If you’re stuck with some aging appliances and replacing them isn’t in your budget, there are a few tricks that you can use to give them a facelift and make them more energy efficient, on the cheap. For this article, we’re going to focus on refreshing your refrigerator and dishwasher, but these tips will work for just about any large appliance you have in your home.
Let’s start with the refrigerator. Chances are it could use a top to bottom scrubbing and a defrost if it’s an older model. Completely remove all the food and scrub the entire surface inside and out with a good cleaner that’s safe to use around food. Get into every nook and cranny until it’s sparkling. If you’ve got a common refrigerator, you may be able to find replacement shelves that will make it easier to store your food. Before you shut those doors though, there are two more steps you’re going to need to take.
Grab an old toothbrush and dunk it in your cleaner. Locate the rubber gasket on the inside of the door and get scrubbing. It’s most likely pretty gunky unless you’ve been cleaning it on a regular basis. If your refrigerator is old, you should replace the gasket. This will make your appliance more efficient. These gaskets can be found at any hardware store. Measure the old one or take a section in to help make it easier to find the replacement. Replace both gaskets and shut the door.
Scrub the outside of the doors until they are sparkling clean. Now, you’ve got an option. You can leave it as is, or you can try a technique that will make it look like you’ve spent a couple thousand dollars on a new appliance. Get some stainless steel contact paper – yes, contact paper, and carefully apply it to your door. You’re going to want to make sure that there are no broken or crooked edges. Completely coat the appliance with the contact paper, smoothing out any bubbles as you go. When you’re done, your refrigerator will look fantastic. It’s important to find contact paper that’s meant for this type of use. You can usually find it in most home improvement stores or online.
Now, let’s move onto to the dishwasher. Repeat the same processes above, making sure that it is completely cleaned out. You can also add the same contact paper to this appliance so that you have a uniform look for your appliances. You may need to replace the gasket on the dishwasher if it is old and worn out. These wear out pretty quickly since the area inside is so hot and humid. Again, you’ll be saving money on energy costs by taking the time to install a new gasket.
Make sure that you follow the proper care instructions for your newly contact-papered appliances. Most come with special instructions, but you can use a damp cloth with dish soap to clean it. Make sure that the cloth is not too wet.
Your kitchen should now look brand new and you’ve only spent a few hours and a couple dollars!
Read more tips and advice on home cleaning at Merry Maids.
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Categories:
Cheap Alternative, Dishwasher, Handy Man, Kitchen, Refresh, Refrigerator, Repair
Tags:
appliances, bubbles, budget, contact paper, Dishwasher, Doors, facelift, gasket, gaskets, gunky, Hardware Store, new appliance, nook and cranny, Refrigerator, rubber gasket, shelves, stainless steel, thousand dollars, toothbrush, top to bottom
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18 comments ↓
what’s contact paper?
It is heavy gauge paper that is sticky on one side and has a pattern of the other… (The stuff old cabinets are lined with.)
Stainless steel contact paper if applied appropriately is nearly indistinguishable without a close inspection from the real thing.
I added a product from Amazon that fits the bill… thanks for the idea.
[...] Handy Man Fix Home Repair straddles the line between personal finance and DIY home repair in How to Make Old Appliances Look New [...]
Pics or it didn’t happen.
on the amazon link they have chalkboard contact paper. Hmmm…
@dave
Never thought of using the chalkboard contact paper to a fridge but that would be a cool idea…
I am having trouble leaving a comment on LH so I will leave it here…
There are other sizes of contact paper (try hardware or paint store not amazon)… To avoid seems get a size as wide as your fridge door
I wouldn’t try this with a toaster… too hot. Although I bet a specialized product exists for hot applications.
@MV
I do not have any pictures. I did this a few years ago for a lady on the other side of town… This is not a new idea… A quick search of the Internet turned up this photo of applying to a dishwasher that I am about to add to the post… There were others but the photos weren’t good quality.
2 Links for Larger Sizes:
http://www.glassdecorandmore.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=s26brushed
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/sheetingfx/brushed.stainless.htm
Another thing to know about actually stainless steel or aluminum finished appliances (like my toaster and microwave) is that they will start to look old and crappy with spots and uneven places and no amount of cleaning will get them to look nice. You have to rub mineral oil (veg oil will work in a pinch) into the surface of stainless steel surfaces every once in a while and it will make them look like new.
How do you handle the seams? The only stainless steel contact paper I’ve seen is 18″ x 6′.
Also, what about the corners? I can see wrapping the vertical sides of a fridge door, but how does that cleanly merge with the top fold? I can see cutting each side at a 45 degree angle diagonally and letting them touch along the corner. Again, that’s a seam and a sharp point.
Thank you!!!
While refurbishing old appliances to give them a modern look is a great idea, I opted to replace my appliances for energy and water conservation reasons. For me the payback in energy/water savings will happen in 6 years or less (based on 5% annual rise in energy costs).
Even a 6 year old dishwasher takes approximately 3 times as much electricity and water when compared to a new Bosch (inexpensive) or Asko (moderately expensive).
A 10 year old refrigerator takes 4-5 times as much energy to run as a new Energy Star equivalent.
An HE washing machine uses about 10% of the water and electricity of a 10 year old tub washer. Also the HE washer spins so much water out of the load that drying times are typically 1/2 as long.
Where I live in Quebec (where electricity is dirt cheap at $0.08 KwH and water is abundant) I am saving $40 per month in electricity, (incl hot water) and water ( for a family of 4) by getting rid of 10 year old washer/dryer and 6 year old dishwasher.
Not to mention the savings in consumables like soap (yes HE appliances use way less).
So refurbishing is a false economy for sure, especially with deals like no interest financing on new appliances. And it definitely pays off to do the research on energy/water efficiency and shopping around for deals.
For cleaning stainless, the 3M polish you get at Costco is mineral oil based. For really tough heat stains (on BBQs and toasters) Cameo cleanser works wonders. You can also use a 0000 steel wool pad in the direction of the grain with the cleanser. I have also had some success removing oxidization stains with Nev R Dull.
I’ve seen this done several times, with different results each time. On a dishwasher, it is not too difficult to do as the outer door is usually a smooth surface which will join up nicely with the paper.
I’ve seen a couple refrigerators, however, that did not turn out so well. Most of the painted refrigerators on the market have a crinkly finish, meaning the paint has a texture to it. It is difficult to apply the contact paper across these textured finishes without leaving some air trapped inside. And if you do manage to press all of the air out, then the paper may fill some of the texture in the paint, leading to a wrinkly look in the paper.
Proceed with caution.
[...] I suppose it’s possible that the stainless steel contact paper is thick and durable and is nice quality. It would definitely be a more frugal option than replacing your appliances. In case you’re interested, here’s a tutorial. [...]
I have an old Snap-On tool box that would look great in stainless.
Thanks for the tip!
[...]Whether you, a friend, a parent or relative has one of these (or similar) items this post is for you. The Handyman Fix Home Repairs Blog has an article on how to refurbish old appliance, make them work and look like new and get your whole kitchen to look coordinated and modern.[...]
http://frumhacks.blogspot.com/2008/07/refurbish-your-yeshivish-appliances.html
I have used this - with bad results. The paper will never look as slick and flat as real stainless steel and you must be a professional to get all the bubbles out, otherwise you’ll have a very sloppy fake stainless steel surface. The stuff doesnt stick for long, either, and I would imagine that with dishwashers and ovens, the heat generated will make the paper fall off overnight.
Just clean your appliances and stop trying to make them look like something they’re not.
[...] — A DIY enthusiast site with growing number of DIY tips and tricks. One of my favorite tips is to use stailness steel contact paper to cover kitchen appliances. [...]
Just buy some new ones instead!
[...] all know that kitchen appliances are some of the most expensive and widely used pie ces of furniture in any kitchen. As such, you [...]
live in a rental apt with a narrow galley kitchen. Recently, we put up new wall paper and a new tile floor in the kitchen and planned to get a new stainless or black fridge to replace the ‘almond’ color one…although it still works fine. A search of the web and local appliance stores showed that new refrigerators (any color/any price) no longer are made in the size that fits the space in our kitchen! A new one the same size would jut out an additional 3″…a smaller apt size model would be 1/3 the size. Grrrr.
I decided to see if the contact paper trick would work, and went to the local hardware store to pick some up. The stainless cp was about 4 X more expensive per roll than the matte black, so I bought a roll of matte black for practice.
The black looked so good that I ended up buying another roll (for $3.49) and finished the job. I think that the matte black is much more ‘forgiving’ than the stainless would be. I had to seam the front in 3 places, but the seams really don’t show. Using smaller pieces also makes smooth application easier. The only problem I had was with the corners at the top…once again, I cut seperate little squares to make the corners and it barely shows.
Hint…CP works best on a flat plane. First I did the perimiters, then I did the front, allowing ~1/8 inch of foldover over the edges. The seams are not perceptable.
Of course the light color gaskets show from the side, but the edges came out so cleanly, that it really doesn’t look bad.
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