a weekend kitchen project.... or not!

[seriph1]

I have a weird and wonderful project on the go ....building a repro 50's style 6 door fridge for our kitchen. I will post pics when it is done but in the meantime, here are two images that inspired me..... both VERY different, but both beautiful to me..... and why can't a fridge be a thing of beauty? Obviously I won't be replicating the fridge exactly, but ours will be "after the spirit" of the one pictured....

Started out intending to build something close to the stainless fridge pictured, which is a domestic one by the way .... made by sub-zero in America and costing around $12000 US. I was all ready to start fabrication when I received my copy of AMERICAN BUNGALOW magazine and saw the white fridge. When the wife saw it too, and though we both love the sub-zero, she thought it would work better in our kitchen. I agree. BTW the two units on either side of the white fridge, are freezers as this is only a fridge. They were built like tanks back then .... all timber construction ,with vitreous enamelled doors and either copper or stainless steel interiors. The bottom right door houses the compressor unit. I actually tracked an original down in Melbourne, but it was impractical to use as a fridge....would make a great pantry unit though (told you this was a weird and wonderful project)

Anyway, the white monster is generally what I will be building in our place.....and it will have a 450mm long Chrysler 'wings emblem' that goes along the 250mm high white panel atop the whole thing - each door will have a 150mm version of the same thing on it. the fridge, freezer and wine chiller doors will have 100mm round dial thermometers and polished chrome exposed hinges and handles. Our kitchen will be pretty large with dual cooking zones, double prep and cooking islands etc. so something of this scale will fit OK.

The base unit we are using is an 800 litre Jenn-Air side by side with all its workings on the top, like a commercial fridge. I never dreamt we would ever be able to afford a fridge like this as they are $18000RRP, but stumbled onto one at the back of a clearance centre.

We originally had a 760 litre SamsTung piece of crapola which broke down 7 months in and after 4 months of calls we are still waiting to see anyone from SamsTung. So much for their BS warranty! Last Monday it was finally removed by hardly's who were great BTW. We got a FULL refund, but only after going to Consumer Affairs. I will never have another SamsTung product again or recommend them.

Anyway, back to my sermon - As the Jenn-Air is only a two door, we are placing beside it, a dishwasher - with a small dedicated chilled water unit above and above that, a wine fridge...all trimmed to match. The main variations to the old-style chiller will be the addition of triple glazed panel in the fridge door and wine fridge. It may be hard to visualise, but as soon as I progress the project, I will post apdates and pics etc. so you all will have plenty to giggle behind your hands about

[seriph1]

here is a pic of the Chrysler emblem mentioned previously. I am replacing the logo with the one from my business. it will look something like this. This one is around 450 long, but there is one that's 900 .... I will be checking it out on Monday to see if I can use it ..... as I type this even I am laughing at the outrageousness of my project

[encino_]

Looking forward to seeing how you do this!

First reading this I thought you were going to custom build a fridge from scratch!

[seriph1]

Hi - at first I was going to build an entire fridge, but was told it would be too hard to create the freezer using the same compressor unit. We had a pigeon-pair which worked fine but used too much power - that's why we went with the SamsTung side-by-side product initially.....and its power consumption was nothing short of amazing...... Anyway after the hassles with that fridge I set about researching custom made fridges and they're are a bunch of firms that do it, obviously for commercial applications. If we were going to buy a Jenn Air or similar unit for $13000-$18000 then a custom fridge would have been achievable. As we only paid $4000 the Jenn Air was too big a bargain to pass up, and it meant the wife would stop screaming at the fridge and me

Anyway, the idea of building custom fridges is definitely not off the books - we will just achieve the same look using our JA as the base unit. BTW I have just received an email from the owner of the white monster - I will attach the email after breakfast. Love kitchen - Love custom - ROCK ON!

[seriph1]

How nice is this kitchen - the owner has since sold the property, but told me that the 6 door fridge is a facade only.... there is a separate fridge and freezer on either side of it..... I thought he would've restored it but he said it was too much work and after finishing it, the unit would've been too deep at over 3.5 feet....thene there's the noise factor.

BTW all the leadlights are his - he collects and reproduces them apparently.

Finally .... how good is the Internet!?? - one day I send of an email asking for info on a kitchen in an ad....and then next day I get the owner, from Texas. Cooooooooooooool

[dazzler]

Isnt it interesting what happens when beer and wood mix

[Bleedin Thumb]

The wonder of this Internet age is that it soon become apparent what different tastes we have in Kitchen Design

Seriph you are obviously having fun with this, don't forget the follow up photos.

[seriph1]

Life's a thing all too tenuous and wonderful not to enjoy.



I sure am having a great time

[Bleedin Thumb]

That fridge looks like the ones they have at the morgue...do they have roll out shelves?

Once you have done the autopsy on that marble island bench you could then dispose of the remains in that oven.

[bitingmidge]

Lots of ideas floating around in my scone you bastard!!

P

[seriph1]

a biting comment indeedie!

We aim to please!

And while we are on the subject of hassle-laden projects.... how's this? In Germany they sometimes use 380 Volts for major appliances like ovens etc. I of course, being someone who doesn't do anything by halves have bought such a beast and have to work out how to get 380 volts into the sucker .... ya gotta luv it! It Will be worth it though. I am also looking at bringing in a vintage food processor from the US that of course runs on 110 - a very clever jigger that builds into the benchtop ,so all you do is add the particular device you need.... being American, it has all kinds of weird and wonderful accessories. I just like the idea that the main drive unit doesn't have to be stored away. Matches all the "domino-style" cooktops I am incorporating into the kitchen too!

If I decide against the US one, I have a Kenwood unit here that is easily modifiable to go into a benchtop, but I dunno .... I like the idea of having retro devices. I just bought a wall mounted ice crusher and bench mounted juicer from the US. These are just too kool fer skool. see attached

[seriph1]

BTW these images are of the 380 volt jigger I was referring to ..... saw it in a British Kitchen design magazine back in 2006 and just had to have one ..... it's a pressure steam oven.... and at 2500GBP it was always out of my reach, but I managed to pick one up through eBay Germany for a few hundred Euros. I believe it may still work on 240 from what I have read, but will not know until April when it arrives. Failing that, I can buy a replacement element from Miele UK, once i have a part number. Fun fun fun

[Wongo]

.

[seriph1]

image doesnt seem to work for me

[Wongo]

Try again Steve.