Housing for 600mm wide fridge freezer

[danceindark49]

Hi all

I've bought a freestanding 600mm wide 1850mm high fridge freezer for my new Ikea fitted kitchen. I didn't get an integrated one as none of them were big enough for when my grandkids come to stay. It's to stand in a corner at the end of a run of 600mm deep base cabinets with 620mm wide worktop. It will stick out a bit further than the worktop but that's ok and I've allowed enough gap on the hinge/wall side to open the fridge and freezer doors far enough to pull the drawers out.

The back of the fridge freezer has to stand away from the wall to allow sufficient airflow but that will look a bit ugly when viewed from the side so I'd like to build a housing for it out of Ikea decor panel. Please can anyone tell me how much space to leave between the sides of the fridge freezer and the decor panel to stop it overheating. There won't be doors on the front. Also whether it would be better to use for example 400mm deep panel rather than the full 620mm deep and/or maybe use ventilation grills in the panels to improve airflow at the sides of the fridge freezer. I've seen pictures of freestanding American-style fridge freezers done with approx 400mm deep housings which is why I ask. I don't want to put a floor in the housing - the fridge freezer will just stand on the kitchen floor. There aren't any vents in the sides of the fridge freezer - it appears to draw in the cold air and send out the warm air at the bottom of the back.

To make it match the rest of the kitchen I'd like to put an Ikea top box with door above the fridge freezer. They do them 600mm deep or a little less than 400mm deep. It wouldn't be quite wide enough but I can sort that out. The fridge freezer top boxes are vented or I can put a vent through the wall to the outside world if that would be a better solution.

Sorry if this seems like a lot of faffing about but this is my forever home and I want to get it right. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Lin

Lin :>)

 

[foxhole]

You don't need any gap at the sides , the unit vents from the rear so should be fine.

 

[roboughton]

The more air circulation around the back the more efficient the fridge freezer will be. I would go with the 400 deep box unless you can give the fridge freezer a good few inches gap around the edges at the sides and top.

I have seen lots of fridge freezers built in too tight and struggle to reach temperature especially in the summer months.

 

[danceindark49]

Thank you both very much for the advice. I'm going to make the housing about 40cm deep and leave a 10-12cm gap between the f/f and the back wall and a 2-3cm gap each side just to be on the safe side. That means the cupboard over the f/f will only be 37cm deep. There will only be a 2-3cm gap between the top of the f/f and the bottom of the cupboard so I'm going to bring the cupboard back panel forward and cut out the cupboard bottom and top behind it so the warm air can escape. This will give me the look I want and hopefully give the f/f enough ventilation to work efficiently. If it doesn't Plan B is to put a hit and miss vent through the outside wall at the bottom back of the f/f so it can draw in air from outside in the summer but in the winter the vent can be shut to stop any draughts. In my next life I'm coming back as a tradesman so I'll know how to do things and maybe I'll be able to help someone else. Thank you again.

Lin :>)