Vintage Refrigerator Repurposed Into A Paint Cabinet

At first glance, you may be wondering why I am featuring a vintage refrigerator on an automotive site. Believe it or not, there is a connection which will become evident very soon!

The refrigerator shown here is a 1946 Kelvinator.  It was in the basement of my house when I moved here in 2001.  It has been our trusty backup fridge for drinks and frozen snacks, until it died last month.  I’m not one to waste things, so I decided to paint it and move it into my workshop.  Also, this thing is a heavy beast, so the idea of lugging it upstairs to the curb was not ideal.  Repurposing this old thing seemed like a fun project.

Kelvinator History

I had a hard time finding much background on my refrigerator, but it seems as though it is a 1946 model (based on the model number).  From Wikipedia, Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the company’s namesake. Although it is now defunct as a company, the name remains a brand owned by Electrolux AB. 

It takes its name from William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who developed the concept of absolute zero and for whom the Kelvin temperature scale is named. The name was thought appropriate for a company that manufactured ice-boxes and refrigerators.

Interestingly, the serial number tag on the back of this unit shows it was manufactured by American Motors Corporation in Detroit.  That by itself is a cool piece of automotive history.  AMC was sold to Chrysler in 1987.

Restoration Idea

It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about cars, wheels or trim parts, I like to restore and paint things.  I’m a big fan of Rust-Oleum products, so it made sense that I would go with their paint to complete this project.  Due to the age of this refrigerator, I looked to that era for color inspiration.

Ford made the 8N tractor around that time, so I went with a red/white color combination. Light gray is the normal complement to red, but it reminded me too much of Ohio State colors.  White was a good compromise.

Normal Prep and Paint

Even though I was not going for show quality, my prep process is the same:

• Clean the body of the fridge with Dawn soap and water
• Sand the old paint with 400 grit sandpaper
• Wipe surfaces with mineral spirits (to remove any remaining oils and residue)
• Wipe with rubbing alcohol (to remove the mineral spirits residue)
• Mask off areas not to receive paint

Once prepped, I fired up my air compressor and set the output to 35 psi.  Since I was using Rust-Oleum oil based paints (shown below), I mixed 5 parts of paint to 1 part of mineral spirits, then sprayed it with my Eastwood Concours 2 gun with a 1.3 tip.

Usually, I spray a light coat of paint for a base, wait an hour, then spray a heavier coat.  I got ahead of myself when painting the door white, and applied too much paint on the first coat.  The paint sagged, so I had to wait 24 hours for it to dry enough to sand the defect.  I went back the right way and had a great result.

For the body of the fridge, I followed the true process and everything worked out right the first time.  The red really turned out great.

My experience was a good reminder that the process is there for a reason.  Also, any mistake with paint can be easily corrected.  The only thing I lost was time.

Final Thoughts & Questions

This “resto-modded” Kelvinator now sits in my basement workshop.  It adds a little class to the shop and is the “paint vault” for all of the paint I use for my automotive projects.  

Even though this was not strictly an automotive project, I was able to practice my automotive paint spraying on an item that will serve my automotive projects. Much like a toolbox holds a mechanics tools, the reborn Kelvinator becomes my new paint vault for my precious paints.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions in the comment section below.  

Want to learn more about me?  Check out Who’s Your Nanny?