Has anyone repainted a refrigerator ?

[John alder]

I have coppertone fridge & stove,The stove is a 36" great cond and hard to find.The fridge is 30yrs old runs a lot so must be an energy waster that I should replace?No one sells coppertone fridges so i'm thinkin I buy a white and try to match the shade of the stove,not too worried about getting the shadow or picture frame effect on the front door as they are not side by side,so short of taking it to a body shop should I try to do it myself and what kind of paint to use?3 big cans of Truck & van spray if I can match,or auto paint to match?OR ?Thanks in advance for any suggestions. John

[Darryl Hazen]

Many years ago we had a white refrigerator about a year old. We bought a new house which had harvest gold appliances. I bought a kit at a big box store that contained 2 cans of harvest gold and 1 can of a darker shade for shadow. It was epoxy paint. Painted the fridge in the garage, sprayed the shadow around the edges and Voila! one harvest gold refrigerator. Sold the house years later and the buyers never knew the refrigerator had once been white. You can do it withe the right paints and technique.

[Joe Pelonio]

I'm sure they still sell Epoxy paint, somethimes sold as "appliance" paint. I have used it on a couple of refrigerators, a dishwasher front and a washer over the years.

[Ben Franz]

I did one kitchen remodel for a client that had a decent refrigerator that was the wrong color for the new space. He had it repainted by a local company that did appliance refinishing and painting (Yellow Pages had listings). They picked up, repainted and delivered for what I remember was a very reasonable fee. Might be worth investigating rather than DIY approach.

[Jim Hoti]

one bright sky blue.....a fella we worked with had been given an old working refrigerator for his garage and, well, he left it a little too long in the warehouse at work.....for some reason, he didn't like the color we chose....we used paint that the garage at work painted the trucks with....we all thought it was quite the looker! :D

[Jamie Buxton]

I painted one. It was white, and brand new. I'd built all the kitchen cabinets to the owner's spec: black lacquer over rift white oak. "Lacquer", in my shop, means waterborne sprayed with an HVLP. She decided she wanted the fridge to be black too. So I used the same lacquer and sprayer on it, too. It worked just fine.

[Steve Peterson]

Is there any possibility of taking the panels off the old one and using them on the new one?

Steve

[John alder]

No no panels,and it has a mild rough texture to it I should have mentioned this.Any how we bought it today and will get it next week so I am E mailing krylon,dupli color,and rustolum for paint chip brochures,no retailers have chips that I need to match up with the stoves color.Also because I might have to use regular paint a foam type roller might work??I gota get this right else my chief mess cook is gona come down on me!Should have sprung for a new stove to match as well.Did I mention I'm a bit frugal,would be no fun If-in I wasn't. LOL going to make room in my garage so I don't mess the kitchen and do my thing there,wish me luck.John

[Tom Godley]

I have done this a few times -- I took the panels to a body shop and had them painted - it was not all that expensive and they can match any color.

I did have a problem with the paint on a double oven once -- the upper oven paint was overheated when both oven were on -- the color changed

[Dan Friedrichs]

My folks did it once - I think they used some special appliance paint, but it comes in a rattle can. You'd never know it was painted - I was really surprised how well it turned out.

[Bill Cunningham]

Yup.. The rattle can appliance paint is made for just that.. It's a epoxy paint that drys with a nice gloss, just like the original coating in most cases..

[Neil Davie]

I used to have some apartments that
I rented and had occasion to repaint refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, etc many times. Using the epoxy appliance spray cans, they looked good and lasted well on all accounts.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have a "Rat Rod" fridge in my shop. Its an old rounded one with the little freezer in the top that frosts up. Its painted flat black Lacquer with flames.:)

Contrary to popular belief, not all old fridges waste energy. The really old ones that are not frost free use very little energy as they do not have any heated wall sections that make them frost free, and nice thick insulated walls with sturdy door latches that hold in the cold. Somewhere between the 50's and the present they became inefficient. I wish I could buy a new 50's model Kelvinator for the one room schoolhouse I am building.

I did paint one with the epoxy paint mentioned, and it held up well.

[John alder]

All of your replies are encouraging,the problem is doing all of my searches on the web I can't find any epoxy appliance kits in Coppertone color.this color is pas say so?,I am now looking to find a metal furniture paint that I can apply with a foam roller and go over that with a clear coat as the fridge gets wiped down a lot so it needs to be a durable finish.Auto paint Cos.dont offer paint chips for their rattle cans only giving auto code #s dumb of them in my opinion as they could sell more product.So Thanks a bunch for all your replies.John

[Larry Edgerton]

Take the color you want to any modern bodyshop with a color mixer and they can scan it and give you an exact match.