Ice, Ice, Baby

Remember last May when I got that super duper steal of a deal on a Whirlpool Gold french door refrigerator, just because of a missing ice dispenser paddle?

I shared here that we paid $892 for a frig that retails for $2099.  I had every intention to replace the paddle, then install the frig, but they didn't sell the part locally so we just installed the frig.  We hooked up the icemaker, and would occasionally dump it out into a tray in the freezer below.  It wasn't a big deal to open the freezer for ice, but the lack of a paddle befuddled guests and that was never more on display then over Christmas.  After my MIL stood with a glass at the dispenser for much too long, I decided enough was enough and went online to order the part.

Yay for Sears PartsDirect!  They have pretty much every part you could possibly need for every appliance in your home.  Plus handy dandy diagrams just in case you don't know the name of the part(s) you need.  It turns out I needed the paddle($4.20) and a chute spring($5.03.)  Without the assembly diagram, I probably would have just ordered the paddle, then been kicking myself when I tried to install it.

Here's how I replaced the ice paddle.  First I pulled the bottom tray out.

I took out the screws that the tray was hiding.

And pulled off the face.

I called in my assistant(WD) to hold the face while I installed the paddle.  I'd like to say that this part was so quick that I forgot to take a pic, but the reality is that there was an awful lot of swearing as I fought with the spring.  At one point WD said, "Why don't you just have dad do it?"  Because. I. Can. Do. It. Myself.  There.

After installing the spring and paddle, push the assembly back in,

and screw the assembly back on.  Notice the lockout light is on.  If your model doesn't have a lockout, it'd be a good idea to unplug your frig or have some towels handy during the paddle replacement.

Snap the face back on and slide the tray back in.

We have ice,

and water through the door.

For less than $10 in parts, we saved over $1200.  And the whole job, even with the swearing, only took 15 minutes. Sears didn't perk me or pay me for this post, but I'll say it again, their PartsDirect website made it really easy to find the parts I needed and their prices were fantastic.

Thanks for popping in and DIYing with me.

Chilling Part II

Part of organizing a refrigerator, is maximizing the space inside of it.  Our new frig has nice big door bins that can fit a couple gallon sized jugs, and a nifty can dispenser that can be used in conjunction with a 12-pk of sodas.

That's a pretty nifty organizing tool that keeps beverages right in the door for easy access.  Unfortunately it led to a bit of wasted space on the left side of the can dispenser.

I moved one of the full bins down to the bottom of the door, and tried to move the can dispenser up to the top. (We don't generally keep soda in the house, but we do drink beer.)  I say try, because it was a no-go.  Do you see where the sidewall thickness narrows towards the bottom of the door?  It's subtle, but definitely narrower.  Here's a closeup.

Why?  Who knows.  All I know is that I wanted that can organizer at the top.  So out came the Dremel.  We used a cutting wheel and a sanding cone.  Those would be CG's manly, but well manicured, hands.

And here's the new look to the door with no wasted space.  Much better.

Thanks for popping in and DIYing with me.  I'm linking this up to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

Chilling

When we renovated our kitchen 3 yrs ago, we purchased a new suite of appliances with one of the appliances being a side by side refrigerator. Side by side refrigerators can be a great option. The narrow doors don't eat up a lot of aisle space, and you can place both your most used frig and freezer items at eye level.  So why was a new frig delivered for Mother's Day?  I despised my refrigerator.  Neither of those pluses applied to our situation.  We don't have narrow work aisles in our kitchen, and our most used kitchen freezer items are gf frozen waffles, ice cream,  popsicles, and frozen berries that need to be at kid level(we have a basement freezer for meat.)  The reason for my frustration was the narrow width of both the frig and freezer compartments. 

This is totally not my frig, but I posted this pic because it cracks me up.  Can you imagine the deranged stylist screaming, "I said no tomatoes!  Can't you people see my vision?"

As you all know, I bake and entertain a lot.  The frig side had a tough time holding large trays or full sheet cakes, and the narrow shelves meant dropping things off the front as I dug to the back leading to more than one floor cleanup.  The freezer was my absolute nemesis.  I bake several times a week.  I love to work with my GF Puff Pastry dough, and have posted several recipes that use it.  Puff pastry needs to chill for 15-20 minutes before going in the oven and the narrow depth of the freezer meant that I could only use my smallest baking sheets.  I like my rollout sugar cookies to take a quick chill before going in the oven, too, and this would almost always lead to an, "Arrrggh!" as I forgot about the narrow width and had to transfer them to smaller cookie sheets.

Still, replacing an almost new refrigerator that keeps food cold(it's main function) is a pretty frivolous expenditure when you're a one income family.  So I trolled craigslist and the marked down aisles looking for treasure.  Last Monday I hit gold.  Whirlpool Gold.  36" of concealed hinged, french door loveliness.

This lovely was sitting in the clearanced scratch and dent section at Lowe's.  It's ice dispenser handle was missing.  Which caused them to mark it down by half.  Score!

As great of a deal as that was, $1050 isn't exactly chump change, so I walked around for a bit thinking about it.  And that's when I noticed this sign. 

An extra 15% off?  Woohoo!  Sign me up.  We found an appliance specialist and he told us that the extra 15% wouldn't apply because of the extreme mark down that had already occured.  Not one to be deterred so easily, I asked for clarification.  The marked down sign didn't say anything about no additional discounts, and the fine print on the additional discount didn't mention clearanced items as one of the exclusions.  It wasn't a Dacor, Electrolux, or water heater, and was decidedly over the $397 minimum. 

The store manager stepped in and agreed that the signage could have been more clear, but that I shouldn't have to pay for their lack of clarification.  End result:  I got a refrigerator that retails for $2100 for the super duper bargain price of $892.  Lowe's has free delivery, and they offer 12 months of 0% financing when you use your Lowe's card, so we took full advantage of that and will be paying $80 a month on our awesome new frig.

We haven't installed it yet, because we'd like to replace the missing handle first.  I've found them on-line for only $15 and have watched a few how-to youtube videos, so feel pretty confident about the repair, but I'm considering cannibalizing the old frig for it's handle.  Our old frig will be going into our BFF's mancave.  They've outgrown the small frig in their garage, and don't need the icemaker as they have a portable icemaker.  I'll post a pic when the new frig is in it's hole.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my awesome Mother's Day gift.