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You can make your kitchen chic and organized, without breaking the bank, with a DIY refrigerator enclosure. Our easy-to-follow tutorial walks you through building a custom surround for your fridge on a very cheap budget. This upgraded, over-the-fridge cabinet cost us less than $200 to build!
This project is part of our
3-Day DIY Kitchen Makeover on a Budget ~ under $1300!
If you’re wondering:
Why in the world did we just give ourselves 3 days and an incredibly small budget to makeover this kitchen?
or
Whose kitchen is this?
We’ve got all the details in this intro post:
Can We Even Do It?! The 3-Day, Low Budget DIY Kitchen Makeover We’re About to Attempt…
This is the project that almost didn’t get done.
a) It took a ton of convincing to get the homeowners to agree to it, and
b) We were running short on time and a bit stressed to get everything ready for photos and the reveal.
Ed was gung-ho though – we knocked it out in about 3 hours! All it needed was a second coat of paint later that evening.
The real money and time-saving MVP of this project was this cabinet box and doors unit. Its $69 price tag had our expectations low as far as quality, but it was actually outstanding! It was sturdy, took paint really well and looked great! We’d definitely use this cabinet line again.
If we had more time and money, we think building in a shallow run of pantry cabinets to the right of the fridge would make it look less like a lonely island. But we couldn’t. Maybe the next owners will…
Why build a DIY refrigerator enclosure?
A refrigerator enclosure can make any kitchen look more high-end – especially if the fridge is currently just jammed in a corner like this one was. A fridge surround makes the placement look intentional and sophisticated. It also gives more hidden storage for items that would just collect on the top of the fridge making it look junky.
Creating a custom design for your refrigerator surround
- Measure dimensions, paying attention to width and depth.
- Ensure you check how the fridge door swings open. Some doors need extra space to open widely so be sure to account for that in your design.
- Decide on how deep you want the unit to be based on these dimensions.
- Check for other things like light switches or outlet plates that you’ll need to consider (we didn’t have any).
DIY Refrigerator Enclosure ~ How to build an over-the-fridge cabinet the easy way!
Materials List:
- 2- 4×8 sheets of ¾” MDF
- ripped lengthwise down to make 2 side panels at your desired depth.
- Most fridges are 30” deep, but you’ll want your panels cut a little bit shallower than this so that the fridge door can swing open.
- Most big box DIY stores will do these cuts for you for free and it will save you time and make transportation easier.
- Save the off-cut parts for other projects.
- this unfinished cabinet with door kit 30-in W x 18-in H x 12.5-in D
- Pair of door knobs for cabinet (we used these knobs)
- 2 – 2”x4”x8’ studs to cut down for various structural elements
- 6-8 small ‘L’ brackets (something like this)
- Crown moulding and trim of your choice
- Nails, screws for securing things
- Fill and caulk for finishing
- This paint: Cathedral Taupe from Fusion Mineral Paint
Tools:
- Clamps & extra human for holding everything in place
- Nailer
- drill
- mitre saw
- jig saw
Building and installing the enclosure
Step 1: Install any flooring first
Step 2: OPTIONAL Cut and remove baseboard
Cut and remove the baseboard if you don’t want to have to fit your panels around it.
We left the baseboard in place here, as it was original and cool and we wanted future owners to have options.
If your baseboard isn’t nice, definitely remove it, as it will make this project even easier.
Step 3: Assemble your overhead cabinet box
The width will be exactly the width of your fridge, which will make things tight, so we added some breathing room with a little gap on each side. To do this we attached pieces of leftover baseboard to either side of the cabinet face (you can see them leaning on each side of the box in the above picture). This made for about 3/4 inch gap on either side of the fridge.
You can nail these onto the sides now – make sure the front edge is flush.
Step 4: Cut your side panels & Scribe for baseboards (if you didn’t do Step 2)
At the big box store have them cut your two 4X8 sheets of MDF to your desired depth. You will want two panels that are around 30″ wide (less whatever you need to make the fridge doors able to swing) and 8 ft tall (you can cut the exact height at home if needed).
Recheck any measurements (height, depth) and verify that the size is right before you lift the heavy panels into your kitchen and then find out they are too big.
The long baseboard cut likely won’t apply to you, but if your wall has a power outlet or other feature you need to cut around, the same principle applies – cut generously enough that you won’t need to fiddle when holding this heavy MDF slab up!
Don’t worry – it is way easier to fill gaps and paint than it is to have to fight a tough fit into place.
Did we mention MDF is heavyAF? It super is – do yourself a favour and give yourself a margin of error
Step 5: Install Your First Side Panel
Apologies we don’t have a good photo for this step (did we mention this was built in a couple of hours? sorry!)
The right side panel is secured in place to the wall. We don’t have a photo of this as both of us were either supporting it, screwing it in place or some combination of those things.
If you don’t have a wall to screw to, draw a line on the floor and back wall and use the mounting L-Brackets and/or cut pieces of 2″x4″ to secure your first side to both the wall and floor (and ceiling even, if you can access it.)
You can see this panel installed in the photo below.
Step 6: Install your overhead cupboard at the desired height
We left the fridge in place and used 2”x4” off-cuts on top of it as spacers.
All that stuff between the fridge and the cabinet is loose and will be removed once both sides of the cabinet are secured to the side panels.
You can make that gap any size you like, just remember the bigger the gap, the higher the cabinet will be to reach for storage and the more likely someone will start storing junk there.
NOT SHOWN – because we forgot to take photos till everything was in place – 2x 2”x4”x31” studs that we mounted on the back of the cabinet for support and screwed into the side panels as well (you will see the wood-fill marks on future photos showing where they are). Sorry, we suck at in-process photos sometimes.
When you get the gap right, nail/screw the right side of the cabinet into the right side panel.
Step 7: Installing the last side panel
Put the last panel in place. A combination of clamps and helpful and patient humans will keep the side up while you nail/screw from the inside of the box into the panel.
You only need a few good anchors to hold it; you’ll be securing it in a bunch more spots in the next step.
Step 8: Secure the sides and add in a filler piece above the cupboard box
As promised, you can see the spots on either side where we drilled screws into the 2”x4” supports on the back of the cabinet.
Some other things we didn’t take photos of:
More L-Brackets anchoring both panel sides in place securely (floor front and back screwing from the inside into the panels and the floor.
Set them far enough back that you won’t see them when the fridge slides back into place.
Also L-Brackets on the wall in a few spots – you can alternatively use 2”x”4 offcuts here, as it won’t be visible from the front at all once the fridge is in place)
Also, use some of the MDF offcut to fill in the gap between the cabinet and the ceiling.
Step 9: Trim – Baseboard and Crown Moulding
Add crown mould to match the rest of your kitchen.
Baseboards on either side of the unit (see next photo) help keep it structurally sound and look finished too.
Install doors and nobs on the cabinet unit. Fill gaps and holes, sand, and paint.
We’ll be back with How-to Tutorials for all these projects! In the meantime check out more of Our DIY Kitchen Makeover Ideas…
- How to Hack In-Stock Cupboards to Make a Custom Kitchen (on a Budget!)
- How to Cut a Cabinet for Over the Range Microwave (Our Budget Kitchen Update)
- How to DIY Open Kitchen Shelves from Old Cabinets (a Beautiful, Budget Kitchen Update)
- The BEST Faux Marble Checkerboard Floor Tile ~ and DIY Tips for Easy Install in a Day!
Robin and Ed are a DIY-loving couple with over 25 years of design and build experience. Also, Robin is a Nutritionist and former Registered Dietitian and Ed is an award-winning Business Educator. We share strategies for living a rich life on a DIY budget: creative money-savvy ideas for a stylish home, healthy meals and family fun. Our work has been published in the pages of Do It Yourself, Farmhouse Style and Better Homes & Gardens magazines.