can get.
Even better when it's a full depth cabinet. Amazes me that so many new builders still try to save $50 by putting in one that's not full depth.
I think builders mostly put those cabinets in because it makes it a nice straight line of cabinets, particularly if there are cabinets on both sides of the fridge. If it's not there, there's a hole. It doesn't look as finished.
I'm 5'10 with long arms and I have to get on a stool to get into the cabinets above my fridge. I store things that I don't use very often up there. Why wouldn't you want a cabinet up there?
Maybe if you define "normal fridge" as a $30,000 built-in standing seven and a half feet high? but that's not a "normal" fridge to anyone who has sense.
I just remodeled my kitchen and did include an over the refrigerator cabinet, it made the line look nice and since it's so deep I can store the things I don't use often but want to keep in the kitchen. My kitchen is small and even with a more efficient layout I needed as much storage as possible.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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We have a 25 cubic foot with cabinets above it. There is nothing in the cabinets, because it would require a ladder to reach the doors. I would consider it to be a decorative feature, it just looks better to continue the cabinets over the fridge rather than have a blank wall there.
I'm 6'5" tall, so that cabinet over the refrigerator is easily accessible for me. It holds stuff I am most likely to want, reducing my petite wife needing to get into it.
We have a cabinet over the fridge that we use for large trays, pans and serving pieces that we use only a few times a year. Yet, we have a 21 cu ft side by side underneath it.
Same here.
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