How To Paint A Refrigerator The Easy Way

Ya’ll crack me up so much! I posted my colorful cross wall the other day, and I got more comments wanting to know how I painted my refrigerator than comments about the crosses! 😂

So… here’s how my diy painted fridge!

I got this fridge for free from a friend, and it was that off-white almond color. Honestly, it doesn’t look too bad in these pictures, but I hated it in real life. (btw, it took me awhile to find this picture. And look- my kids are just tid bits!!!)

So I decided to paint it black. I didn’t have much to lose to try it, so I just went for it. Apparently I took absolutely no pictures, which is so un-me! But I was never intending to blog about his. Anywho, here’s a picture of how full our fridge was for Thanksgiving one year, and you can see the fridge is black.

For this I used Rustoleum oil based glossy black paint and it worked beautifully!!! (and Rustoleum did not pay me to say that (unfortunately)! lol) You only need 1 quart to paint a fridge. I used a brush.

A few years later I had a dream that my refrigerator was yellow, and I just couldn’t sleep until it was! So I painted the fridge again- this time using the oil based rustoleum safety yellow, and I love it! (I linked to a gallon, but you only need a quart. You can get it at Lowe’s or sometimes Wal-Mart) At Lowe’s you can have them mix any color you want as a glossy oil based paint.

The first coat and second coat looked terrible…

I kept painting anyway…

The third coat looked amazing!

I also added some strips of washi tape to my fridge handles for extra flair. It holds up for months at a time. I have tried a few different patterns.

To see how nice the paint really looks in real life with the texture and everything, watch this video.

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My Tips For Painting Your Refrigerator The Easy Way:

  • Use glossy, oil based paint. It holds up extremely well and is beautiful! It doesn’t show brush marks or anything. It’s very shiny. You can’t tell my refrigerator has been painted at all. It just looks yellow.
  • Buy brushes you’re ok with throwing away. I just hate cleaning up oil based paint. I’ve seen people say you need to use those small rollers. Not true with the oil based paint.
  • Sand the whole thing first. Nope. I totally skipped this step and it has held up for years and years. I just wiped it with a rag first to make sure it’s not dusty.
  • Tilt your refrigerator just a bit and slide paper bags or poster board under the edge to protect your floor. This way you don’t have to empty, unplug, or move your refrigerator.
  • Be ready for the oil based paint to smell bad. Set up a fan in your kitchen. I think it’s worth it to not have to move the fridge, which I had no ability to do anyway lol.
  • Be prepared to paint 3 coats. You want a good cover.
  • Tape the handles, etc… anywhere you don’t want paint. I skipped this step (as I always do) but mine is not perfect and the tape is a good idea. If you’re lazy like me just use a smaller brush to go around the edges. Mine is not perfect but you really can’t tell.
  • I didn’t paint the top of my refrigerator. The only person who know is my brother because he is 6 ft 6. (Well… I guess now the whole internet world also knows I didn’t paint the top of mine. Oh, well. Go ahead and judge me.) haha
  • Enjoy your amazing refrigerator!!!

Sidenote- I painted those canvases above my sink. They’re van Gogh studies 🙂

That’s it! When people come to my house they don’t even realize I painted this myself! They often think that it’s a new thing, like the red or blue washer/dryer sets they’re making now. The oil based paint really feels like magic!

My fridge has been painted for years now and holds up remarkably well, even though I didn’t sand it first.

I don’t know if this would work on one of those stainless steel fridges or not. If you’ve tried that let me know in the comments. 🙂

I had enough left over from my quart to paint my back door with the same paint.

I paint more on the door randomly when I’m in the mood…

I’ve been painting this mural on my back door for years now. I don’t think it will ever be “finished”. I also stuck a lizard Christmas ornament above the door. I painted those flowers, too.

I took what was left of the yellow paint after this and put it in a baby food jar on top of my fridge. My idea is to keep it in case a part of it ever chips off, but I haven’t needed it yet. My fridge was black for about 3 years, and has been yellow for about 1 year now.

Hope this helps! See ya’ll soon! Bessos!