My Plywood Fridge

I've always felt that traditional kitchen design and decor is far too limiting. I loathe built-ins and bristle at steel sufaces. In my barn conversion project I outfitted my kitchen with a 'moveable feast' of storage and work surfaces — my shelving units are on casters and my island is on casters. And of course, the fridge rolls. I like to be able to reconfigure the layout and the furnishings as my moods and needs change. In that same spirit of breaking with tradition I decoupaged my refrigerator with plywood patterned paper.

Fridge before. I will be putting the skirt seen in this photo back on the sink cabinet. I made one for the island also, both made from actual skirts.

This particular fridge purchased on Craig's List for $30, although brand new, was missing its handles. I drilled holes and attached leather straps for handles, using a vintage policeman's belt with a handsome tooling pattern on it. I had enough to also make a handle for the drawer on my island.

The island was a work bench in the barn. It had a barrel lock on the drawer that I didn't need so I removed it and cut a piece of wine cork (just happened to be the perfect diameter) with a hacksaw and glued it into the hole.