I find it odd that this experience brought about this post. Why not a post about how to safely defrost your freezer without breaking anything? The new fridge looks, BIG, and shiny, and will probably come in handy during Thanksgiving, but it also represents a major expenditure of resources (both to make the new fridge and to continue to run it). I hope that the end result is really an improvement in quality of life for you, and you should consider doing something nice for your landlord who (however grudgingly) paid for an upgraded a fridge for the one that you broke.

I'm in the opposite situation -- trying to find a small fridge to replace our current one. I thought our fridge was huge until I measured it and realized that it's actually of average size. It's our kitchen that's tiny!

Most of the smaller fridges I've looked at give a lot of room to the freezer and don't leave much room for veggie bins. The fridge search is kind of making me crazy. I'm even considering putting an "all-refrigerator" in the kitchen and a small chest freezer in the basement.

@hrhprincessfiona: I think the cat is concerned about not being able to get into the little cabinets now partially blocked by the new fridge, shown in pics 2 and 3. What's in there?

It is kind of an odd post. I'm struck by the sheer brutality of the defrosting method--hauling the whole fridge out onto the front porch (!), going at it with a *screwdriver*? And four inches of ice? Tsk, tsk.

Ah yes... 'helping along' a defrost with hammer and chisel. I know this scenario all too well-- I busted my refrigerator similarly, about ten years ago.

One moment, congratulating myself for my awesome Yankee ingenuity (only a dope would actually WAIT for all this ice to melt!)... the next, wondering, what the HELL just happened?!?

Aw, my kitty is a fridge climber too. In fact, she uses the top of the fridge as a step so she can get to the top of the cabinets.

I had the same experience when I recently bought a couch. Putting it into a room that has been sofaless for two years, I immediately thought it was a behemoth that dwarfed everything. Two weeks later I'm used to it, even if it does look like a behemoth to other eyes.

BTW, pans of warm water and lots of patience will defrost just about any freezer.

my problem is a bit similar to this one. the apartment i moved to had a double-door fridge that was placed OUTSIDE the kitchen, right by the door that leads to it (because there's no space for it in the kitchen itself). my apartment has a sunken living/dining area, so you can see the fridge hovering over that space like a giant eyesore. i've gotten a bit used to it already although i would still want to conceal it a bit (which might just lend to it being more obvious). has anyone else in the AT community had a similar problem?

When I was a kid, it was my job to defrost the freezer on an occasional Sat morning. We had an old kirby cannister vacuum that you could switch the hose around and it would turn into a blower. I remember standing there holding that thing and watching the ice turn into water, I could make the melting ice into sculpture. lol Nice memory, actually.

i just got rid of my standard too big size basic white apartment dweller fridge and replaced it with a smaller vintage fridge that was meant for the space. The fridge is flush with the cabinets (which i love) and has style! It even has a butter warmer! The smaller size is fine with me as i buy most of my food at the farmers market and only use the small inside freezer for ice cubes & ice cream.

ooh could you please tell me the name/brand of the paint on your walls?

Um - There's a reason that the freezer has a warning notice that says "Don't use sharp objects" or something to that effect.

If I was the landlord, I'd have had you pay for the new fridge - or at least part of it - since you broke it.

I just love the cat. =^^=

Nah...I agree with your first impulse. It looks too big for the space.

Nice landlord. I would have taken the cost of a new fridge out of your security deposit and replaced it with another pint-sized version.

As a landlord myself, I'd say you were due for a new fridge anyway if you had to manually defrost the old one.

I remember being a little girl when my parents upgraded their 2 Henredon loveseats into 2 gigantic leather sofas (the Henredons when elsewhere in the house). My mom wanted something that you could sleep on- and they ARE comfy! When they first came though, they felt HUGGGGEE!! I remember being mad I could no longer see the tv from the kitchen table. With time though, they fit fine with the large room & don't look out of scale at all.

heather77, I'm in the same boat. We recently bought a house where the fridge looks enormous, but is in fact a standard sized fridge with a freezer on the bottom. One thing I'm thinking of doing is replacing it with an energy-star counter depth refrigerator that is a side-by-side, so it takes up less room open and closed.

Is there anywhere else you could move the fridge to? It's such a shame that it blocks pantry doors.

The fridge and stove in our apartment are similarily too large for the original layout. We've moved things around a bit and are hoping to come up with a way to help the part of the fridge that sticks out blend in more with the wall.

my cat loves the fridge top too!

Hi all--the new fridge is blocking 2 shallow doors which used to hold an ironing board (we don't use it). I've lived in my apartment for 4 years and once a year, I would have to haul it outside to defrost. It was a sore subject between my landlord and I (all of the other tenants had standard fridges) while my house mate and I were always stuck to our teeny freezer (which was the biggest downfall of having a small fridge). I couldn't even fit a frozen pizza box in there (and when there was 4 inches of ice--forget about storing anything but a bag of frozen peas). Lesson learned--never use sharp objects to defrost. And yes, a post on defrosting a freezer safely is definitely in order.

The paint color is Molokai Blue from Dutch boy and can be found in this post

1) I bought a wonderful, tall, whimsical rocking chair that I loved in the furniture warehouse. It turned out to be HUGE in my living room. I panicked, but after living with it for a couple of weeks, I began to like it more and more. I just make sure I keep it angled in one of the corners and not be the focal point of the room. I still contemplate sawing off a portion of the back to shorten it a bit...
2) How DID that cat get up there?

Nancy_Claire, today's new fridges are much more energy efficient than those of yester-year, especially if they're Energy Star rated. If you live in Southern California you've probably heard the Southern California Edison commercials telling people to get rid of their old fridge in the garage holding a lonely 12 pack of soda because they're energy hogs. They'll even pay you $50 to get a new one and $50 to recycle the old one.

Already covered here, but emptied (into a picnic cooler if you have one) and unplugged with a pan of warm water inside will defrost a frezer in decent time.
If you had one of those SUPER vintage models that don't have a full width freezer you have nothing but my sympathy.

I had this same problem and replaced my too big (standard) fridge with a 24" x 24" vestafrost. Home despot (online) had them on sale at one point. They are extremely energy efficent (they have manual defrost). With freezer drawers on the bottom and 7' tall they fit an incredible amount of stuff. My favorite is probably the internal wine rack up top.

It was the perfect solution for my small condo, but keep in mind with the height you'll have to move or take down any upper cabinets.

heatherk -- I'm also considering a counter-depth side by side. Some people seem to hate that configuration, but we don't have a lot of big trays or frozen pizzas, so I think it could work for us.

It's not so much the size that bothers me but the fact that the doors open the wrong way. I hate it when I open the refrigerator and then the door is between me and the rest of the kitchen - so I can't just toss a few things onto the counter but have to make several trips. (People always think I'm crazy when I say this, until they go stand in front of their own frig and think about what it would be like to have the handle on the other side...)

used to love it when my parents would defrost the freezer. Closest thing we urban youths got to snow.

@heather77, I would consider the ice situation before you do that. Do you want to run to the basement every time you want ice for a drink?

honestly, i'm surprised your landlord paid for it. who defrosts a fridge on a porch with a hammer and chisel? next time try a pot of hot/boiling water with the door closed. works like a charm.

Adorable kitty.

We recently added a dresser to our bedroom and it looked SO much bigger in our room than it did in the store. We ended up rearranging the furniture so that our chest of drawers (another tall piece) was at the opposite end of the room from the dresser, which helped to balance the room.

We all make stupid mistakes now and then, but I agree with some of the other posters saying that your landlord was being VERY nice to you, given that you destroyed his fridge by whacking it with a screwdriver. Instead of paying for the fridge or at least acknowledging that your landlord was being very generous to you, you point out that he only "reluctantly" got you the larger fridge. Really, step back and think about that for a moment!

Heather77 and lbc, from what I've read, manual defrost freezers are actually more energy efficient than the frost-free ones, probably because they do not cycle the temperature up and down to get rid of frost. For example, super energy efficient fridges (the kind people living off-grid sometimes use) like the ConServ have a manual defrost freezer. So without knowing exactly what the old fridge was, it's hard to say whether she was due for a new fridge or not. It might actually have been a really efficient fridge.

I have an unusually tiny nook for my refrigerator as well, and Summit Refrigerators are the best looking, best priced (for a brand-new..) and are Energy Star rated -

http://www.compactappliance.com/FFBF285SS-Compact-Summit-Apartment-Refrigerator-With-Freezer-EnergyStar-Rated/FFBF285SS,default,pd.html?cgid=Appliances-Refrigerators-Apartment_Refrigerators

24" deep, and either 24" or 28" wide...
I can't wait to get one! (Meanwhile I am eating out wayy too much...I hate being without a fridge)

Bepsf-- who can read the warning label, until you chip away all that ice in the way?

To integrate them optical I painted my fridge and freezer with stripes. How to do that I've described here: http://www.katzentisch.com/2009/07/cool-stripes.html

In my opinion a fridge can't be big enough, at least in summer. A part of the space I need for non-food stuff like seeds, recharged batteries, some cosmetics and medicine.

My first apt had a full size, older model fridge that required defrosting, but never having used or seen one before, I watched the ice grow larger and larger despite my attempts to try and controll it by turning the temp up. You can't imagine the laughter when older relatives spied ice so thick the door was barely closing.

And yes, I've killed a mini sized fridge by trying to speed things up with a big flathead screwdriver. The irritating thing is that it had worked so many times before.

"who can read the warning label, until you chip away all that ice in the way?"

As I recall from when I was responsible for cleaning the manual-defrost fridges in my family's homes - the warning is imprinted on the freezer door.

There is my cat again! I love it when you post pictures of your girl - she sure looks like mine.

Our kitchen table -- at first it seemed large (though it is probably literally the smallest four person table ever) and seemed to take up too much of our eat-in kitchen - but three or four days later it seemed to be just the right size and by now it seems perfect and maybe even small.

I LOVE the cat up on top of the fridge!

It does seem a little squished in the space with it blocking the little cabinets but what are ya gonna do?

Yes! Our new dining table-- we meant to buy the smaller size at Ikea but ended up with the larger one (Ikea is overwhelming and it's too easy to get distracted, especially when operating on too little sleep). It feels like it's dominating the space now. It fits, but it's just more prominent than I'd planned on... still problem-solving.

pretty kitty!!

Love your kitty!
My kitty loves to get on top of the fridge, too.

Nothing defrosts a freezer faster than a hair dryer. Heat an area and then remove the chunks as they loosen.

@ericahd - most refrigerator doors are reversible and it's usually pretty easy to just swap the hinge to the other side. I just did it to my new fridge and it took maybe 30 minutes.
And speaking of fridges, I just got this LG fridge and it's awesome. It's probably too small for a lot of people but it's perfect for my small-ish kitchen and the counter depth design really makes my kitchen feel so much larger. No more huge refrigerator dwarfing everything.

I love how people jump at any opportunity to act superior and be catty. fridge looks fine. cat is cute. and oh well oops to using a screwdriver. and I think YOU were being a nice tenant not flipping your lid all those times you had to defrost it. I don't get the tips about boiling water with the door closed. Um... when you open the door either it will be frozen or come pouring out. You kind of just have to put some rags at the bottom w/ the fridge off and keep an eye on it. And I'm sure having a fridge big enough to store food is more environmentally sound than driving to the store several times a week because you can't stock up on food.

Hi, Southern California Edison chiming in here -- our customers can turn in an old, energy guzzling fridge or freezer (it must be working though!) and we'll give them $50 and we'll haul it away for free. We'll also give a $50 rebate for buying a qualifying ENERGY STAR refrigerator. A lot of other utilities have similar programs. Easiest $50 you'll ever make! www.sce.com/refrigerator.

Cheers,

Vanessa

Wellll.......that kitty is ruling the roost on that fridge! He's ready to pounce on anyone who trespasses.... Love it! :)

One more thing -- an old inefficient extra fridge can end up costing you up to $330 a year in wasted electricity.

To be the MOST efficient with any fridge, make sure it's packed full, even if you just have jugs of water in it. And be sure to keep the coils and the area around it dust-free so the motor doesn't have to work as hard.

Helllooooo up there! Ok....I'm done now. When I see a cute cat with real 'cattitude'...I get a little goofy.

I bought a lovely sleigh bed on CL, got it home and set up, and discovered it really was too big for my bedroom. It dominated the room...could only go in one place because of the window/door locations...and just darkened and cramped the whole room.

I lived with it for 6 months, and 2 months with a massive dog crate in the room. It was when the dog was injured and had to wear a 30" cone that it had to go...he kept getting stuck on the furniture, and I'd find him in the same place I'd left him when I left the house.

Removing that bed was the best decision I've made. It opened the room back up...the whole place seems light and airy, and positively spacious.

My apartment used to have a small fridge that fit in a cozy nook next to the oven. For whatever reason, our landlord replaced the old fridge with a newer one that was much larger and did not fit in the same space. We had to reposition it, which was sad because it takes up a spot where a small breakfast table would have been lovely. But the good thing is that my roommate bought some shelves that fit perfectly in the old nook and we now use it as a pantry. So everything works fine, but I'm still daydreaming about the breakfast table that will never be.

Just checked my freezer-- no warning label in this one. (But, labels are my pet peeve-- in all probability I may have removed it myself a few years ago.)

Make it work!

Is that an ironing board cupboard behind the fridge (sorry I did not read all the comments)? and do you have something handy to stand on to reach your microwave? Also, I'm astounded the landlord didn't make you go buy your own fridge. Mine would have.

Is it normal in California for the refrigerator to be considered a fitting rather than a piece of furniture? Whenever I've moved into a new rental house I've always had to supply my own fridge, microwave, washing machine etc.

That is, unless you're renting a furnished apartment. Which would be oddly restrictive for an Apartment Therapy contributor.

I too am amazed that your landlord isn't paying for the new fridge out of your security bond. Then again if you're otherwise excellent long-term tenants he may consider it a reasonable price to pay to keep you happy.

Im amazed you acctually took your fridge out to the porch! Must have been a really small one, otherwise I've never heard of anybody moving it. (Or do I just misunderstand you?)

Anyways, the best tool for defrosting is the hairblower. It will melt the ice pretty quick, but if there is alot of it, just turn of the freezer in the morning, line the floor with newspapers and leave it for the day. In the evening, just throw the papers away and wipe the fridge.