Le Frigo est Kaput!

Around the house here, I have a saying, "Nothing is ever easy". By this I mean that any 'quick job' that needs doing undoubtedly turns into a major endeavor. I was proven correct once again this week.

When we bought this house, we sold our fridge because this house came with one that was a particular size to fit into the space carved out for it amongst the cabinetry. A little shorter and more shallow than the average fridge, plus there's a countertop right across from it, so single-door is not an option. Needs to be french-door style.

Anyhoo. Couple weeks back, the fridge starts to die. Pull it out to look at it, and the coolant/radiator grid on teh back is corroded in a number of places and, long story short, fixing it is not worth the trouble. So we make the call to buy a new one.

Look around online and in-person at a bunch of stores, for something that fits our criteria (particular depth & height, stainless or black finish, french doors) with no luck.

Finally decide to do a little cabinet modding. If I cut the shelf above the fridge by about 2 inches, move it up, re-router the bevelled edge on the cabinet doors, then I can clear the standard height for most fridges.

We end up finding ONE fridge that fits the bill. Surprise surprise, it's among the highest priced ones at the local sears. I am not looking forward to next month's visa bill.

They were delivering Friday, so Thursday night I needed to take the shelf out. Of course, nothing is ever easy. First, I discover that the section I need to cut out (a) has a corner that I can't get to with ANY of my power saws (jig, circular, router), and (b) has wiring running up through the back of the cabinetry. Sure, I could have cut the breaker, but where's the fun in that. All that turned a 30 minute job into a 2hr job, as I had to *carefully* hand-saw out a section while being careful not to cut into the power running behind it..

Then I pull the fridge out. It's got a water hookup (for icemaker), and I expect to see a shut off valve by the wall. Nope. The line goes straight into the floor. So I need to find out where it goes. So at like midnight on thursday, I'm off into the crawlspace under the house, crawling around on my belly pulling insulation out to find where this line pops through. I find it, and trace it across to where it's hooked up. There's a shut off there, but I've lost another half our, and am now covered in fiberglass dust (which sucks, btw).

Anyhow, fridge is in place now, but I still have the cabinet doors and shelf to re-work and replace.

Should be a pretty quick job though...