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Can't give a review on the Summit becuase after looking at EVERY small fridge on the market we went with LG 24" bottom freezer and could not be happier. Everyday when I use it I get so happy. No more bending down to get veggies--and it holds a lot--enough for two people easily.
We got ours at a holiday sale at PC Richards (they service everything the sell) for about $799.

Here is a link---I strongly recommend the LG!

http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/LRBP1031.html

Hi. We also are looking for smaller appliances for our kitchen renovation. We looked at several places last week and I thought the Summit refrigetors looked very cheap.

My parents built a little vacation house (and I mean little) and they bought all Avanti appliances, which are much smaller than our standard sizes here in the US. Since we don't use these every day, I'm not sure how they would perform on an every day basis, but so far, so good!

Hi Misswhisk, thanks for the comment, can you tell me where you saw the refrigerator, because I am having a hard time finding them in a store? Thanks

Fisher & Paykel refrigerator - I have it and love it. Its euro-styling means it is more streamlined. The freezer on bottom is great b/c I find I don't bother peering into it unless I specifically want something out of the freezer. Also, their stainless steel is coated so no fingerprints.

I too had a hard time finding a frig to fit a very narrow kitchen. I purchased a similar Summit frig in 2003 (It looks like your pic only with black trim on the handles) from Gringer in NYC. The price was really good at the time, $675. Other places in the city had the same frig for $1500. Quality is exceptable. It is a bit generic looking, but once it is in the kitchen environment it was fine. It blends well with the other stainless appliances. I suppose there is better quality available if your willing to pay the price. My big issue was needing a depth not to exceed the counter depth.

I love, love my Summit CP171W. We've had it 18 months and never a problem. And it uses less energy than a 60 watt bulb. And it's worth it's weight in gold for all the extra counter space we gained.

We have a summit fridge that fits under the counter. Plenty of space for our needs and we're very happy about it. We have a separate freezer unit (also summit, I believe) that sits next to the fridge, also under counter. They're part of a small kitchen island. It's great--counter space above the units, and extra space elsewhere as we have no tall fridge taking up cupboard/counter space.

I also got a Fisher and Paykel fridge and love it. It's counter depth, narrow and looks great. The bottom freezer is wonderful. I can open the top of the fridge while the dish washer is open. I'm surprised by how often I do that during clean up. Off topic, I also have a small GE dishwasher which is just the right size for a few people in a small space.

I crossed my fingers and ordered the Summit FF1325SSIM (24" wide!) from CompactAppliance.com without having seen it in person. A few months after the kitchen is done, I am satisfied. When it first arrived, I could not believe how loud it was... so much so that I called for service. The repairman pointed out that the coils are hanging off the back unlike most of what you'll find in the appliance stores today. That said, if your kitchen is as small as mine is I would still recommend it over a standard size and less counter.

I got an LG fridge a couple of years ago. (model GR-389) It's about 24" wide, 24" deep & over 6' tall. I think the capacity is 11.5 cu ft. Definitely enough for two. The bottom-mount freezer has several drawers in it to keep things organized & accessible. In the fridge part there are tons of adjustable shelves & drawers. I would definitely recommend this fridge.

I would also suggest an LG over a summit. I looked at both when I was redoing my kitchen, and my big problem with the Summit was that the freezer was not frost-free, which effectively reduces your freezer space if you don't diligently defrost. Of course, this was 3 years ago, so it's possible that they've upgraded since then.

LG makes a wide variety of models - I got mine at PC Richards for under $800. I think they discontinued my particular model to replace it with a more current version, but on their website they had a lot of 24" wide counter-depth models.

Actually, the link provided by taracakes looks exactly like mine, so either they're still making it or it's the newer replacement model.

We have a Summit and I have found it to be an exceptionally poorly designed refrigerator. The outer edges of the shelves curve downward--things slide off constantly. I cannot tell you how many bottles of milk have broken and spilled over my kitchen floor. The shelves on the door are very poorly spaced--it's almost impossible to get jars off the smaller shelves without taking other items out first. The refrigerator cycle is extremely loud, much more so than our old refrigerator, which was almost 20 years older. Additionally, the housing for the light above the top shelf dips down into the shelf area, making it very difficult to store anything that's higher than 5 inches--combined with the ridiculous 1" downward curve of the shelf, it's a lot of lost storage space. Additionally, each time the refrigerator door is shut, the reverberation is just great enough to pop open the freezer door. Apparently the closing mechanism on the freezer door--maybe something magnetic?--isn't strong enough to keep the door closed. They're very cheaply made and I can't recommend Summits at all. A shame really, as previous threads on Apartment Therapy had led me to believe they were of higher quality. Do not purchase one.

Believe it or not costco sells a counter deep refrigerator for a reasonable price. I think it is a vestifrost?
It is made in Denmark and it is 24 inches wide, freezer on the bottom in ss.
They deliver it inside your apartment and take the wrapping out.

You can view the fridge on the costco website. Everything in Denmark is well designed and made well.
It might be a similar price to the summit

Maybe, you would like to share your designers name and contact info.
I live in manhattan and am planning a similar job in a condo.
I can be reached at cityofparis@yahoo.com
Good luck with the work.
Once its done it will be pleasure to be in the kitchen.

I have an LG refrigerator with bottom freezer as well & have been very happy with it -- all the bits come out so it's easy to clean, it's the right size for a tiny kitchen, and it has 3 freezer drawers so it's very well-organized. It is not, however, EnergyStar, so that's something to consider.

i'm not 100% sure if it was counter-depth, but we had a small whirlpool fridge we put into our tiny kitchen in our last house. we got it at lowe's and i want to say it was only around $500-600. i very happy with it.

I purchased a Summit fridge this past fall. I don't remember which model number, but it was the largest of the counter depth fridges. I've been very happy with it and decided on this one vs the LG fridge becuase of the interior dimensions (I'm a rare New Yorker who cooks a lot and keeps a full fridge and freezer) and becuase it's significantly more energy efficient than the LG. My only complaint is that the fridge occasionally makes a high-pitched ringing noise, but it's not bothersome enough to regret the purchase or to which I had gotten something else.

I had a brand new Summit fridge in my old rental and it was fine, but like many have said, pretty noisy for a fridge (then again, I had a pullman kitchen and so it was part of my living room!) Also, the plexiglass shelves got fogged up and/or frosty, which wasn't that attractive, but maybe other fridges do that, too, and maybe that had to do with the temperature I set it to.

I solved this problem by making the counter deeper to match the refrigerator (pulling base cabinets away from the wall to correspond.) The additional 2-3 inches feel quite spacious.

I laughed when I read this, because I thought it was only us!! We went through the same exact thing last year. We bought a Fisher & Paykel from Gringer and LOVE it. We paid approximately $1,300. And you can choose between chrome and white, rounded door (kind of retro looking) and flat, and right-hand or left-hand orientation. Make sure to choose the correct one, because you cannot switch sides.

http://www.fisherpaykel.com/refrigeration/?productUid=9BB284F5-9477-B523-EF376F6A113E6000

Best of luck!

This is Gringer, by the way. They were great!

http://nymag.com/listings/stores/gringer_and_sons/

Thanks to everyone for the response.

After seeing the Fisher & Paykel in person I think we are leaning that way.

Carla
We are actually going to make a trip down to Gringer tomorrow, I like the idea of trying to help keep family businesses going and they are the only ones that have all the smaller models on display.

Did they give you good service?

I have to give another shout out for the Fisher & Paykel fridge. It's awesome and looks amazing. We got ours for $1200 at Drimmers on Coney Island Avenue. When we went there (back in May of '07) there was a special on these, but when I went back it was more expensive. I spoke to the guy who previously helped us and he was more than willing to give us the lesser price. Nice service. Try to bargain wherever you decide to buy.

Javier at Gringer was very helpful! I went down there last week and bought the Liebherr 24" refrigerator with bottom freezer. I can't wait to get it into the apartment! It's definitely more expensive than the others, but we're suckers for design and an ice-maker, so we had to bite the bullet. Also, a while ago I did a comparison of slim refrigerators on my blog so you can check that out if you'd like to see them all in one place:

http://katiekdesign.blogspot.com/2007/10/slim-refrigerators.html

Sorry, just saw this. I loved the service at Gringer. They were not pushy and really helped us decide what to do. There was no hard sell like you might find at a large appliance chain. Hope you had a good experience, DavidNYC!!

I'm with everybody who recommended an LG bottom-freezer model over Summit - I've just specced one for a client in Manhattan; the LG is attractive, efficiently designed and less than half the price of a comparable Summit. Also, LG makes an excellent over-the-range microwave which is the only one I've found that will fit over a 24" range. LG products are readily available at several online distributors, often with no shipping and no tax - you can't beat that!