I'm buying kitchen units that are 560mm deep and some of them will have integrated appliances such as ovens, fridges and freezers.
Those appliances are 548mm deep meaning there is 12mm gap at the back.
Problem is the fridge and freezer (Samsung)should have a 50mm gap and the ovens (Neff) a 35mm gap.
One way is to pull the units forward. Problem with that is the very expensive decorative end panels will have a gap.
What do kitchen fitters do, do they just ignore the appliance manufacturers specs and have smaller gaps?

Edit
You may be thinking that units should be 600mm deep.
Most manufacturers are 560-570mm deep but by the time you add on the thickness of the doors and a slight overlap of the worksurface the overall depth is around 600mm

In reply to Post #1
Doesn't your 548mm measurement included the door thickness?
My end panels were 600 deep so that should leave 50 mm behind the fridge.

In reply to Post #2

Fridge and freezer
They measure 548mm from the furthest point at the back to the front of the appliance door. This is the amount of room they take up inside the cupboard.
But being integrated the cupboard doors attach to the appliance doors making the overall depth in the region of 568

Ovens
When the manufacturer states the 548mm depth of the ovens that does not include the doors. The doors protrude further from the kitchen cabinet.

One thing I forgot to mention is the 560mm depth of the cupboards is with the back panels removed.

I can't be the only one who has come across this. This is why I ask do kitchen fitters just ignore the manufacturers recommendations?

In reply to Post #3
It's not something I do for a living but I installed my own kitchen.
Just had a check and it seems the total depth of my integrated fridge including the door was about 565 so very similar to yours. My decorative panels either side are 600 mm deep so that gives an air gap of 35mm behind. My specified air gap was 200 square cms so multipy 3.5 x the width of 60 then that's 210 so over the spec.
Presumably you have similar sized decorative panels that keep the other cabinets off the wall a bit.

My cupboards are 600 with a 35mm air gap behind so when my ovens and inter grated fridge and freezer were installed with the panel doors attached it's all lovely and flush.

In reply to Post #4
First of all thank you for taking the time to measure your own units and getting back to me, I appreciate it.

My kitchen units are in place and I've temporarily placed a freezer inside one that's designed for it.
I've double checked, with the back panel removed the internal depth of a cupboard is 560mm.
With a fridge or freezer installed with its door flush with the front of the cupboard, so a cupboard door can be attached to the fridge door there's only a 12mm gap at the back.

I've shortened it a little here but I've asked the kitchen suppliers
Q.
The depth of the appliance is 548mm
The internal depth of a cabinet with the back panels removed is 560mm.
This means the will be a 12mm gap between the appliance and the wall.
According the appliance manual there needs to be 200sq/cm air gap at the bottom, rear and top of the appliance.
There's no problem achieving the 200sq/cm air gap at the top and bottom but how can it be achieved at the rear of the appliance when there is only a 12mm gap?
A
I have spoken with our fitters who have advised that they have never had this issue with the fridge/freezer units before, As long as there's airflow it should be fine.
In our experience we've never had a call back to a fridge fitted, it's always been enough airflow.

So they say as long as there's airflow that's good enough, that's all very well but I would imagine that invalidates the manufacturers guarantee.

I think in hindsight it would've been better to move the cupboards away from the wall a little.
But I have another solution. The kitchen wall surface is actually dot and dab plasterboard. If I remove a section of that behind the cupboard then there will better airflow.
I can do that even with the cupboard in place.

Albeit unconventional I think I have a workaround now, but I'd be interested to hear how it should've been

Maybe there are kitchen fitters on here but they don't want to admit they ignore manufacturer's guidelines

@Wayne
Excluding the doors my units are only 560mm deep and that's causing the problem

In reply to Post #6
No problem. I think as you say, it probably would have been best to have moved your units out to 600 from the wall. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but your “workaround” seems a good way to go.

Logically, less air gap must means a restricted air flow, increased motor running time with the associated cost of extra electricity and reduced life. I'm sure we both can imagine a manufacture saying yes you have not installed the appliance to our spec, but we will still replace it under warranty. I think the word is Ha!
Being cynical, perhaps the fitters you spoke to weren't too worried about you using a bit more electricity and your appliance wearing out a little quicker. I believe integrated fridges and freezers have larger motors to help with the reduced air circulation / cooling but having a smaller than specified air gap cannot be good.

My integrated fridge was under counter and carried the kitchen door but was between two 600 deep decorative panels. Those and the other decorative end panels were screwed to the side panels of the units. This allowed the units to sit off the wall a little and gave me the required air gap behind. In effect my units ended up 600 mm deep, the same as Wayne's.
I've also seen fridge freezer cabinets advertised that are 600 deep and it does mention about having 49mm clearance behind the appliance so I suspect your concerns are justified.
One of my neighbours fits a lot of kitchens so I will ask him what he does when I see him.

In reply to Post #7
Your average kitchen buyer will get the supplier to fit it.
They won't know how it has been fitted, all they'll be interested in is no mess or fuss and how it looks.
It makes you wonder how many appliances are installed and don't meet the manufacturers recommendation.
Any problems won't show for a few years and the fitter will be long gone by then.

I'd be interested to see what your neighbour says, hopefully he'll be honest and not a Job-and-Knock

In reply to Post #6
What's behind the dot and dab

In reply to Post #8
I wouldn't worry about it all if I was you. Kitchen units have been that standard size for years, white goods manufacturers know this and manufactur accordingly, they cover their arses with the air gap thing.

Wouldn't take the plasterboard off, it helps dull the noise between rooms, fridges and freezers are quite noisy at times.

In reply to Post #9
Thermalite blocks. Does that matter?

@Teddy
Too late its off. It's an external wall, so no one on the other side to bother.

In reply to Post #11
Non combustable 👍

In reply to Post #12
Good thinking

I know a couple of absolutely useless fitters if you'd like them pointing your way?.

In reply to Post #13
Hi Bob, I've worked in the soft drinks trade for years and installed many a chiller both with small condenser grills that have fans to keep them cool and grills that don't have fan motors and they are often pushed close to walls, I'm sure it will make the compressor work harder in the long run but as others have mentioned there are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of fridges that are installed in the standard depth units, it does also depend on the amount of use it gets but more pertinently how many people actually pull their fridges or fridge/freezers out or can access the rear of the fridge and hoover or dust off the condenser grills? Probably very few and a dusty condenser grill will make a fridge's compressor work harder as well as having restricted airflow

In reply to Post #15
Good points there Henry
I suppose I could be overly worrying, but that's just me, I'm that sort of person.
I take on many jobs at home and my philosophy is to strive for the very best, I may not achieve it but what I get should be fine.

The only job I won't take on is plastering large areas, I've tried, but just as I get to the point of a reasonable finish I try to go one step further and make it worse.
Then I get stuck in a loop, make it reasonable again and then **** it up again

In reply to Post #16
Ha ha ha spot on there Bob👍 I come from a family of plasterers on my Mums side in Ireland and always wish I'd learnt the skill but never did but in a way I'm glad as i possibly would have done it for a living and when I look at my Uncles now mostly in their late 70's through to 80's ( they were a big family, she had seven brothers!) their bodies are all ruined from the work, it's a killer of a job but still would have been good to learn I guess.
I've just had a load of work done in my house, had the flank wall ( hall, landing and box room) hacked back to brick and insulated board installed, like you I got it done by a plasterer and everything else I've done myself like painting, new sockets, skirting, architrave and anything I can do myself I do, it saves money and I don't see the point in paying someone to do something if it's something I can do myself

In reply to Post #17
Apart from the money saved you get the job satisfaction.
Also you get it as you want it, not how someone else wants it.
I sometimes spend ages doing something a certain way because I want it that way.
Others can't see the point, but I can, it's because I'm a fussy ****er

In reply to Post #16
Buy yourself a sponge float 😉

In reply to Post #19
I'll take a look Ralphy.
Watch out though, too many people using them and you'll be out of job

In reply to Post #8
Just spoken to my neighbour about this and he reckoned you have done the right thing.
He did say that worktops vary a bit in depth so if yours are only 600mm then perhaps that is why the units were kept back close to the wall.
Given a 620mm (or more) worktop and fairly straight walls that don't need the decorative panels cut too much, then he tries to position the units to give a decent air gap behind.
He also thought that either way you wouldn't have a major problem, but the motor would have run longer with a smaller air gap.

In reply to Post #21
Thank you for finding that out for me

If I were doing it again I'd do it differently but it's good to know that what I've done should be ok