ᐅ Built-in fridge-freezer combination with fixed door for IKEA METOD kitchen system

Hello everyone,

I’m new here and unfortunately, I’m having trouble with the above-mentioned topic... My question hasn’t been satisfactorily answered by IKEA, or no one wants to answer it...

First, a brief summary of the relevant information:

We would like to get a new IKEA kitchen (METOD) with Ringhult high-gloss white fronts and install appliances from other manufacturers (no IKEA appliances). Basically, the IKEA tall cabinets in the METOD range (for refrigerators and freezers) are only designed for integrated door mounting (panel-ready), as I’ve read in several posts here on the forum...

We would prefer a fridge-freezer combination and want to use the tall cabinet ME 720 (60x60x220 cm (24x24x87 inches)).

For example, IKEA installs the Effektfull fridge-freezer combination in this cabinet (W/D/H: 54/54.5/177 cm (21/21½/70 inches)), so the appliance we selected: Grundig GKNI 15720 (W/D/H: 55.6/54.5/177.7 cm (22/21½/70 inches)) should actually fit well dimension-wise (since it has the standard height of about 178 cm)...

That’s the theory...

My only concern is whether there will be problems mounting a fixed door (fully integrated) appliance like this, and no one at IKEA can or will confirm if it will work without issues.

My specific questions are:

1.) Does it matter for fixed door appliances if the upper cabinet door is significantly larger than the refrigerator door? The ME 720 has a lot of storage space above, for one or two additional shelves, and this area also needs to be completely covered by the cabinet door. Is mounting possible at all in this case? More importantly, would the upper cabinet door/front of the ME 720 (220 cm (87 inch) tall) be too heavy for the hinges used on the fridge door if fixed door mounting is even technically feasible in this case?

2.) Can the doors also be mounted separately with this appliance? Meaning, the refrigerator section is connected individually with the upper cabinet door, and the lower freezer door is connected separately with the lower cabinet door? Or is this appliance only designed to be connected to ONE LARGE cabinet door that covers both the fridge and freezer sections, so that you would have to open the entire fridge-freezer door completely every time?

If you think mounting in the ME 720 is not possible, is there another cabinet I could use that the Grundig GKNI 15720 would fit into?

Sorry if some of my questions might seem a bit basic, but as a business graduate I usually don’t deal with this kind of stuff. That said, I feel confident I could manage the installation once I know the fridge-freezer will fit properly.

I would be really grateful for any help. Many thanks in advance to everyone who can assist me here...

kuki281

Hello,
installing built-in appliances with fixed doors is not a problem. Whether a door might be too large for installation, you should check the appliance’s installation manual. Separate fridge doors correspond to separate cabinet doors.
Is the Grundig unit very cheap? Maybe it’s a silly prejudice, but I don’t fully trust a Turkish fridge/freezer combo, even though Siemens/Bosch also have a factory in Turkey.

hello kuki281,
based on the dimensions, the fridge is 178cm (70 inches) tall, so you should also be able to fit a door combination of about 80-100-40cm (31-39-16 inches). that way, the fridge door won’t open every time you need to reach the cabinet above.
i’m not entirely sure though, because sometimes with ikea units you have to leave some space at the bottom...
for the top cabinets, you’ll need door hinges or lift-up fittings. for fixed doors, you can skip the ikea hinges.
best regards
robi

Whether it is a fixed door or a sliding door basically does not matter in the first place, as the IKEA expert already mentioned.

Now to the pitfalls: with the Metod dimensions in 10-/20-centimeter (4-/8-inch) increments, the refrigerator unit in the Metod cabinet has to be elevated (raised onto a shelf). The lower door panel for the Grundig requires 629.6 millimeters (24.8 inches) of front, but Metod fronts only come in 60 or 80 centimeters (24 or 32 inches); for the upper door panel, you need 999.8 millimeters (39.4 inches), so theoretically the 100-centimeter (39-inch) front fits.
Theoretically, because by elevating with an 80-centimeter (32-inch) front for the freezer section and at least a 100-centimeter (39-inch) front for refrigeration, the top cannot have a separate 40-centimeter (16-inch) front at all.
For aesthetic reasons, reinforcing the 100-centimeter (39-inch) front with the 40-centimeter (16-inch) front is not an option, since the cabinet would then lack a pivot/fixing point for the door. Alternatively, you could find a metalworker who could manufacture a hinge that allows the same opening angle and swing dimension in both directions.
A solution would be a 200-centimeter (79-inch) cabinet body with 80- and 120-centimeter (32- and 47-inch) fronts, or 240 centimeters (79 + 16 inches; 200-centimeter plus 40-centimeter body) with 80-, 120-, and 40-centimeter (32-, 47-, and 16-inch) fronts.

Whether the salesperson was thinking that far ahead, I can’t answer.

I don’t know if I would want to go through all this for a Grundig—they were known for consumer electronics, weren’t they? For a Liebherr, I might understand the effort.
Well, to each their own...

@ IKEA expert, robi_aus_ffm & zetterberg.

Thank you very much for your answers/your help – that’s very kind of you.

@ zetterberg.

Thank you so much for taking a close look at the dimensions of the appliance and for your detailed answers to my questions.

I think I will go with the 200 cm (79 inches) cabinet, as you suggested (200 cm (79 inches) cabinet, door 80 cm (31.5 inches) at the bottom, 120 cm (47 inches) at the top). However, that raises some more questions... (as usual)... oops:

Questions:

1. You wrote that the appliance needs to be raised (placed on the shelf). – Theoretically that makes sense. Would I then have to raise the appliance on the shelf using the adjustable feet? Would that be sufficient? Or does the shelf itself need to be installed higher than on the EFFEKTFULL? – Or both?

2. Assuming the adjustable feet are fully screwed out, could the appliance still be properly secured on the shelf? (Or are the adjustable feet generally only meant to compensate for unevenness?)

3. Do you see any problem connecting the refrigerator door (999.8 mm (39.4 inches)) with the 120 cm (47 inches) door? Will the fixed door hinge system then work smoothly? (Or with the 80 cm (31.5 inches) door at the bottom for the freezer door – which you determined to be 629.6 mm (24.8 inches)). The way the fixed door hinge system works should basically be the same or at least similar across manufacturers, right?
I’d just like to know beforehand whether the attachment or installation of the locking mechanism will work smoothly or at all, and if it generally fits with the 80 cm (31.5 inches) and 120 cm (47 inches) doors...

Why the Grundig?

I have a chance to get that unit at a very good price… Otherwise, I wouldn’t really care.
And in terms of build quality, it should definitely be better than the IKEA appliances… (hopefully)

I would be really grateful for an answer or some guidance, zetterberg...
Of course, other users are very welcome to help as well if they have any ideas and want to assist...

Thank you all.

kuki281

IKEA appliances are manufactured by Whirlpool or Electrolux, who sell their products in Germany under the Bauknecht and AEG brand names. I cannot judge whether the quality of an Arcelik appliance is actually better. In any case, IKEA offers a full 5-year warranty on their appliances, which would be hard to afford if the quality were below average. I would personally choose Liebherr or Siemens, but that is not the topic here.

The dimensional drawing is quite limited. I cannot clearly understand what all the measurements represent. A 100 cm (40 inches) door is probably not sufficient at the top, as it is actually 3 mm (about 1/8 inch) shorter, and according to the drawing, the 999.8 mm (about 39 inches) does not yet take the mounting bracket into account. Therefore, 120 cm (47 inches) is definitely necessary.

Arcelik states that the cabinet bottom must be cut out in the middle. This would need to be done on both the cabinet base and the raised floor on which the appliance stands. It is possible that IKEA’s warranty would be voided if the bottoms are weakened according to the drawing. I would recommend requesting confirmation from IKEA in writing.

The 63 cm (25 inches) height of the lower door does not yet include part of the front bracket. How much exactly, I cannot deduce from the drawing. From the bottom of the door to the feet is 3.4 cm (about 1 1/3 inches), which adds up to 66.4 cm (26 inches). Adding an estimated 2 cm (about 3/4 inch) for fully screwed-in feet and 3 cm (about 1 1/4 inches) for the mount brings it to 71.4 cm (28 inches). Compared to the 80 cm (31 inches) door height, this leaves 8.6 cm (3 1/2 inches) missing; subtracting the cabinet bottom gives about 7 cm (about 3 inches). This means if the feet can be extended by 7 cm (3 inches), installation without the shelf board should be possible.

How the correct height is achieved is basically irrelevant.

The brackets used to attach the furniture door to the appliance door vary by manufacturer. Arcelik seems to use a version they describe as easy to install but that wastes space.