Appliance Alcove & Door-Swing Clearance Calculator
Enter a refrigerator’s size, the alcove it goes into, your manual’s clearances, and the space in front, to see whether it fits, whether it fits with the clearance it needs, and whether its doors can open to 90°.
Appliance Alcove & Door-Swing Clearance Calculator calculates in your browser.
Check the installed fit, not just the box size
A refrigerator can slide into its alcove and still be wrong for it: too tight for the air gap its manual asks for, or set so deep that its door hits the wall before it opens far enough to get the drawers out. This calculator answers those questions separately — whether the body fits, whether it fits with the side, top, and rear clearances from your installation manual, and whether each door can swing to 90° past the wall on its hinge side and the island or table in front.
It is for anyone replacing a refrigerator, choosing between standard-depth and counter-depth models, or planning a kitchen. It never invents ventilation clearances: they vary by model, so without yours it says what it can’t confirm. Where the door swing depends on hinge details, the manufacturer’s “depth with door open” and hinge-side figures decide it. To check the refrigerator gets into the kitchen at all, use the Appliance Through Doorway Fit Calculator.
How to use the Appliance Alcove & Door-Swing Clearance Calculator
- Choose your unit. Switching it later converts what you have typed.
- Enter the appliance’s width, height, and depth from the front of the doors to the back, without handles, and how far the handles stick out.
- Measure the alcove: width between the sides, height to any cabinet above, and depth from the back wall to the front edge of the sides.
- Enter the side, top, and rear clearances from the installation manual, or say you don’t have them yet.
- Choose the doors, enter their width and thickness, say whether a wall carries on forward beside the hinge, and add the manufacturer’s door-open figures if you have them. Then enter the clear space in front of the alcove.
How the check works
Installed width = appliance width + 2 × side clearance ≤ alcove width; installed height = height + top clearance ≤ alcove height
Door front past the alcove = rear gap + appliance depth − alcove depth
Door reach at 90° = from front − thickness + door width to the widest swing of the door’s far corner, unless the manufacturer’s open-door depth is given
The same refrigerator and alcove give four answers. With the manual’s clearances and 48 in in front, everything checks out. Without the clearances, it physically fits but its air gaps can’t be confirmed. With only 36 in in front, the door can’t reach 90° however the hinge is built. With 40 in, the hinge range can’t settle it — until the manufacturer’s open-door depth of 64 in shows the door reaches exactly 40 in.
| Refrigerator (W × D × H) | Alcove (W × D × H) | Clearances and space in front | Result | Space left in front |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.75 × 29 × 70 in | 37 × 25 × 72 in | From the manual; 48 in in front | Likely fits | 7.16 in to spare |
| 35.75 × 29 × 70 in | 37 × 25 × 72 in | Not entered; 48 in in front | Additional measurements required | 8.16 in to spare |
| 35.75 × 29 × 70 in | 37 × 25 × 72 in | From the manual; 36 in in front | Does not fit under the conditions checked | 4.84 in too big |
| 35.75 × 29 × 70 in | 37 × 25 × 72 in | From the manual; 40 in in front; 64 in open-door depth | Likely fits | 0 in (exactly the same size) |
Calculated on your device
- The check runs in your browser as you type; nothing is sent to a server.
- Your measurements and results are not sent to Looty Tools or stored.
- The calculator area, including the diagram, is masked from session-recording analytics, so what you enter isn’t captured in recordings.
Limitations
- No ventilation or installation clearance is assumed. They vary by model and come from the installation manual; without them, the result is “additional measurements required”.
- Without manufacturer figures, the hinge is assumed to pivot somewhere within the door’s own thickness at its hinge edge. Hinges that sit further out, and doors that must open past 90° to remove drawers, need the manufacturer’s figures.
- The appliance is assumed centred in the alcove; the result says when moving it toward the latch side would help.
- The floor in front is treated as one clear distance to the nearest obstruction; a counter or handle at a different height isn’t modelled separately.
- Getting the appliance into the room is a separate check — use the Appliance Through Doorway Fit Calculator.
- Sizes up to 100 ft (30.48 m) in inches, feet, centimeters, or meters.
Related calculators
- Furniture Through Doorway Fit CalculatorCheck whether a piece of furniture can pass through a doorway.
- Appliance Through Doorway Fit CalculatorCheck whether an appliance can pass through a doorway.
- Washer/Dryer Closet Clearance CalculatorCheck closet space around a washer and dryer.
- Length ConverterConvert inches, feet, meters, and other lengths.
Guides
- Measuring a Fridge SpaceMeasure a refrigerator alcove properly: width at three heights, height to the cabinet above, depth to the front edge, and the space around the doors.
- Fridge Door SwingHow far a refrigerator door reaches when it opens to 90°, why the hinge position changes it, and how walls, handles, and French doors affect the room it needs.
- Installation ClearancesWhat a refrigerator’s side, top, and rear installation clearances are for, why they differ between models, where to find yours, and how they change the fit.
Appliance Alcove & Door-Swing Clearance Calculator FAQ
- How much space does a refrigerator need in an alcove?
- Only its installation manual can say: side, top, and rear clearances vary by model, so the calculator doesn’t assume any. With 1/8 in each side, 1 in on top, and 1 in behind, a 35.75 × 29 × 70 in refrigerator fits a 37 in wide, 72 in high alcove with 0.5 in more each side and 1 in more above.
- How much room do refrigerator doors need to open?
- Roughly the door’s width in front of it, but the exact figure depends on the hinge. For a 35.75 in door 3 in thick whose front sits 5 in past the alcove, the door reaches between 37.75 and 40.84 in past the alcove at 90°, so 40 in of floor in front can’t settle it. A manufacturer’s 64 in “depth with door open 90°” settles it: exactly 40 in.
- Why won’t the door open fully next to a wall?
- As a side-hinged door opens, it swings out past the side of the cabinet by up to its thickness, and its handle further still. With a wall carrying on forward beside the hinge and only 0.63 in of space, a 2.5 in handle can’t swing past it. The manual’s hinge-side clearance, when you have it, decides this instead of the model.
- Do French doors need less room than one wide door?
- In front, yes: each door is about half the width. Two 17.875 in doors on that refrigerator reach no more than 23.05 in past the alcove, against up to 40.84 in for one 35.75 in door. Each door is checked against the wall on its own hinge side.
- Is it a problem if the refrigerator sticks out past the cabinets?
- Not for the fit — a standard-depth refrigerator often does. A 29 in deep one with a 1 in rear gap sticks out 7.5 in past a 25 in alcove with its handles, and that comes off the floor space in front, which the door-swing check takes into account.
- Are the measurements I enter sent anywhere?
- No. The check runs in your browser as you type. Your measurements and results are not sent to Looty Tools or stored, and the calculator area is masked from session-recording analytics. Refreshing the page clears it.
