I've been pet-sitting every July for a friend of mine while she vacations in Italy. In past years I've told her that in lieu of paying me I'd rather she bought a new refrigerator since her fridge doesn't freeze anything and in the summer it's nice to have popsicles handy. This year I decided that while she was on vacation I'd get her a new fridge. Who knew this was going to be such an ordeal.

First off, the most important thing in buying a new appliance is getting the proper measurements. The existing Kenmore was 63.5" tall x 28" wide x 29" deep (including handle). Width wasn't bad. 28" seems fairly standard for freezer on top models. The first challenge was trying to find a fridge that wasn't too tall. I knew there was about another 2.5" of empty space above the fridge and while most were too tall, there were a handful of fridges that would fit. The biggest challenge was depth. It seems most fridges are 33" deep now. I needed to find a "counter depth" fridge, but most of those were wider and I couldn't go wider or it would't fit between the wall and the counter. And I couldn't go for the 33" deep fridge because it would block the door to the kitchen.

After all the stores I went to in order to find a fridge that would fit (sometimes visiting multiple locations), Sears, Best Buy, Bray and Scarff, Lowes, and some little appliance stores, hardly anyone had a suitably sized fridge.

So I ended up a with a well-reviewed Americana fridge (by GE) from Home Depot. The delivery went smoothly. It was a little smaller than I wanted to get and now that it is in place it just seems really short compared to the old fridge. And the microwave that was plugged in behind the fridge needs to find a new home because the plug makes the fridge stick out too far, blocking the kitchen door.

After all the running around I did trying to find a fridge that would fit, I wish I had thought to check epinions. They have filtering functions so you can search by type of fridge, dimensions, total volume, color, brand, ice maker, price, etc. After the fact I have found what I think is a really nice Amana which would have fit and the cost including delivery would have been about the same.

Shop and learn.