Home Appliance + Lighting Blog

The Best Integrated and Professional Refrigerators

The difference between an integrated and professional refrigerator is depth. An integrated refrigerator fits within the depth of a 24 inch cabinet so the refrigerator is linear to the cabinet itself. The professional refrigerator has the compressors on the top and the door and handle will protrude into the kitchen. Both are highly desired in luxury kitchens and are appealing in different ways.

Most of the refrigerators on this list are either French door and regular bottom freezers, not side-by-side refrigerators. There is not enough refrigerator space at the most popular 36 inch width in a side-by-side refrigerator.

The most popular integrated and professional refrigerators.

Sub-Zero BI-36	Thermador T36IT71NNP	Viking VCBB536RSS	Jenn-Air JF42NXFXDW	Liebherr CS-2062	Sub-Zero 648PRO

• Sub-Zero BI-36: Sub-Zero is a different type of refrigerator. It's mission is to keep food fresher longer. The Sub-Zero features a vacuum seal and magnetic crispers to prevent air infiltrating/exfiltrating in the refrigerator and two compressors for better temperature regulation. Last year they added an air scrubber to prevent food from spoiling in the refrigerator itself. Sub-Zero will be manufacturing a french door refrigerator in 2013. During the home show, we will be warrantying all Sub-Zero products for five full years.
   
• Thermador T36IT71NNP: Thermador manufactures a very good 36 integrated refrigerator (watch this video of an integrated refrigerator). It does not have the features of a Sub-Zero, but buy a Thermador refrigerator and double wall oven and receive a free dishwasher and hood.
   
• Viking VCRB536RSS: The retooled Viking is a competitive refrigerator. We recently compared the Viking to a Sub-Zero refrigerator. Although it does not have quite the features of the Sub-Zero, Viking does have a $750 rebate and is available in a myriad of designer finishes.
   
• Jenn-Air JF42NXFXDW: Jenn-Air manufactures the largest french door refrigerator at 42 inches wide. It is reasonably priced, and like Thermador, has aggressive rebates when purchased with other Jenn-Air products.
   
• Liebherr CS-2062: Liebherr is the least expensive professional refrigerator starting at under $4999. It is still manufactured in Germany and is a good quality refrigerator.
   
• Sub-Zero 648PRO: Honestly we do not sell many of these, but the 648PRO is one of the most heavily inquired products on our website. Sub-Zero manufactured the 648PRO to emulate a true commercial refrigerator. Most of the commercial refrigerators are not energy efficient enough to be sold in residential applications. The Sub-Zero, however, is not only rated for residential usage, but actually uses less energy than a 75 watt bulb.
  
  Following are the answers to the various inquiries: It weighs 800 pounds. We use 4 to 5 guys plus electric stair climbers to deliver one of these beasts. During the home show, will be warrantying all Sub-Zero products for five full years.

For more in-depth information about integrated or professional refrigerators download The Yale Refrigerator Buyers Guide.