But ... will you still have a wall? Or, have you now made it something more comparable to, say, the partition within a cabinet?
It might be equivalent to a media room where the A/V equipment is in a room on the other side of the media wall, but exposes the "business end" of the devices through that wall. The difference is that the refrigerator will go all the way to the floor whereas a video display would generally be at some height for easier viewing. The A/V equipment could easily be argued as being "in" the utility room on the other side of that wall. Maybe I can use a similar argument for the refrigerator being in the utility room next to the kitchen and having its "business end" exposed through the hole.
So, I'd say we have two major concerns to address:
1) You need to be able to shut something off, preferably from where you will be when you want to work on it, move it, etc.; and,
2) The cord, AND plug, needs to be able to pass through the opening, and the opening has to be free of any edges that might damage the cord.
Generally, working on a refrigerator mostly involves working on it from behind. The setup I'd like to do would involve entering the utility room and not require moving the refrigerator around. The cord and plug would be very convenient at that location.
The only case where the cord would be passing through this hole would be if the refrigerator is pushed sufficiently forward that the back surface of it is more forward than the wall is. The cord would face no more risk of damage than a cord going around an outward facing corner, and most likely less than that since the utility room would be a low-traffic area.
Only you will be in a position to honestly answer these questions. If nothing else ... what will happen when the fridge is pulled out to clean under it? Will you run out of cord, and be yanking on it? Will you be able to reach behind the fridge - from your position in front of it - and unplug it?
The wall and/or moldings attached to the wall, will completely block any ability to reach around to the back. To unplug the refrigerator, it will be necessary to enter the utility room. In there it will be very obvious and very easy to reach.
Maybe if I physically attach some mounting to the refrigerator from inside the utility room that makes the refrigerator unable to be moved without first going into the utility room to detach that mounting, this might make it safe enough.
After all, that plug is the disconnecting meand, and generally must remain accessible
It will be accessible ... easily ... from inside the utility room ... both for disconnecting as well as servicing (from behind instead of pulling it out).
