How to Add Panels To A Regular Refrigerator

We're sharing how we turned our regular refrigerator into an integrated (panel) refrigerator, without spending a lot of money!

You can see more details in this blog post, we recommend reading this for extra details:

How we made our wood panel:

Supplies:
- wood panel (we made our panel, see above)
- knobs/handles for fridge
- screws

There's lots of comments about ventilation, here's what we did: You'll want to make sure your fridge has ventilation so air can flow around it. Vents in the front and back are ideal. (Check with a professional if you're not sure on how refrigerators should be vented. Your fridge manual should say as well). Our fridge has the vent in the front, at the toe kick, which you can see in the video. Our laundry room is directly behind where our refrigerator is; we were able to push it back a few inches into that space to give us more room in the kitchen. We also added a vent into the wall behind the fridge when we did this for ventilation. There's also a few inches between the fridge and the sides of the cabinet for plenty of air flow (you can see that in the video).

Here's how we put a panel on our regular dishwasher:

Here's how we made our custom inset kitchen cabinets:

More of us:

[andrew_likes_bikes]

I love how you did this. Can I ask how you manage ventilation for the fridge?

[PSModernKitchens]

Well, as a professional kitchen designer, I was very skeptical at first… a really good job. I’m very impressed.

[SD-coxe]

It is really crazy how much more expensive the refrigerators set up for panels are than regular appliances. No way is the cost justified. Nice job!

[netterstyl]

Very slick install. These folks obviously did their homework to come up with the very elegant, tasteful solution (and paint color) depicted here. (And their dishwasher treatment is likewise awesome). Fine trim carpentry with nothing wonky going on to spoil the overall effect. I thought I was doing my homework, but I was still scratching my head and coming up empty until I stumbled upon this vid, so much appreciation goes out to them.

You may have noticed that to get this type of install in the U.S, you'd also need to shell out millions of dollars for a mansion, or many thousands of dollars for the type of pre-configured integrated unit from brands typically not advertised to the masses. (Upwards of $15k in some cases.) But these YouTubers came up with something just as worthy of attention for way less money, which was the slickest thing of all about this.

The link for the "sliders" (as I'll call them) was out of stock, and unbelievably, these gizmos aren't marketed in the U.S. by anyone. I went to the UK version of Amazon, where I found a pair for $18 delivered. (About 6 weeks delivery time.) You can have them delivered for about $2 if you're willing to wait about an additional month. (Total cost in that case about $10.)

The Amazon UK site has oodles of them for sale branded differently, but they all appear to be exactly alike, which would imply that they all originate from the company depicted here. Probably are all cranked out off the same assembly line.

I learned (from watching YT videos) that this type of install is very common in the UK, regardless of the cost of the appliance, thus the proliferation of those sliding brackets on the UK Amazon site as well as only being able to get them from the UK via eBay. Why this is the case is beyond me, as the practice naturally begs to be common in the U.S. as well.

But if you have a small kitchen - such as I do - a totally integrated install such as this is the way to go, if you can otherwise manipulate the space. That huge blob of stainless steel doesn't shout so much tucked away to the side in a large kitchen, but it _hollers_ in a small kitchen, as if to say, "look at me - I've overtaken your space with my large, shiny presence." And covering them up prevents your having to coordinate all the finishes of your appliances.

[Snny]

Holy smoke… every tutorial video should be just like this! I was researching for readability and how-to before updating our kitchen and dang… this was perfect!!

[tannert]

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to calculate the offset for hinges. This puts it a slider! SMH, what a simple solution. I don’t love the gaps behind the panels, but saving about $6000 in my case I sure don’t mind that much!

[mrs.conscious]

I had to pause and say this.. U are EXCELLENT with your commentary and on point with everything he was doing in the video for people like me. I loved

[dbhart]

Thank you for sharing!! Y’all just saved me a fortune 😃

[emileeandlora]

Fabulous example of DIY refrigerator panels! I would definitely do this for a client that did not have the budget or didn't want to invest in a high end panel ready refrigerator.

[charlesfurer]

Nicely done, designed, explained, shot, and edited. Brief and to the point!! I love how "get on with it" your process is (of course, after all the thoughtful work was done). I can stand around braining something forever, and your lean approach is inspiring, so thank you.

[heatherj]

Wow. This is the prettiest paneled fridge I've seen. Amazing job.

[MYsellerONeBay]

Great information and inspiring. I had no idea these sliders existed. Wow! High-end look for us budget-minded people. Beautiful kitchen❤ You earned another subscriber🙂

[togetherwecan]

This is beautiful! You did a lovely job! It surely beat paying 10, 000 for a refrigerator. Oh how I wish someone could do mine!

[houstonval]

This is dope. The only example I could find using regular fridge. Thank you

[JBONMETUBE]

Never knew this can be done. Thanks for the vid!

[jennifergorman]

I cant say thank you enough! Best Hack EVER! Iv’e been looking for a solution with no luck and was thinking I needed to remove the door skins! Xx

[JJ-ukyz]

Fabulous concept and execution. Doable, inexpensive, and luxurious looking. thank you

[LisaCapron]

This is genius and now I have so many ideas for our upcoming remodel!

[marcytawilliams]

Thanks for this video. We’re going to try to have our contractor do this. Well done! New subscriber here!

[anncandelario]

Thank you for making and sharing this video, were i come from, having the appliances on display is not of our preference, so I ask my husband if we could put door panels and hide them and he was skeptical, this video and your other video for the dishwasher help me win the battle we had over this 😂 😜❤ Thanks!!