Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Forte.  As always, all words and opinions expressed are honest and my own.

Through the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing reviews about each of the appliances I selected for our kitchen in case you’re in the market for a new range, fridge, dishwasher, or range hood insert and my review might be helpful.  As I stated above, this post is sponsored by Forte, the maker of the fridge I am reviewing today, but I didn’t receive any talking points or boundaries about what I can write about their products.  They gave me free rein to write honest reviews, so that’s what you’re going to get.  I will share the pros and cons of each appliance so you can make an informed decision.

Let’s first talk about why I selected a e.  When I first started planning out our kitchen renovation, I assumed we would have to keep the basement staircase where it was.  I was certain that moving it would be either impossible or cost prohibitive.  But, as you know if you’ve followed along, moving the staircase was not only possible but it was very reasonably priced and a worthwhile budget allocation given how much space it would free up.  Not knowing how long the lead times might be, though, I ordered my fridge and range before we had the layout nailed down.  In the event that the staircase couldn’t be moved, space would be at a premium, and having a true counter-depth fridge was a high priority in order to keep traffic paths open.  Two inches really would make the difference in the flow and possibly having an island or not.  Also, in that case, the fridge would be facing the side door, the main entrance we use, so I felt like it was worth the cost of a panel-ready fridge for the sake of aesthetics.

I reviewed the budget and decided two of my main goals would be  1.) have a range that would be a stunner and 2.) the focal point of the kitchen, and a fridge that would blend into the cabinetry.  So, I allocated a large chunk of our kitchen renovation budget to those two appliances, ordered them early, and designed the rest of the kitchen around them.

pros & cons of a panel-ready fridge

The pros, for me, are mostly centered around aesthetics and the kitchen layout…

• Aesthetics is a big one for me!  Especially if you want to hide modern appliances, which I did, a panel-ready option is the way to go if you don’t have a pantry that can house your fridge.  (As a side note, Forte also makes the cutest vintage-style fridges as well and I considered that option, but that style leans more mid-20th century and I was going for an Edwardian-inspired kitchen vibe.)  I felt like a sleek, modern-looking fridge would distract from my vision of the room.
• Since panel-ready fridges are built into the cabinetry, they are true counter-depth.  Most “counter-depth” fridges actually end up being 2-3″ deeper than the counters to account for the door and handle.  Those inches can make a big difference, especially if you have a small kitchen or one with tight traffic paths.

There are a few cons to ordering a , though, and they need to be considered…

• They are priced higher than fridges by the same brand that are the same size with the same features.  On top of a higher starting price, you have to add in the cost of the panels as well as installation which is more involved than just sliding the fridge in place.
• Since a panel-ready fridge is built-in, they are trickier (and likely more expensive) to replace down the road.

The pros outweighed the cons for us, though, so we went with the .

The thing I noticed right away about this fridge is how tall it is!  I saw the measurements and saw that the box almost reached the garage ceiling when we were storing it, but I still didn’t realize it was going to be so tall.  I wasn’t sure if I would like it at first, but I love it!  I can still reach everything, but having height over depth means everything is easy to see and I’m not going to lose things in the back of the fridge.

Here is how looks without the panels on…

The fridge is top-heavy, so it does have to be bolted to the wall to prevent tipping.  The door is heavy, anyway, but it’s even heavier once the panel and hardware are added.  Our doors had to be assembled (I’ll explain that in a minute), so we used the fridge without the panels for a couple of weeks.  The nice thing is the fridge can be opened without the panels.  There are finger holds to open the fridge door and freezer drawer.

I chose Waypoint for our cabinets because I fell in love with this rich green color (it’s called Painted Sage in their line.)  Waypoint offers high-end cabinet features, like soft-close doors and plywood construction (as opposed to particle board), but they don’t offer custom-sized panels.  They do offer appliance panels, but the ones they offered wouldn’t fit the fridge I ordered.  So, initially, I thought we might have to do the fridge & pantry section of cabinets in a different line (maybe making them a natural wood color to set them apart), but I asked if it would be possible to use a combination of panels to make panels that would fit.

I looked at some inspiration pictures and found examples of fridge and freezer panels that looked like two doors/drawers instead of one and they looked nice.  My kitchen designer looked into it and there were panels that would work together.  We needed to mount them on a piece of 1/4″ MDF panel, but it would work.  By “we”, I mean my contractor.  If you’re going this route, you do need to make sure your installer is willing to assemble the panels and make sure they are fitting properly.  Since a panel-ready fridge is made to have a single panel installed on the door, the clips weren’t made to support two panels.  Initially, the MDF was buckling in places and the panels were bowing slightly where they met in the middle.  Our contractor was able to add some more clips and tried some different screws to get everything pulled in nice and tight.  I really appreciated his care and perfectionism in this installation because it could’ve looked sloppy if he wasn’t so attentive.

That challenge, though, had everything to do with the cabinet line I selected and nothing to do with the Forte fridge itself.   If I had to do it over again, though, I would still go with Waypoint and our creative solution for the fridge panels.  The cost difference between the Waypoint cabinets and the other lines I was considering was substantial and allowed for a bigger budget for the appliances and other elements that were important to me.  Plus, out of all of the cabinet lines, the Painted Sage was my favorite color by a mile.

Seeing the first panel go on the fridge was thrilling…

Another area I splurged on was the hardware and I’m so glad I did!  are the raw brass appliance pulls I ordered.

So, let me share about the fridge itself.  I have been using a very barebones fridge without an ice maker, water dispenser, or filter.  There was one dial to control the temperature for both the fridge & freezer.  If the freezer was cold enough to get a hard freeze on ice cream, it would also freeze and ruin my lettuce and other delicate fruits and veggies.  So, getting this gorgeous Forte fridge out of the garage and hooking it up was a huge treat!

It took about 12 hours for the ice maker to start producing ice as an FYI.  I was being very impatient and was worried the ice maker wasn’t working, but it works and is so prolific that I often have to turn it off so we can catch up.  After filling ice trays the old-school way, I appreciate the ice maker every time I scoop some ice into my water bottle or glass.

The filtered water dispenser is inside the fridge, which is my preference over having it in the door.  Our previous in-fridge water filter had a button on top of the dispenser, which meant you needed to have two hands to fill a water bottle or glass.  That’s normally not a problem, but when I had shoulder surgery and lost the use of my right arm for six weeks, I had to get help anytime I wanted to get filtered water from the fridge.  With the , the button is under the dispenser, so the glass/water bottle pushes the button in.  It’s a small thing, but such a smart design feature that makes getting filtered water a one-handed job.

This Forte fridge is so different from any other fridge I’ve owned as far as the way the space is distributed.  At first glance, it looks like it might be smaller, but as soon as I started moving in, I realized this fridge was huge!  There is so much space in the drawers and the door shelves that there is plenty of room for bulky items on the shelves.  I added a couple of clear, stacking storage bins and baskets for the open shelves and those have worked great.

Now that we’ve been using it for a few weeks, I absolutely love it.  It’s my favorite fridge we’ve ever owned and I am so glad we went with such a beautiful and well-designed refrigerator.

And, one of the best parts is we can store ice cream in our freezer again!  We had to stop buying ice cream because it would somehow be soft and freezer burned at the same time.  It’s been equally exciting to know that my fruit and veggies are being kept at an optimal temperature to keep them fresh.  There are three temperature zones that are controlled by the digital display inside the fridge.  Two zones for the fridge and one for the freezer, so I can fine-tune the temps as needed.

A few other smart design features by Forte are soft-close doors and drawers, automatic defrost, LED lighting (it is very bright!), and it offers eco-mode, and even a sabbath setting (I didn’t even know that was a thing!)

We are in and out of our fridge throughout the day and I can honestly say that I appreciate and admire it each and every time.  It’s just a delight to use and it goes far beyond being a default appliance in a modern kitchen.

Let me know if you have any questions that I didn’t cover in this review…