Renovating a Refrigerator

My new home has beautiful granite counters.  They are black and rust.  I don't have to describe them because I can post the picture below.  Like this:

Just look at that counter--No white fridge
belongs next to such a counter.

The appliances are all stainless steel and black, so they go well with the lovely granite and look nicely modern.  I even have a double oven (double oven! It makes me giddy).

However, in the open space obviously set aside for the kitchen refrigerator, my offering was going to be this behemoth. An ugly white whale of a refrigerator. My Moby Dick.

I've been busy and haven't added the bottom
of the handles yet, so please excuse the
exposed metal.

My first response was to go shopping.  I mean, the refrigerator is in great shape and honestly runs well and offers all the amenities I generally need in a refrigerator: keeping things cold and keeping other things frozen.  It even has the added bonus amenity of a water and ice dispenser--not necessary, but nice.  But it was overwhelmingly white.  And the white color makes this particular refrigerator look dated, old, and dirty.  Especially next to my double oven (double oven!).  So the obvious response to a perfectly good but ugly refrigerator is to shop around for a new one.  I just could not bring an ugly monster into my shiny new kitchen.

After shopping for a couple of minutes (it's hard to reconcile myself to spending $800-$1500 because my perfectly fine refrigerator isn't pretty), I came to the super surprising conclusion that perhaps my refrigerator is not so ugly after all.  She just needs a makeover.  Because apparently just talking about making her over gave my refrigerator a gender.

I did some research and found that it is possible to give your appliances a makeover.  Then I talked to a nice man at Lowe's who told me that my makeover plan (a stainless steel kit) was not even sold there anymore because it didn't work.  I was momentarily disappointed, but he then not only told me that he has successfully made over a couple of appliances--including a refrigerator--but he also told me how to do it myself.

So with no further storytelling, here is how I tamed my Moby Dick and ended up with a lovely Black Beauty.

1. Figure out what you want or need in your space.  Honestly, as lovely as my refrigerator is, I have been shocked to learn how many great design options are out there, and since I have completed my makeover I've already considered several different things I could do to make my refrigerator even more attractive.  There are options!  Great colors, adding in patterns, even chalkboard paint.  A refrigerator takes up a lot of space in your kitchen--might as well make it beautiful and personal.
2. Clean your refrigerator.  I gave Betty (now she has a name AND a gender. This blog is bringing us closer) a complete cleaning inside and out.  Epoxy paint will not stick to dirty appliances.

   

   A refrigerator door without
   handles.

3. Sand, sand, sand.  I got a fine grit sandpaper, 120 grain or more, and sanded the heck out of Betty.  I sanded in circles and pretended I was training for Mr. Miyagi.  Just let some scoundrel try to come at me with a piece of sandpaper.  I sanded all of the obvious sides and the handles and plasticware.
4. Dismantle your fridge!  Surprisingly, most plastic parts of the refrigerator come off pretty easily.  I slid off the covers for the screws that held on the plastic handle, unscrewed it, slid it off, and took off the plastic hinge covers from the top of the refrigerator.  Keep a plastic bag handy to keep track of your screws and other small pieces.  Now for the part that took a leap of faith for me.  The nice man at Lowe's told me this was possible, but it just is not in my nature to just pull things off my appliances.
   
   He was right though (I shouldn't have doubted) and I was completely able to pull out the magnetic seal from both doors without doing any damage.  The seal is just wedged in, no glue.  Removing it means less taping, and that is a benefit you will appreciate with the next step.
5. I hope you like tape.  I used painter's tape to tape over the buttons on my water and ice dispenser (because painting that seemed like a bad idea),
   
   the vent at the bottom of the fridge, and all hinges and metal parts and wires I thought might need to be able to work and be flexible after I was done.  I also used a $1 shower curtain from Dollar Tree to mask over the inside of the refrigerator.  
   
   You need to paint the refrigerator while it is open to make sure the hinges continue to work and the doors can open and close without paint chipping.
6. I sprayed.  It took me seven cans of Rustoleum's Epoxy Appliance spray.  I am not very good at spray painting, however.  This was my first time, so there was a lot of learning involved.  I learned that no matter how good you think you are and how careful you think you are being, you will at least be misted by the spray.  By the end I only sprayed when dressed in all black--black leggings and black long-sleeved shirt and my hair pulled back in a ponytail.  In my head I looked just like Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face when she is dancing with the sailors. I chose not to check how accurate the image was.  

   

   I also started wearing gloves.

   Spraying is best if done slowly in layers, and I did that most of the time, though sometimes I failed completely, actually often, because I was pretty impatient and my spraying finger got tired, and switching to my thumb seemed to just make it tired too.  Also, a learning moment came when I'd let it sit and found there were some spots I perhaps had not sprayed enough--it really needs to be sprayed all at once.  Spraying some of it later only led to uneven shine.
7. Okay, so I actually paused for about a month and a half at this point.  My life got busy.  It does that.  I work full time, have a family, attend grad school online full time, and I'm in the middle of buying and renovating a home.  Busy.  This step is optional.
8. After Betty and her various accouterments dried, and after I ran all of her drawers and shelves through my dishwasher (bonus--you get a chance to REALLY clean your refrigerator during this process), I put everything back together.  I found that with a month-long break worked into this weekend project, it really helped that I'd taken a picture of the shelves and drawers before I removed them all.  I highly recommend doing the same--it makes it much easier to figure out the puzzle.  Then make adjustments to fit your lifestyle.  I added more space at the top because I like to be able to put upright containers on the top shelf.
9. I congratulated myself for being a beast.  I mean, I took apart a fridge.  Then I painted it.  Then I put it back together.  Mostly.  Still need to add the bottom sections of the handles.  But they're at the other house.  Moving is fun.

Caveat!  This is still basically just a layer of paint.  Keep a bottle of touch up paint around to fix any scrapes (as Betty got during the process of almost dropping her on me and trapping my husband when we wheeled her up some stairs to get to the kitchen).  The epoxy shouldn't flake at random, but it can be scraped off with harsh friction.