New look for refrigerator
The door seal on my refrigerator finally gave up, and after looking at the price for a new fridge, I decided to save money by replacing the seal and giving the refrigerator a makeover.
28/07/2018
When the door seal on my fridge decided it had had enough, I shopped around to see what it would cost to replace the refrigerator. What a shock to see how high the prices were for a similar fridge. Rather than have to spend a fortune I decided to look at replacing the seal and giving the fridge a makeover.
For some reason there were a couple of areas where rust had started to appear, particularly in the area around the door handle. This gave me an opportunity to use Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy spray paint to give the fridge a new stainless steel finish. You will see my comments below about the result I achieved and how I managed to give the refrigerator almost exactly the finish that it originally had.
Taking the fridge out of the kitchen also gave me a chance to give it a clean from top to bottom, and fix some of the broken door containers - more on this here. The inside was cleaned with Handy Andy and a cloth, as well as a soft scrubbing brush and old toothbrush to get into difficulty to reach areas.
It was necessary to remove the door handles and mask off any areas to be spray painted. The top door seal was already removed, so only the bottom seal needed to be covered with masking tape.
Here's a close up of the area where rust has started to form on the door, around the handle.
This area was tackled first and it was simply a matter of sanding the area with 180-grit sandpaper. I started off with my Dremel MultiMax before switching over to my Bosch PEX 220A Random Orbit Sander to sand the doors and sides.
GOOD TO KNOW: It's better to use a Random Orbit Sander when sanding the outside surface, as this sander doesn't leave scratch rings all over the finish.
Bosch PEX330 Random Orbit Sander
To spray the outside of the refrigerator I'm using Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy in a stainless steel finish. You also get this product in a white, if the inside of a fridge needs some attention.
Rust-Oleum
Appliance Epoxy - Stainless Steel
You will see my comments below on how the refrigerator looked after spraying with Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy in stainless steel, and why I decided to finish off with Rust-Oleum Universal Titanium Silver. Builders Warehouse stocks the full range of Rust-Oleum products, and if they don't have in stock you can ask them to order it for you.
Rust-Oleum
Universal - Titanium Silver
Two light coats of Rust-Oleum Appliance Epoxy were applied, with an hour's drying time between coats. Below you can see what the fridge looked like after applying the first coat.
GOOD TO KNOW: Shake the can well, for at least a minute, before spraying and have the can about 30cm away from the surface to apply over-lapping strokes from side to side.
After letting the paint dry overnight I wasn't happy with the finish. It definitely looked like stainless steel, but it was a bit dull and flat and not like the original finish. To remedy this I applied two coats of Rust-Oleum Universal in Titanium Silver and this provided the perfect finish that looked just like it did originally.
I will be posting more shortly about replacing the door seal and also fixing up broken plastic door inserts and containers. Since I'm doing the outside of the fridge, I thought that I might as well fix up the inside.