Space clearance around fridge-freezer?

[stargirl04]

Hi, if anyone has any good advice I'd be grateful.

I want to buy a good fridge freezer, but the better brands are ,60cm wide, and my space in a tiny kitchen for the f/freezer is only 60.5cm.

Apparently the recommended space clearance is 5cm at the rear, 3cm at the top and 2-3cm on each side, so that that freezer doesn't overheat and to allow air to circulate.

The thing is, I can only get the cheaper brands at 55cm wide, whereas I have my eye on a nice Samsung fridge, which is 59.5cm wide

Has anyone squeezed their fridge into a tight space without the recommended clearance and found that it's been all right?

I have this exact question/problem and, 10 years after the unanswered post I've just found was made, I'm also keen to learn from anyone with experience here! In our case the FF would be 79.5cm wide squeezing into a specially designed 80cm wide gap, but with decent clearance at the top for ventilation, and maybe 2cm at the back. I've found myself eyeing all the FF placements in kitchens on TV, especially the side by side / American style ones. Most look very snug so it's confusing!

We have this problem. Space 60.5cm and I reckon f/f works more effectively with more space around it. When we replace the kitchen I'll leave more space than the previous owners did. In the meantime I've just bought a 55cm Bosch f/f

www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/KGN27NLFAG#/Tabs=section-technical-overview/Togglebox=manuals/

Previous f/f was a 55cm Liebherr - very good quality but I couldn't get it in time this time so bought the Bosch

I hope your Bosch works out - they have a solid reputation at least!
I think you're right, that the fridge freezers will work better if they have more space around them. However I've been reading manuals of different models where they state clearances required and it varies a lot! It seems to be the cheaper side-by-side models need the most side clearance, whereas some of the pricier models and some normal ones only need some top and rear clearance. We've bitten the bullet now as our old machine broke down at the weekend and will be seeing if we can squeeze a Beko side-by-side models into the space - it arrives tomorrow. (It asks for 5cm each side. It's getting a tenth of that!) Fingers crossed it fits and it works! At least it's not like the Hisense model I'd told Howdens we wanted, which in fact requests over 20cm on each side!!