The fridge began to die. And I knew this because I almost burned my airm on the dividing wall between the fridge and freezer portion of my beloved side by side. Figuring this wasn’t normal I did all the things a good fridge owner should do. I pulled it out, vacuumed the back (no exposed coils there) and vacuumed the floor. I pushed it back and vacuumed out the bottom as far as I could reach. No improvement at all. I shut it off and turned ti back on. Ominous heat still radiated along the wall from the top to the bottom of the side by side. Hubby came home and realized I wasn’t exaggerating. He pulled the fridge out, vacuumed some more. Unplugged it, plugged it back in.
I cleared out the freezer compartment. Was something blocking the vents? Perhaps. We decided to go look at fridges just to be on the safe side even though beloved side by side was now humming away and not over heating. I put all the freezer stufrfr in the downstairs freezer just to be safe. Off we went.
Yeah, we hit the box stores first. Lowes then Home Depot. With measurements in hand we began our quest. My desire? A side by side without an ice-maker. The reality? SOL for that. Lowes selection was, well, to be honest, poor. Home Depot was a bit better but the reality , the stark reality was and still is, we have an older home with an antiquated fridge space. Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me. Most fridges these days are OVER 68 inches tall. Our max height is a sad 3/4 inch under that. Let the games begin.
We left the box stores and went home. But not before stocking up on ice so we could put all the fridge contents we cared about in coolers. We knew our luck and it was true that by the time we got home the fridge was once again dangerously hot. Not only along the dividing wall, but also on the outer side panel. Yeah, fill the coolers and face reality. (I tire of facing reality, I really do)
And the reality was there are no side by side fridges that would fit in my kitchen unless I took out the top cabinet or sawed off the bottom cabinet molding. I was loath to do either. So I did what any sane person would do, I whined to everyone I knew until I hit the friend who had the same problem just a year earlier. (only they foolishly bought a fridge without measuring and only realized it wouldn’t fit upon delivery and she came home to an empty fridge space and her hubby sanding the bottom of cabinet molding down with a power sander so the other fridge he found WOULD fit).
Yes, off to Best Buy to gaze upon fridge Nirvana. And I found my firdge within seconds of entering the store. The LG 33 inch wide french door, freezer on bottom, no ice maker on door in black and cheaper than any fridge at Lowes and Home Deopt and SHORT! Okay, huge ass hinges in the front would NOT fit under cabinet, but cabinet sets back (or fridge sticks out a good ways. We’ll skip the long wait to actually buy the fridge and the delivery snafu (fridge that existed on a Tuesday suddenly needed to be back ordered the morning of scheduled delivery day) and go right to the installation from hell.
Thank goodness delivery company had three men , that’s all I can say. They were able to get the old fridge out easily becuase, well, it was smaller and they could take the doors off and I didn’t care. Getting the new fridge in took some doing. Freezer door had to be removed, Fridge doors had to be open (BUTTERFL?Y!) and all shelves taken off doors. And thatn’s wen I found that all my doorways into the kitchen are odd and different sizes. (go figure) And then I remembered that when we moved in, the old fridge came in through the dining room. Yup. biggest door opeining in the whole house and even then it wasn’t easy at all. No, the fridge was butterflied, and spun, angled and I swear twisted into place. This fridge is NEVER coming out of this house again….at least in one piece. It’s a thing of beauty and I have to love it forever.
The saddest part? It was hellishly hot, the poor guys were horsing that fridge around my house suspended between them by a strap, sweating away and I couldn’t offer them anything cold because I had no ice by this point.
So, what have we learned? Bigger isn’t better, but it is the way of the world now. Measure first, be prepared to saw, sand or remover existing overhead cabinetry but above all, your door openings may be the biggest impediments yet. Just hope you get the guys that know how to butterfly a fridge around the house.
