Countertop for the Fridge

9
Written by Fawn
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Apologies for the blurry photo. My camera was not working the week we moved in.

Some of you may remember that this side of the kitchen, when we moved in, had this claustrophobic arrangement of pantry-stove-refrigerator. I had the building manager remove the refrigerator and I replaced it with a small one, and topped it with our microwave.

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Still small, but at least there is room to swing a skillet.

I wanted to add a wood counter on top of the fridge for the following reasons: fewer food bits on the floor between the two appliances, expanded work surface and the kitchen could use the warmth of a natural element. Plus, I had an idea to do it inexpensively.

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I used this piece of wood, this saw and glue and some sand paper that was hanging about from previous projects.
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This wood was sourced from sustainable European forests, and measured 1″ x 24″ x 36″ before I got my hands on it. It was about $20 USD from a big box store.

I live in an apartment, so my wood shop is my dining area.

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Here you can see that I used dining chairs protected by my son’s towels as sawhorses.

I cut the board to 28″ in length. Then I used the leftover piece to create a base, as the fridge door hinge projects up a bit from the top of the fridge and I didn’t want the microwave to wobble or the counter to slope.

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I glued the scrap-base on in this particular configuration because the microwave sits toward the back of the counter. [Also, you can see that the edge I cut is not straight. What can I say? That perfection is the enemy of “good enough?”]
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Then, since I did not have any C clamps to hold the glued bits together, I set it where I wanted it to go and weighted it with the microwave.

Then, as the glue was drying, I vacuumed up all the sawdust I had left in the dining area and went off to the gym and the library.

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Ta-Da!

When I came home from errands, I finished the wood with a coat of olive oil. After the first coat soaks in, I may need to add more.

And yes, I did get a new water kettle.

 

9 Comments

  4. Looks nice! We also have a small fridge. And after 3 years without freezer we bought one. We did fine without but we have had a hot summer last year and I was missing ice cubes and the possibility to make us homemade ice cream. I find that most store-bought ice-cream don’t taste very good and have a lot of strange ingredients. The good ones are extremely expensive. For that reason I am happy that we have a freezer but other than that I found my life simpler without one. I wish there would be a strong but very small freezer just for ice cubes and ice cream!

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