Could you cope with a fridge behind a door?

[NeverGotMyPuppy]

At the moment our FF is in our kitchen but in a separate bit - it has an archway over it. For complicated reasons it would be great to replace the archway with a door.

Would that be a complete pain in the arse? The FF wouldn't move at all and is very close to sink, dishwasher and food prep areas.

We have ours in our utility room to save space in the kitchen. Door is often closed. No issue for us at all, just about to move house and will also be putting it in the utility out of choice.

Based on my 5 years of enduring children barging into the kitchen while I’m in the fridge or freezer, I’d say avoid if you can! Annoying and at times, painful. Depends which way you want the door to open though I guess.

Avoid if you can. I had one in a cellar head and it was such a pain

I grew up with the fridge in an entirely separate room (still is) You just get on with it.

Ive got this and it is a bit of a pain so I'd avoid it if you can, constantly getting barged into

Mine is in the utility room for space reasons, and it is a bit of a pain, tbh. Annoying when you need to make multiple trips in and out, although I suppose it all gets your step count for the day up...!

Ours is behind the kitchen door, it does my head in, there is now a mark on the fridge door where the kitchen door hits it every time it's opened (It opens itself unless latched), the bloody cat always needs to go through the door when it is shut, Also our bathroom is the other side of the kitchen door so typically I am in the fridge and someone come out the bathroom at the same time.

Sorry I wasnt clear. What I mean is there will be a door between the main kitchen area and the fridge - the fridge wouldn't be behind a door

We rented a house recently with this set up and it was an absolute ball ache, even for just one week.

Oh sorry, I was answering as if it was behind a door.

We have a similar thing with our freezer and it is mildly annoying. I think if it was a fridge it might be more so.

I grew up with the fridge and freezer in a utility room, so they were close to the kitchen but through a door. It was never a problem and at some point we'll hopefully be doing the same thing in our house.

For complicated reasons it would be great to replace the archway with a door.
Care to explain why?
Is there another alternative, like knocking down the wall and making the whole kitchen bigger?

We could do but it would add a lot of money to the project as it is a supporting wall. We could brig the fridge the other side of the archway into the main kitchen but i want eye level ovens it would mean a lot of wall units which we were trying to avoid.

So aesthetics beats functionality. I suppose it's your life and your kitchen; you can do that if you want.

Could you ditch the FF and have separate, under-counter fridge and freezer.

It depends how you cook. For meals where it's straightforward getting of ingredients then starting, it would be fine. Maybe a bit of pest having to carry everything through, but ok.

For me, cooking is more fluid - I've got a basic meal plan but am often exploring the fridge for something to use up or to add in to a meal. It would change the way I cook. I have tried it when staying at other houses, and I didn't like it.

Not particularly - moving the ff wasnt something we had considered until we had a 2nd kitchen designer in yesterday. He didnt think more wall units would work - he suggested keeping the oven below the counter but with a toddler around I just dont think that's sensible.

The oven below counter might be ok, our new oven (Neff) doesn’t really get hot on the outside and also has a childlock function.

I think FF in a separate room with a door would be quite annoying, unless you can also fit in a small undercounter fridge for frequent use items (milk etc)

Having said that, if you are already used to the FF being separate, maybe adding a door isn’t much worse.

Could you put ovens in the separate room instead? There’s less going back and forth to ovens than the fridge.

We grew up with the fridge in a pantry behind the door...worked for us.

That would be exactly how this would work. The idea would be the area through the archway becomes a pantry with a FF in it. That's why we would need the door rather than just leaving it as an arch.

Sliding door?

Ooh that's a thought...

I think we need a diagram!

I grew up with a pantry with the FF in it and it was fine (I cooked dinner every weeknight from the age of 14, I'm not just talking about grabbing snacks!).

Our fridge freezer is in the utility behind a door. We survive!

Ok so it's fair to say I'm not an artist!

So behind the archway at the moment is a utility area and opposite is the FF and boiler. We are creating a new utility room so the WM and TD will go. In their place we were planning a large larder. Designer yesterday said to bring the FF into the main kitchen then door over the archway, creating a very large pantry.

There is a load of boxing and we dont know why it is there. The plan is to get rid of it all as well as the supporting wall so hopefully open it out to a proper L-shaped space.
Having said that the designer yesterday said he would keep the supporting wall so it was flush with the kitchen worktop.

Yes, it's no big deal. Nothing to cope with at all, it is what it is.