Need advice on how to do something

[Imakmst©]

I have custom hickory cabinets in my kitchen from 24 yrs ago.  The cabinets have a 70" tall opening for the refrigerator.  I had to replace my very old refrigerator and the one that LOML had to have was exactly 70" tall and the new frig will not physically go back into the opening.  Period, won't go.

I'm going to zip off 5/16" or so of that rail for clearance and scoot it on back.

Using the appropriate clamping straight edge:

Would you use a fine blade and the Bosch jig saw (which I own)?
Or, go buy a compact router (cause I don't have a small one) and rout it?

I have a large PC 892 but since this is vertical and not horizontal, I'm afraid of losing control of something that size.

Advice please.  Pour it on.

Thanks

[tomsteve]

think id take the cabinet off the wall and work on it safely to start.

[Imakmst©]

It's a one piece floor to ceiling unit that can't come down

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I need to take some off the rail leaving the stiles alone, like where the arrow is pointing.

[Admiral]

Assuming that the shelf above the rail is not the thickness of the rail (i.e., you don't have to remove part of the bottom of the shelf), I think a small trim router is your best bet, with a sharp chisel to clean up the corners.  Alternative is a oscillating saw plunged in from the front on a scribed line, but that's hard to control and to keep it a neat job.  Depending on how the shelf is attached and if the rail is truly structual, I imagine you could remove the whole rail with an oscillating saw plunge at the side joints, then trim it down on your table saw, and glue back in, but that's major surgery.

Sounds like an opportunity to get a trim router.....  
  I have and like the Bosch Colt.

[MichaelMouse]

Colt is what we used to enlarge for a built-in dishwasher.  Clamp your guide, use a bushing for straight.

Make the guide wide enough to take all the router base for stability.

[McApple]

I think that you will get a better edge with a router.  I would start with a rabbet bit, ake a couple passes with that, then switch to a template bit to complete.  Trim the corners with a chisel.

[Woodshop]

If it was me in a clients home I'd use the jigsaw and sanding block. routers make lots of dust, you could clean up the cut with the router but 5/16 IS allot of dust. while you at it take 1/2"

[arthropod98]

just a thought, but if ya go the trim router route and have difficulty clamping a guide on there, could always use a thin strip on the underside of the cabinet up against the lower rail.  few pieces of double-sided tape just to hold in place, but might be easier than trying to clamp a guide on there.

of course, that's given that the face frame's mounted nicely square to the cabinet.

or . . . tracksawer! 

[AHill]

Are the legs on the fridge fully retracted?  Most fridge legs are adjustable to level them out, and they default out of the factory to halfway out.  I'd try that before I'd start cutting into my cabinets.

[rwe2156]

Not an envious job.

If the rail extends below the bottom of the cab, you could use a pattern bit and trim it flush, then clean the corners up with a chisel and bull nose plane.

You can attach a filler strip to the bottom of the cab however thick you want the rail to be, 1/4" or so might do it.