Quick answer
Most french-door fridges in NZ want a cavity 900 to 1,000 mm wide and at least 1,800 mm high, with 20 mm of clear air each side and a ventilation path over the top and rear as the maker specifies. Build the cavity 20 mm more generous than today's fridge and it will still fit the next two.
Key points
- Common french-door fridge cavities run 900 to 1,000 mm wide by 1,800 mm plus high, with 20 mm of clear air each side.
- A fridge needs a ventilation path over the top and rear per the maker's manual; a strangled fridge runs hot and dies young.
- The hinge side needs clearance to open past 90 degrees, or the crisper drawers jam against the adjacent wall and never come out.
- An ice maker's water line needs an accessible isolating valve, because a hidden fitting behind a fridge is a slow flood with nobody watching.
- Size the cavity for the whole category rather than the exact model in this week's sale, and add a filler if today's fridge is narrow.
The new fridge arrives on a Friday, two delivery guys and a trolley, and it does not go in. Not the front door, that part went fine, and so did the hallway. The cavity is the problem: 890 mm between the pantry and the wall, and the french-door unit on the trolley measures 900 mm across the body before you allow it any breathing room. It goes back on the truck, and the household spends the weekend with a chilly bin and a restocking fee.
That 10 mm is the whole subject of this article. A fridge cavity is joinery you buy once and appliances you buy three times, because a kitchen lasts twenty-plus years and a fridge lasts eight to twelve. Sizing the cavity to the category rather than to one model is the cheapest future-proofing in the whole kitchen.
Start with the width, because 900 to 1,000 mm decides everything downstream, from where the pantry lands to which way the door can swing.
What size should a fridge cavity be?
For the french-door and large double-door units most Auckland households buy now, the common cavity is 900 to 1,000 mm wide and 1,800 mm plus high, allowing 20 mm of clear air each side of the appliance. Smaller single-door fridges take less, but building a tight cavity around a small fridge is exactly the trap: the moment the household grows, so does the fridge, and the joinery does not.
Work from two documents, not one. The spec sheet for the fridge you own or intend to buy gives body width, height and depth. Buried further into the same manual is the installation page, which gives the clearances the maker demands around the appliance. Those clearance figures are the ones people skip, and they are the difference between the warranty scenario and the strangled-fridge scenario below. Measure the space, subtract the clearances, and what remains is the biggest fridge the cavity honestly takes.
Depth is the number nobody quotes, so take it off the same spec sheet. A french-door body plus its rear ventilation gap commonly sits deeper than the 600 mm benchtop line, which means the fridge doors stand proud of the adjacent run unless the cavity is pocketed into a deeper recess. Decide at design time which of the two you are having, while the wall behind the fridge is still negotiable.
A french-door fridge cavity in front elevation, with the four checks that keep the appliance alive.
Ventilation: why a strangled fridge dies young
A fridge is a heat pump. It moves heat from inside the box to coils that shed it into the room, and if the air around those coils cannot move, the machine works harder, cycles longer, chews more power and wears out early. That is why every manual specifies clearance and an air path, commonly over the top and out behind, and why the 20 mm per side is clear air, not a decorative shadow line to be filled with trim.
The classic mistake is the beautiful built-in look: cabinetry panel down each side, box built over the top, everything tight to the appliance. It looks integrated and it cooks the fridge. If you want joinery around the fridge, keep the maker's stated gaps and leave the top of the enclosure open or vented so warm air has somewhere to go. Your power bill notices, and so does the compressor.
Door swing and the wall beside
A fridge door has to open past 90 degrees before the crisper drawers and shelves will pull out. Park the hinge side hard against a wall or a tall cabinet and the door stops square, the bins jam on the door shelving, and someone ends up dragging the whole fridge forward every time they want the vegetable drawer. On a french-door unit the same applies to both leaves.
The fixes are cheap at design time. Put the fridge at the open end of a run, hinge the swing toward the room, or hold the cavity 50 mm or so off the wall with a filler panel so the door clears its own handle. Check the swing against the room's traffic too: a fridge door that opens across the main walkway needs the aisle widths covered in kitchen aisle and island clearances, because two open doors and one person is a genuine pinch point in a narrow galley.
Water lines, ice makers and the slow flood
Plumbed fridges make ice and cold water and carry a quiet risk: a small compression fitting under mains pressure, hidden behind a large appliance, where nobody looks for years. If that fitting weeps, it weeps into the floor structure unseen. So treat the fridge water line like any other wet point. Have it installed by the plumber with an accessible isolating valve, ideally reachable in the adjacent cabinet rather than buried behind the machine, and glance at it whenever the fridge comes out for cleaning.
The warning signs are the same ones covered in early signs of water damage under a kitchen sink: swollen board edges, lifting laminate, a musty smell at floor level. Particleboard that has drunk from a slow leak does not shrink back, so the flooring and kick zone around a plumbed fridge deserve the same suspicion as the sink base.
Build it 20 mm generous
Fridge model ranges roll over constantly, and widths creep. The 870 mm unit you own today may be replaced, eight years from now, by a 910 mm category standard. Since the cavity is fixed joinery, the play is simple: build it 20 mm or so wider than today's fridge demands, to the top of the common band, and let a filler or a slightly wider gap absorb the difference now. A 960 to 1,000 mm cavity swallows nearly everything in the french-door class, and nobody has ever complained that the fridge went in too easily.
This matters double in renovations. Older Auckland houses hide their own surprises behind the old kitchen, and the fridge spot in a 1970s layout was sized for a 1970s fridge; what turns up when you replace a kitchen in an existing home covers the rest. In a new townhouse plan the fridge cavity is one line on the drawing, and standard kitchen sizes for NZ townhouses shows how tight those plans already run. Either way the cavity is a millimetre decision, and it deserves the same care as the sink run.
| Check | Common figure | Who confirms |
|---|---|---|
| Cavity width | 900 to 1,000 mm for french-door units | Kitchen maker to the fridge spec sheet |
| Cavity height | 1,800 mm plus, more if boxed over | Kitchen maker |
| Side clearance | 20 mm clear air each side minimum | Fridge manual clearance table |
| Ventilation | Air path top and rear, per maker | Fridge manual clearance table |
| Door swing | Opens past 90 degrees on hinge side | Check against plan and walls |
| Water line | Isolating valve you can reach | Plumber |
The integrated fridge, honestly
Fully integrated fridges, hidden behind cabinetry doors, exist and look superb. Go in with clear eyes. The appliance costs a multiple of an equivalent freestanding unit, the door panels are joinery items matched to your kitchen, ventilation has to be engineered into the enclosure exactly as the maker details, and when the machine dies its replacement must suit the same cabinetry aperture and hinge system. That is a demanding set of conditions to carry for a category where the freestanding version simply works. In most Auckland homes the better spend is a generous, well-ventilated cavity with tidy panels either side, and appliance money going into the fridge itself. Who supplies that fridge is its own contractual line, and appliances by others in kitchen contracts explains why the joinery quote deliberately leaves it out.
A kitchen lasts twenty years and a fridge lasts ten. The cavity has to be right twice.
Measure before anyone builds anything
Before a kitchen gets priced, settle three numbers: the cavity width and height you will build, the clearances from the manual of the fridge class you expect to own, and which side the door hinges. Write them on the plan. If you are laying out the room yourself, the online designer on our site takes the fridge gap as a width in millimetres like any other cabinet, so you can set 960 mm, see the run adjust around it and print drawings with the dimension on them. A site measure then locks the final numbers before manufacture. That Friday delivery scene at the top of this article is entirely preventable, and prevention costs one tape measure and ten minutes with a manual.
Frequently asked questions
What size cavity do I need for a french door fridge in NZ?
Commonly 900 to 1,000 mm wide and at least 1,800 mm high, with 20 mm of clear air each side of the appliance and a ventilation path over the top and rear. Always check the installation page of the specific fridge's manual, because clearance requirements vary by maker and model, and the manual's figures override any rule of thumb.
How much clearance does a fridge need around it?
Allow 20 mm of clear air each side as a working minimum, plus the top and rear ventilation gap the maker specifies. The clearance is for airflow as much as fitting: the fridge sheds heat from its coils, and blocked air makes it run hot, use more power and fail early. If the manual asks for more than 20 mm, the manual wins.
Does a fridge need ventilation at the top?
Yes, in almost all cases. Warm air off the condenser has to escape, and most makers specify a gap or vent path over the top and behind the unit. A cabinetry box built tight over a fridge traps that heat, which shortens compressor life and raises running costs. If you box the fridge in, build the maker's gaps into the enclosure or vent the top panel.
Can a fridge go hard against a wall?
Not on the hinge side. The door needs to open past 90 degrees before the crisper drawers and internal bins will pull out, and a wall or tall cabinet tight against the hinge stops it square. Either hold the fridge 50 mm or so off the wall with a filler, hinge the door the other way, or put the fridge at the open end of the run.
Do I need a water line for my fridge?
Only if the fridge has a plumbed ice maker or water dispenser. If it does, have a plumber run the line with an isolating valve you can actually reach, ideally in the neighbouring cabinet rather than buried behind the appliance. A weeping fitting hidden behind a fridge can leak into the floor for months before anyone notices, so check it whenever the fridge comes out.
Are integrated fridges worth it in NZ?
They deliver a genuinely hidden fridge, and they cost a multiple of the freestanding equivalent, need cabinetry panels and engineered ventilation, and tie every future replacement to the same aperture and hinge system. For most homes a generous 960 to 1,000 mm cavity with tidy side panels gives most of the built-in look, keeps replacement easy and puts the money into a better appliance.
Who supplies the fridge in a new kitchen, the kitchen company or me?
Usually you. Kitchen quotes commonly list the fridge, stove and dishwasher as appliances by others, meaning the joinery provides the cavity and gaps while you buy and connect the appliances. That split is normal, and the important part is that the cavity dimensions and clearances on the kitchen plan match the actual appliance spec sheets before manufacture.
Should I build the fridge cavity bigger than my current fridge?
Yes, by about 20 mm beyond the clearance minimums, toward the top of the 900 to 1,000 mm band if the layout allows. Fridge widths creep as model ranges roll over, and the joinery will outlast two or three appliances. A slightly generous cavity swallows the next fridge without a rebuild; a snug one turns a routine replacement into a joinery job.