Have an Ugly Fridge? Here Are 7 Creative Makeover Ideas

Take a peek at these designs from readers who have decorated their plain-vanilla refrigerators with decals, wraps and more

Becky Harris October 2, 2016

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected." I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More

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Ugh, the ugly refrigerator. I wonder if any other appliance looks dated as quickly as ye olde fridge. A refrigerator is an expensive investment, and it’s hard to justify replacing a perfectly functioning one just because you think it’s hideous. When I put out a What’s on Your Refrigerator? Houzz Call, I was amazed by the creative solutions Houzz readers and designers have come up with to zhuzh up a tired-looking fridge.

1. Apply decals. Houzz user Iko Cornelius transformed this refrigerator into something that looks like a roadie should be toting around. “I saw a small novelty beer fridge in a store that looked like a Fender guitar speaker and thought, ‘I can do better!’” she says. “My husband is a bass player and has an antique Ampeg monitor and speaker that he cherishes, so I snapped some pictures of it and sent them to graphic artist Neil Jeffery, with whom I have had amazing custom work done before.”

Jeffery prints vinyl decals through his Etsy store beepart. He drew up some options and printed the decals in three sections — one for the freezer and two that had to be applied very carefully to line up on the bottom portion of the refrigerator. This did involve removing the handles from the refrigerator, which was a little tricky. Cornelius reports that after three years, the amp refrigerator is still rocking and rolling. “We love it,” she says. “It also stops us from cluttering the front of the fridge with miscellaneous documents and creates a clean look in the kitchen.”

LABLstudio

If you’re looking for an easier way to use decals, check out what the designers at Lablstudio did. Limited in what they could do in this rental kitchen, they cleverly added personality with a simple decal. The iconic ice logo adds some graphic nostalgia, and at the same time, its placement on the freezer is cheekily literal — indeed, that is where the ice is.

2. Wrap it. On The Real Housewives of New York City, Countess Luann de Lesseps made fun of Bethenny Frankel’s Volkswagen wrapped in a Skinnygirl ad, but now Frankel is a multimillionaire mogul. Sometimes wrapping something in vinyl can transform a life. Or at least a fridge.

Across the country, Houzz user Pat Dowd heard an ad for Gatorwraps, stating that they would wrap just about anything, including a prosthesis, which inspired a great idea for this formerly blah refrigerator. The vinyl wrap takes this fridge’s style up, up and away with beautiful balloons.

Here is the wrap laid out flat. The process involved going to the shop and picking out the design. Then the installers came right out to Dowd’s house — no emptying out or transporting the fridge required. The total cost was $300.

Dowd notes that they can also wrap a fridge to resemble stainless steel, wood or copper if that’s your fancy. “We get loads of compliments on it, although I haven’t found anyone gutsy enough to jump on the bandwagon!” she says.

3. Display a collection. Sarah Robertson, owner of Studio Dearborn, knew her odd-sized, 1980s almond-colored refrigerator still had some life left in it, so she painted it with black chalkboard paint to tide her over until she completed a kitchen renovation, for which a paneled Sub-Zero was on the wish list.

As it turned out, her kids were more interested in the growing collection of colorful vintage spigot handles that she kept in a basket on the kitchen island than they were in doodling on the refrigerator.

“I’m not sure when I got the idea to put the handles on the fridge, but once we had that ‘aha’ moment, up they went, and the collection grew until the fridge was covered,” she says.

If you want to do something similar, Robertson recommends cleaning the refrigerator well, then priming it with Stix. While there’s been a small amount of chipping on the corners of hers over the past five years, she reports that it’s easy to touch up.

By the way, the spigots will be permanently installed on the custom panels of the new refrigerator. “Both the family and kitchen clients have agreed we should keep this element in the kitchen … even if it’s a bit wacky!” she says.

4. Cover it with chalkboard adhesive. “I had a very ugly, old, yellowed, dented fridge that made me frown every time I looked at it — there wasn’t a fridge magnet in existence that could have changed it,” Houzz user Liesje Feterika writes. “The temporary fix was to use adhesive chalkboard to cover the front, dress the top with faux plants and [put up] my favorite addition, a letter from my son. Now I stop to look at my ‘ugly’ fridge all the time.… Now if I could only get it to self-defrost.”

Update: When I contacted Feterika to find out more, she reported that a new frost-free fridge had just arrived. “While I am desperately happy to finally have something frost-free that doesn’t destroy my leafy greens within hours, we are genuinely still deciding whether or not we should cover the pristine new gleaming fridge with adhesive chalkboard again, because it became such a feature!” she says. “The new one looks, well, a bit boring.”

5. Attack it with magnets and stickers. Houzz user Robert Mace describes his kitchen as “Grandma on acid,” and the refrigerator fits right in. Stickers and magnets cover about 99 percent of the plain white front, adding personality and memories to the appliance.

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6. Pay homage to a favorite magazine. “I didn’t like the price of the custom wood cabinet matching panels when we bought the fridge, so I decided to do something more interesting,” Houzz user Leslie O’Brien writes.

She looked to a collection of beloved Gourmet issues — the magazine had just gone out of print — took the best covers, decoupaged them to thin plywood cut to fit the panel hardware and used them as fridge panels. “I get interesting reactions. People either love or hate!” she says.

7. Display a photo album. Plastic frames with magnets on the back make it easy to turn a refrigerator into a revolving photo gallery. Houzz user Mary Lacy says that this is her family’s favorite part of the house.

Your turn: If you’ve fixed up your old refrigerator, please share your idea with us in the Comments section. And include a photo if you have one.

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