building in a fridge to make it look custom and panel ready fridge with wood handles
DIY

Building In Our Fridge: The Prep Work Is What Gets You

When we purchased our home, it came with a perfectly functional older refrigerator in an off-white color. I’m so glad we didn’t replace it because now we have the opportunity to hone our DIY skills while in building in our fridge.

Adding a cabinet around a refrigerator so that it looks built-in is not a novel concept. It’s been done millions of times, so this should not require a multipart blog series.

But have you met our house?

It is the “hold my beer” of houses whenever we want to do something simple and basic like building in our fridge. This house gives us a run for our money and challenges us on every. last. thing.

Hmm. Reminds me a little of our kids.

Can anyone relate?

Let’s meet the fridge that’s getting a cozy new home.

She’s large and in charge and, I don’t want to jinx it, but she’s dependable too. The older refrigerators usually are.

I know we don’t normally talk about a lady’s age, but the internet tells me she’s probably 20-plus years old. Apparently, some appliance manufacturers reused model and serial numbers after a certain amount of time had passed, so it’s a bit tricky to know for sure, but 20 years tracks.

Now, you may notice she’s sporting wood handles. That’s not standard issue by Kenmore, I can tell you that for sure. Those wood refrigerator handles are a Handy Husband Special. We crafted those last year and you can read about that saga process here.

building in a fridge so that it looks panel ready and custom refrigerator with wood handles

Prepping to build our fridge in was the worst part.

DIY does not happen in a vacuum. Everything, especially in a kitchen, is connected.

If you live in an old house that has been modified many times over decades or, in our case, hundreds of years, chances are you’ll have to tread carefully to prevent even the smallest of projects from spiraling out of control. In our house, building in the fridge affects the floor, wall, ceiling, doorways along the fridge wall, and our sanity.

building in a fridge and fixing the trim to accommodate side panels

Have you ever redone the floors in your house and found multiple layers of flooring? Now, imagine that same scenario except it is a wall.

That’s how the refrigerator wall in our house is built. Multiple layers of drywall, tile, wainscoting, shims and that’s just what we could see when we pulled off some trim. Heaven knows there could be more.

We can only imagine that in the early 1900s, some hero wanted to add electricity to the house, but someone else didn’t want to demo the wall back to the studs to make this newfangled technology happen. Instead, they built a thicker wall to accommodate the electrical box and wires.

Maybe there’s another logical reason, but those walls aren’t talking. At least, not to me.

wall from early 1900s built out to accommodate electrical box

It started out innocently enough.

Our intent was to take this “opportunity” while building in the fridge to fix the trim or casing around the two doorways next to where the fridge sits. Once the fridge was built in, we wouldn’t be able to touch that trim.

The trim had three problems.

First, it was double thick to accommodate all of the wall layers. Second, it was much narrower and did not match the trim anywhere else in the house. That in and of itself wouldn’t have been a dealbreaker.

We recognize this house has been modified over time. Unfortunately, there was a third problem. There was no base trim at all in our kitchen – just quarter round. You can see this in the below photo.

Building In Our Fridge: The Prep Work Is What Gets You black staircase with tan wainscoting and buffalo check curtains in a farmhouse

Not having base trim is like leaving your house without wearing pants.

It’s just not right.

It was definitely an unfinished situation as if our house was underdressed.

Building In Our Fridge: The Prep Work Is What Gets You repairing trim and wainscoting in a farmhouse

No good deed goes unpunished.

If I was going to sit down and calculate it out, which I’m not going to because that’s depressing, we probably spent more time fixing the trim on the refrigerator wall than in building the refrigerator cabinet.

Rework always takes more time than starting from scratch.

The good news is by doing this rework and fixing the trim, not only does it look better, but we gained an inch of height and two inches of width on the doorway next to the fridge.

Building In Our Fridge: The Prep Work Is What Gets You repairing trim and wainscoting in a farmhouse with black staircase

This might not seem like a big deal to you because you probably live in a normal house with regular-sized doorways instead of a hobbit house.

My husband, who is 6’0″ tall, would hit his head on that doorway if he was wearing shoes in the house. I don’t need to learn from experience how unpleasant that would be. I’ll hand him a Tylenol and take his word for it.

For whatever reason, the ceilings in this kitchen are short, and therefore, the doorways are short too.

Gaining an inch of headroom means my husband is now less likely to get a concussion while walking over to the microwave. It’s the little things, guys.

farmhouse kitchen with off white wainscoting and black stairs

If nothing else, maybe you’ll leave here today with a newfound appreciation for your doorways. It might be the first time that’s ever happened.

In part two of this series, we’ll get to the actual building in of the fridge. You won’t believe how fancy Handy Husband can make a 2×4 look.

Have you ever found multiple layers of flooring or walls in your home? How much rework have you had to do to fix problems or poor workmanship? Tell me every juicy detail. You can always comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Happy DIYing.


Room Sources:

Wall Color: Behr Arcade White in satin

Trim Color: Behr Bit of Sugar in semi-gloss

Wainscoting Color: Behr Khaki Shade in semi-gloss

Braided Rug: NuLoom

Bench: Thrifted

Table: Handmade by Handy Husband

Fridge: Make me an offer and it could be yours.

Curtains: Amazon

Gold Curtain Rod: Amazon

Art: Thrifted

Wallpaper in Hallway: NextWall Tulip Garden


Thank you for being here today! I love sharing stories and ideas with you. Here are some other blog posts you might enjoy.

Wallpapered Kitchen Alcove With Multiple Uses

Colonial Farmhouse Kitchen Mini Makeover

Buffalo Check Curtains For Our Kitchen

 

*affiliate links in this blog post*

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