Turn My White Fridge Black!

May 18, 2005 1:30 PM

White refrigerators are so boring. I want to paint mine a nice shiny stylish black.

Is this possible? The simpleton in me just wants to grab a can of gloss enamel black spray paint and have at it, but I also don't want to ruin a perfectly good appliance with a crappy paint job, peeling, runs, etc. Anyone done this? Spray paint? Roller? Sponge? I have no idea.

posted by willmize to home & garden (8 comments total)

At the very least you'll need to use sandpaper to rough up the finish and make sure that it's receptive to the new paint. Here's a link at ThiftyFun on the topic.

Of course, you could just sell that one and buy one that's black.
posted by FlamingBore at 1:35 PM on May 18, 2005

I've heard of "appliance paint" for this very thing, and when I did a google search for it, I found someone asking the exact same question as the one here, with some good answers.
posted by mathowie at 1:41 PM on May 18, 2005

People often use black plexiglass cut to size and glue magnetic strips to the back so it adheres to the fridge. Personally I think that's damned ugly.

Have you considered contact paper? Self-adhesive shelf paper would likely be easy, available in a lot of colors/designs and non-permanent if your drunk wears off next week.
posted by phearlez at 1:42 PM on May 18, 2005

Easily done but if your not comfortable painting the hood of you car you probably should not paint your fridge (actually the hood is easier because it is horizontal).

Best way: take it to a car body shop and have them spray it with a good metal paint like Tremclad. They know how to scuff it properly. Used to cost us about ~$100, less if we brought several in at once.

If you would like a very brilliant white have them add about a tablespoon of blue to the white.

Note you can paint your dishwasher too but I'd avoid painting a range. It is vary tough to both get paint to stick to the porcelain bits of a range while not yellowing from the heat.
posted by Mitheral at 1:45 PM on May 18, 2005

White reflects light (and probably infrared light too). Black absorbs light and thus heat.

Painting may force the refrigerator to work harder to keep a given temperature, shortening its life, and increasing your electricity bills by some (negligible) amount.

Of course, this will vary depending on how exposed to sunlight your refrigerator is.
posted by orthogonality at 1:58 PM on May 18, 2005

We recently did this using appliance paint (going from cream to white). The results weren't bad, but they weren't stellar either. We also painted the range using some engine paint (purchased from Auto Zone), which has enamel in it. The engine paint is comparably priced and resulted in a much better finish than the appliance paint. The engine paint also had a precision nozzle, which made it much easier to get a consistent coat without running. I'd expect to make at least two coats using black, which will probably take 2 to 3 cans for a complete job.

Definitely sand the surface down first (I used 80 grit paper, followed by a scotch brite). I also used blue painters tape to mask the gaskets. You will have to open the doors to paint, too (to get the edges that are covered by the gaskets when the doors are closed), and you can just use a big piece of cardboard to prevent overspray from getting inside the fridge and freezer. Finally, we used some contact paper to update the handles, which came out very nice.
posted by ajr at 2:35 PM on May 18, 2005

Check the panels; they could very well be black on one side, white on the other. All you'd have to do is flip 'em around.
posted by five fresh fish at 2:36 PM on May 18, 2005

Anecdote: my parents have owned a black refrigerator since the early 90s, before I hit puberty. I always thought it was perfectly normal, until in my teens when I realized all of my friends had white refrigerators. I had no idea they were so stylish.
posted by rhapsodie at 10:38 PM on May 18, 2005