Try it, let us know.
I think you'll have more invested in magnets than azek.

It won't be nearly as cheap as you think it will, nor will it look nearly as good as you think it will in your head. The word "cheesy" is what comes to mind. There's nothing wrong with using a white fridge with white cabinets. It's a great look. Just don't try to make it something it's not. You don't turn a chicken into a peacock by trying to superglue feathers onto their tails.

Hollysprings, while super blunt, is correct. I gotta ask - why do you want to put the custom panel on the fridge so much that you are going to these lengths, and probably not for such a good result? What is wrong with a fridge looking like a fridge in the kitchen? If you don't like the white-on-white look against your cabinets, buy a stainless fridge for not that much more money.

If you want a true built-in look, you simply are not going to get it with what you are contemplating - remember a true-built-in integrated fridge has special hinges on the doors so that the doors can be opened when the fridge is perfectly flush with the cabinets. Your freestanding fridge won't have that, so, no matter what, your fridge will have to stick out from the cabinets and will never look built-in.

Typically people want paneling on built-in integrated (expensive) fridges so that they truly "disappear" into the cabinetry. You are not going to achieve that, so you should put your efforts and thinking cap into other areas of improving/beautifying your kitchen.

Wow, lots of nay-sayers on this forum!

If you want to try this, I would think there are a number of ways to go about it.
I read about a guy changing his fridge door on a This Old House episode, but it doesn't tell exactly how he did it: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20311473_20687730,00.html

Check out this guys link on an old fridge that he converted.....It may give you some ideas.

Good luck- I've found that when you have the money to spend you become a lot less creative. I was able to create a lot from nothing- you just have to give it some thought!

Here is a link that might be useful: refrigerator

I can see what you're thinking, but given the 30" depth, I think it might stick out like a sore thumb. If you were going counter depth, perhaps.

Have you considered simply putting custom rails and stiles on the fridge directly? I realize this sounds a big odd, but what the heck? Again, the edges/sides would be a challenge, but you could start looking at that and see how far you want to take it.

I have fridge panels for the sides. I don't think I'm going to use them because I'm taking cabinets to the ceiling and these panels only go 84" high.

Thanks for the brutal honesty so far! It's certainly more food for thought.

I agree with the comment that it won't look completely built-in - the door will indeed stand a couple inches out from the cabinets. I did manage to find a previous photo on GW that illustrates something like it. Not quite what I have in mind - but similar idea.

Keep the honest opinions comin' - I'm not talked out of it yet!

Here is a link that might be useful:

You like that? Alan, thecabinetmaker, did that, and I told him straight to his face that it looked wierd and I stand by that statement. That's not a disguise to the fridge, and it makes it look even worse than if you had left it alone. Not to mention the extra wear and tear that the hinges will absorb that will cause premature failure.

I'm not gonna tell you not to pursue it, but there sure are other areas in a kitchen that could use more time and effort. Starting with a good layout. Get one of those, and no matter what butchery you do to the individual elements, at least the functionality will survive.

If you want to try, the Old Painted Cottage did this to their old side by side fridge. Directions are on the blog page:

Here is a link that might be useful: Old Painted Cottage Kitchen

Have you looked at this company? They claim to allow custom panels on any fridge. Might be a lot easier than what you're proposing... Or, if not, at least provides some pictures.

http://www.frigodesign.com/php/appliance/wood_panel.php

My opinion is that anything is possible. (n.b.: I've found on this forum that you always need to take the opinion of professional kitchen designers with a large grain of salt, since they are used to taking the blame for anything that goes wonky and are therefore very conservative and almost always negative towards DIY innovation. I don't know if this is because they don't DIY themselves, or whether they are just jaded by seeing too many botched jobs by less competent folks than those we have on this forum.)

I'm not sure about making your own panels of birch ply, though, given the curvature of most modern fridge fronts? I think it's doable, but negotiating the attachment points and curves might give you trouble.

I do know it's very possible to change the color and texture of a fridge door with acrylic sheeting -- the cling stuff used in advertising media -- and it looks very professional. In fact there's a company that has made their name marketing just that: Frigo Designs.

But more to your question: Frigo also markets trim frames with what appear to be an aluminum casing that fits onto the various models, providing a perch for your custom wooden panel. Might not hurt to give them a holler and see what they can do for you. It's not super cheap, but the few hundred dollars they charge might rival what you'd spend mcgyvering it?

Here is a link that might be useful: Frigo Trim Frames for all models of refrigerator

Jay Leno has a segment about things like this. It's called "White Trash Repairs" :-)

Personally I don't like paneled appliances so I wouldn't go to any great lengths to do this - but many others do like paneled appliances. On the other hand, trying to panel a full depth fridge just doesn't seem worth the effort IMHO.

My solution to this same concern was somewhat different. Since we are talking about a fridge that will be paneled, I bought one from a scratch-and-dent place, namely, Sears Outlet. It was not too different in price from a normal, but undamaged, fridge. (Of course, you could save even more by buying a damaged standard fridge and McGyvering that one, I suppose.)

I'd use self-stick Velcro strips before magnets.
Casey

At one time I'd bookmarked a post from the appliance forum that showed a really simple and ingenious german clip to create panelled fridges. Unfortunately, I've deleted it and have no idea what it's called. A really long german name of some sort. Might be worth posting your question in the appliance forum.

Here's the link to the thread with the fridge panel mechanism

Here is a link that might be useful: fridge panel mechanism

I also bought a panel ready fridge at the Sears outlet. Even a counter depth fridge with panels will stick out some - meaning you're going to see the metal on the side of the doors.

It was 70% off with a small ding on the side. I stalked it in the store for about five months watching the price go down. Since it was this ugly thing in the middle of a pack of stainless counterparts, I knew no one would pay it much attention.

The panels are more then I paid for the fridge. This is a tidbit of information that I have failed to point out to my husband....we focus on the 70% instead. Of course the total cost was still about 2/3's the regular price :)