We learned with our first kitchen that building in your refrigerator makes a kitchen look much more finished. At the time, our fridge stuck out like a sore thumb — the exact opposite of “built-in” — so we set out to give it a simple, affordable built-in look.
We picked up a less-than-glamorous cabinet from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore (mentioned yesterday) for $19. It’s 12″ tall and 36″ wide — exactly the width of our refrigerator. Removing the mismatched doors made it immediately feel more useful as the top portion of a built-in assembly. We plan to retrofit matching doors later so it will blend seamlessly with the rest of the kitchen.
For the side panels, I used two 4′ x 8′ sheets of plywood recommended by the Lowe’s associate for cabinet work. He said it’s the same material pros use when they install built-in cabinets. They cut the sheets to size at the store, which saved a lot of hassle. The pieces were still too large for our car, so I rented the $19 Lowe’s truck. Between the truck rental, plywood, and a few 1×2″ pine trim boards, the total cost came to around $90 — a great deal given the $19 ReStore cabinet that started the project.
The pine trim was added to give the front edge a more finished, substantial look. I used a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes along the edge of both plywood panels and then sanded everything smooth — the plywood sides plus the front of the cabinet so they’d be ready for primer and paint. We’ll paint the cabinet with the rest of the kitchen cabinets after the countertops are installed to avoid chips during that stage.
With the trim clamped and screwed flush to the plywood edges, I sometimes drilled an extra hole to accommodate the Kreg clamp — a small trick that makes the process smoother. That part was fiddly and took about an hour, but the finished edges looked much better.
After attaching the trim to both plywood pieces and sanding everything again, the next challenge was fitting the cabinet assembly around the fridge. The cabinet opening needed to be slightly wider than the fridge itself, so I added filler scraps — one stack at the front and one at the back — to set the cabinet forward of the trim and allow the fridge doors to open fully without hitting the frame.
Here’s the cabinet sitting on top of the prepared framework. I added a wooden shim to make sure the cabinet sat perfectly level. We didn’t attach the entire assembly outdoors and attempt to carry it through doorways — instead we brought the components inside and did the final assembly in the kitchen.
One side of the cabinet was screwed to a plywood panel while Sherry helped hold things steady. We used our camera tripod as a temporary jack for the second side while we checked that everything was square and level before fastening it all together.
Before we stood the assembly upright we added a spare board across the back to maintain rigidity front to back. That same board later served as the anchor point for screwing the whole unit to the wall so it can’t tip over. We also added a bottom plank for stability and to provide a mounting surface.
With a little heave-ho we stood the unit up and slid it into place over the refrigerator. We temporarily removed the lower support slat so the cabinet could slide on like a slipcover and then reinstalled supports once it was positioned.
There’s still more to do — primer and paint for the sides and the paneling behind it, matching doors, molding around the top, and trim at the base — but even in this unfinished state the new built-in sides hide the black on the fridge’s sides and leave only the stainless front visible. The result already looks much more intentional than the previous setup, where the above-fridge cabinet sat about 6″ back and was harder to access.
Next up is finalizing the peninsula layout — we still need one more cabinet to finish that area — so we can determine the placement of a new eight-foot opening to the dining room that a pro will help install. That should happen soon and will be a big, dusty, exciting step. We’ll share updates as we go.
It’s definitely an upgrade from the previous non-built-in look — cleaner, more cohesive, and a practical improvement that makes the fridge feel like part of the kitchen rather than an afterthought.
Psst — We’re over on BabyCenter sharing how we organize and store Clara’s outgrown clothes. We’d love to hear your storage tips too.