I moved the refrigerator that the house came with out into the garage the same day that I moved in. I knew I was going to be living with a fridge in the garage for a while, but I had no idea how long.

12/16: old fridge out

1/4: new fridge in

The opening for the fridge was 34.5 inches. The price tag for a double door fridge with skinny dimensions was quite a bit higher than the price of a 36 inch fridge. They only make ~2 refrigerators that are 33 inches wide that have double doors. The lowest price that I was able to find was on Black Friday. It was $1250.00, but my budget was $800 or less.

My next option was to buy a 36 inch fridge and slim down my pantry. Easy. Done.

Okay, so now that I was able to expand my refrigerator options I had a chance of hitting my $800.00 budget!!!

Home Depot: if you buy a fridge on clearance they will not deliver or haul away for free.

Appliance Smart: meh. The sales person seemed slimey and was negotiating. He seemed desperate and I felt like I was getting ripped off.

Craigslist: sigh, so much unpredictability with what people are getting rid of, plus I’d need a truck and I’d need to get it up the stairs in my house, etc. BUT!!! I found a pretty neat appliance place that happens to advertise on Craigslist. A-1 Appliance in Anoka sells used appliances. Many of them have dents or dings of some sort, but they’ve all been restored and come with warranties! PLUS, A-1 delivers and hauls away for free. The appliance that they haul away can be anything. I had them haul away the old oven and I kept the old fridge as my fancy garage fridge.

Once I saw the selection at A-1 I was so excited that I completely forgot about the height, width, depth dimensions that I’d held so close to me for eight weeks. I found a fridge with one tiny ding in it and bought it without a second thought, until….

As I drove away I got a really bad feeling. Was this buyers remorse? When I got home I measured again to double check and see if the fridge would fit. It would fit – kind of. Width didn’t matter. Height was eeking in with 1/8 inch to spare. Depth…omg.

Depth was going to be an issue!

I had purchased a beast. Once it was delivered, I stared at it in disbelief. I mean, I knew it was going to stick out beyond the cabinets. I knew what I had done, but seeing it in real life was so much worse. It was so HUGE.

There was only one way to solve the problem. We named it, and bought it eyes.

‘Fred-the-fridge’ is now a part of our family. We like the noises he makes when he drops ice and when he fills up with water. We call the noises #fredfarts ❤ ❤ ❤

Since the pantry needed to be customized to fit Fred’s width, it wasn’t much of a pantry anymore. It’s now a broom/vacuum closet. We’ve decided it’s Fred’s girlfriend and her name is Francine. I still have the door for the pantry, but I have yet to slim it to fit the new width, until then, she’s wearing a fancy 1970’s “dress.”

You can tell by Fred’s smile that he’s happy. I’m not so sure about Francine…

Update:

Fridge Pigtails!