Wednesday, July 11, 2012

How to Reverse a Refrigerator Door

A Little Change That Makes A Big Difference
We were given this refrigerator for our summer cottage basement by a friend. It is in very good gently used condition and serves the purpose very well. The only slight issue was that the sink and counter are on the right and the door opened to the left. I was told by my friend that the door opening could be changed with a few simple screws. I began by removing the snap on grill at the very bottom of the refrigerator. This allowed me to access the hinge and screws at the bottom of the door.
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Next I removed the buttons on front for the handles. If you look closely you can see the little buttons on the right side in the photo above. Those buttons will pop off if you gently place a screwdriver behind them.
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The photo below shows the hole after the button has been popped off.
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The handles also had a little plastic cover at the bottom that I gently pried off. Next, I opened the door and unscrewed the hinges.
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When the hinges were unscrewed from the refrigerator, I discovered that the door has an opening for the hinge pin on both the left and right side. Also, the refrigerator itself, has identical holes for the hinges on the left and right side. I simply flipped the hinge upside down and screwed it into the appropriate holes on the other side of the refrigerator.
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The additional holes for the hinges did have screws in them so that its not just an empty hole but you can tell by looking at the placement that this is where the hinge fits on the other side. The top of the refrigerator has holes on both sides for the hinges too. After making the change I replaced all of the screws into the empty holes.
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It is much more convenient this way! I love it when a plan comes together!
Just a note, the blog will be on autopilot for the rest of the month as I expect to be unplugged with little to no internet access! I will probably suffer withdrawals, no blog hopping, no pretty pictures to look at, no online shopping and browsing, no pinning! But I will be back with posts of my adventure that I have been preparing for during the month of June.

I will be sharing with Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and with Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.
Have a great July!
I'm also linking to Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits at Stone Gable ( linking at 30,000 feet!)!
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