Don’t we all want a diminutive pink refrigerator (in one of our fantasy retro kitchens, at least)? I think the idea is particularly appealing, today, because most refrigerators are just so honkin’ big: Silver, black or white elephants drawing too much attention from our beautiful kitchen designs. This is why built in refrigerators are so popular — they make the darn fridge disappear. Cabinet-depth, too, eliminates the protrusion, at least. A curvy pink lollipop refrigerator puts the perfume on the pig, sad metaphor, I know. (This reminds me: My grandma Agnes had this toy pig thing inside her refrigerator. Every time you opened the fridge door, it oinked at you. This, from a woman who never met a full-fat dairy product she didn’t try to wedge into every recipe possible.) So, where can you get a pink refrigerator? I did some research and came up with seven places or ways to get one. Read on…
Following along with my photo spread, above, starting at the top and moving left to right:
- #1 — Big Chill’s classic retro refrigerator comes in two sizes, a 20.9 cu.ft. unit and a 14.4 cu.ft. unit. They also have an undercounter fridge that you can get in their complete color palette, including pink. Link: Big Chill refrigerators.
- #2 — Big Chill’s Retropolitan refrigerator has more of a Jetson’s look and the freezer on the bottom. It is 18.5 cu.ft in size– and it is 2″ less deep so sticks out less. Link: Big Chill refrigerators.
- #3 — The Northstar refrigerator by Elmira Stove Works comes in three sizes and variations: The 19 cu.ft. model has the freezer on the bottom, while the freezer is on the top in 18.2 cu.ft. and 11 cu.ft. models. You can also get the 11 cu.ft. model with a built-in kegger. Link: Northstar refrigerators.
- #4 — The Smeg ’tis a baby doll, coming in at just 9.2 cu.ft., but she is oh so cute. Remember Laura’s? Link: Smeg refrigerators.
- #5 — Take your plain-Jane refrigerator to an auto body shop or industrial painting place — Professional painting joints can consult online paint color guides to match or help get you the color you want. The advantages of professional painting include (1) they have access to very durable automotive paints, (2) they use dust-free booths to avoid itsy bitsies ruining your smooth glossy finish, and (3) someone else does it. However, you will have to get your fridge there and back, and this will cost you, of course.
- #6 — Spray paint your existing fridge yourself. The only spray paint I could find close to a retro Mamie pink is Rustoleum’s Candy Pink spray paint. Rustoleum has an epoxy spray paint specifically for appliances — but it does not come in pink. So, I asked Rustoleum if they could advise on how to use this less fancy pink spray paint to do a fridge, either metal or vinyl/plastic. Here is what they said: “Painter’s Touch would work fine on the fridge. We also have a spray paint called Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover 2X that also comes in Candy Pink. The real advantage of using Ultra Cover 2X is that it offers twice the coverage of general purpose spray paints. It also has distribution at The Home Depot and many hardware and paint stores, so it’s easy to buy anywhere in the US. According to our brand management team, before painting the vinyl/plastic parts of the fridge, prime them with Specialty Plastic Primer. For metal, you can prime with a Stops Rust Clean Metal primer for added durability. You could use Painters Touch Ultra Cover 2X Clear over the Candy Pink, but priming would be the most important step. If you topcoat with the Clear, apply it within 1 hour after painting or after 48 hours.”
- #7 — Stalk craigslist and Re-Stores for a vintage pink refrigerator. This will take time. But once you send your vibes out into the universe, the Retro Decorating Gods may reward you sooner than you think. I am not an expert on what to look for in a vintage fridge. See this post for some links and such if you are serious about pursuing this option.
- Update March 2019: I did a lot of new research on where to buy a retro refrigerator — I have seven ideas — see them all here.
hannah says
Justin, thank you for the info and the offer. Sadly, we no longer have the dryer. 🙁
Jeff says
Just had to mention, I saw at an estate sale this past weekend here in Southfield, Michigan, in a basement there was a 1955 or 56 Hotpoint gigantic chest freezer that had the most amazing locking chrome handle with ‘Hotpoint’ script, chevron shaped “hood ornament” and when you opened it up, a built in light under the lid, and the entire inside was aqua!
With white wire sliders exposing three levels of freezer storage- Oh, and the entire exterior was white with rounded ends like car fenders of the period.
I loved this thing, and it was working, AND It was ONLY 25 bucks! But moving it would have been trauma- basement stairs, and lots of lugging. So the new owners will inherit a chest freezer, sadly.
And did I mention it had an AQUA interior? LOL
Jamie Farone says
this is all exciting.. I have an original 1947 general electric refrigerator that I painted the rustoleum 2x candy pink myself about a year ago.. works great!! alot of people thought I bought the fridge that way..and others couldnt believe a fridge from 1947 came in such a color. LOL. It worked out beautifully and If anyone would like to see pictures please let me kno. my complete candy/bubblegum pink, black and white kitchen is such a dream..
Jackie says
Jamie, I am getting ready to paint my 1947 GE pink to match my ovens and stove top. I would love to see your pictures.
Thanks! Jackie
zogette@earthlink.net
Ericka says
How’s the paint job holding up?
Heidi Swank says
We love our 1950s GE combo refrigerator with lazy susan shelves. We took it to a hot rod shop and had it painted baby blue to match our kitchen chairs! It has a new compressor, so it is even rather energy efficient.
wendy says
My post is long, but I think worthy info:
I would have preferred turquoise appliances, but then fell in love with a pink fridge on ebay just because the design was so fabulous. Not too long after, a pink range fell into my lap, also from ebay. The prices were great, although shipping was….. *ouch*. Still worth it!
NOTE for those wanting to buy a vintage fridge: Think long and hard about getting one that is not frost free. You will have to manually defrost it. I would prefer a frost free, but I just LOVE the look of my fridge, so defrosting is just an occasional inconvenience. Beauty can be painful 🙂 I have a modern fridge in the basement that houses my “real” freezer, and only keep ice and a few other minor things in the vintage one.
While some may lament the difficulty of fixing a vintage fridge when things go bad, it doesn’t have to be a problem. I found a fridge just like mine on Craigslist. It had been reposted 3 or 4 times, and I wrote the seller telling her that if she didn’t sell it, I would buy all of the parts before she sent it to get recycled. (yes…no landfill…they recycle as much of old fridges as they can…yay for Oregon!) She didn’t sell it, and I bought all of the “stuff” that she was willing to remove for $50 plus shipping! Shelves, little interior doors, ice cube trays, etc. My fridge was missing a rolling shelf, so it was great to get a replacement. The other parts I got are stashed for the future.
Just this past weekend, I saw a fridge like mine advertised as part of an estate sale. I really want to get a backup compressor, so thought I would see what they were asking for the fridge and pay that price just to pull the compressor and any other useful parts. My mistake was thinking nobody would buy the fridge…argh….it was already sold when I got to the sale. ( FOR $65.00!!!!!)
I mention this to point out that you can buy a vintage fridge and then keep your eye out for similar fridges with parts that may be needed in the future. It’s helpful if you can get an original (or copy of an original) repair manual too. Scour the internet and ebay. I found a service manual on ebay for my fridge, but it had already been sold. I’m contacting the buyer to beg them to copy it for me. Another unlikely place is Amazon. There are sellers that have old service manuals too.
Regarding energy consumption: I consider the cost in energy, the environmental cost of sending yet another perfectly working appliance to the landfill, the cost to replace the appliance, and the esthetic joy I get from the appliance. So far, vintage wins handily. For those interested, here is an energy calculator:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refrig.calculator
Keep in mind the calculator is on a government website, and there may be some “purchased results” as far as I’m concerned.
Without further ado, here are links to my fabulous pink appliances. The photos are from the original ebay ads.
Fridge exterior: http://www.pbase.com/weed30/image/127871316
Fridge interior: http://www.pbase.com/weed30/image/127871319
Range: http://www.pbase.com/weed30/image/127871314/original
pam kueber says
I am going to REPEAT: If there is NO DEFROST cycle on a vintage fridge, I have been told that it may use even less electricity than fancy fridges today. We need someone to volunteer to put their old time no-defrost model on a meter!
Heidi Swank says
We picked up a MIB Electra Frostaway on ebay. It’s a little unit that heats up a bit and quickens the pace of the defrosting. I usually do the defrosting when I’m going to be in the kitchen anyway, because I don’t want to leave the Frostaway unsupervised. It makes the defrosting quick and easy!
Jamie Farone says
My 1947 GE is a manual defrost.. this refrigerator is about 11 cubic feet and weigh about a ton.. took 4 guys to get it off a truck and in the house.. It has never been refurbished and runs like a dream.. we actually tested ourselves to see if our electric bill would sky rocket or not. my husband was so affraid that our bill would double from this fridge and actually it ended up lowering our bill by 9.00! amazing!! ive spoken with appliance repairmen about the fridge and every single person had said that old refrigerators are more energy efficient than the ones that claim to be today. Ive had alot of these men tell me that the governement has somehow drummed it in peoples heads that newer appliances are energy savers when infact they really arent.. its like a gimmick or a schtick to get people to get out there and spend more money. And Actually from having 4 vintage appliances, I believe them, our gas and electric bills have significantly lowered. And they were built to last, now adays you have to replace your appliance every 5-10 years if youre lucky and they dont make parts anymore for anything older than 10 years old (this is big box name appliances) If kitchenaid would have continued to make parts for all their models, I would have still had my kick butt 1962 dishwasher that only needed a stinkin’ fill valve…If it didnt flood my kitchen twice a week.. I would have saved that baby.. because the frigidaire we had to replace it with isnt nearly as great as what we had… I actually cried when it was hauled away, it was by far the best dishwasher we ever had.
RetroCo says
First, I wanted to relay that the electrician who works on my 1963 Frigidaire Flair range (and worked on them when they first came out) told me that a vintage refrigerator should use less electricity than a new one, for what it’s worth.
Second, I wondered if anybody has found a good paint color to match actual vintage turquoise. I have long wanted to get a Big Chill or Northstar refrigerator, but their green and blue colors do not match anything I have that is actually vintage. I am not anxious to shell out $400 for a custom color to get a real vintage turquoise to match my Flair. Thanks!
pam kueber says
The Sherwin-Williams Holiday Turquoise is a lovely match for the classic turquoise, I think. See it in the Paint Section: https://retrorenovation.com/category/period-accents/paint-colors/
Jessica Karp says
It really is a gorgeous color! I spent days trying to figure out what to do with the one wall in my office that isn’t covered in paneling. I took stock of every vintage wallpaper on the web and decided to paint the wall holiday turquoise since I couldn’t make a decision. I don’t think I’ll ever change it. It’s very close to the inside of my pink / turquoise combination fridge too! Here’s a bad photo of my wall: http://www.jessicakarp.com/holiday.jpg
Stacy says
I posted a pretty sweet fridge the the forum earlier today, before I saw today’s post. It’s in the St. Louis forum, if anyone in the area is looking. Wish I could buy it, but I’m not ready to start my kitchen reno just yet.
lynne lillington says
Love the pink, but I would paint my retro fridge , red and white to match my kitchen .
Maureen says
I just noticed the other day that Costco is carrying a retro-looking fridge in red and white! Check it out in your area!
Justin says
When remodeling our kitchen to a vintage kitchen we found a 1949 Hotpoint refrigerator. It has the dual doors so the freezer is a decent sized one. It was originally white, but we had a friend paint it for us. He paints single engine planes and cars for a living. When he does a job he is a perfectionist as well. He took out every little dent out of the fridge. It is now a beautiful pink. In addition to having it painted all we had to do was replace the seal and rewire it. This friend also painted the original Youngstown Kitchen hood pinkk. This hood was in the hosue when we bought it. It was dirty as can be, but we cleaned it up and had him paint it for us. I just wish the youngstown kitchen cabinets were in the house as well.
Cheryl Michael says
Love the info. I am drooling over these pink fridges! Terribly poor so I appreciate the painting idea. I bought my last two fridges at a used appliance store. I think I might just get a “new” old one and paint it! Pam, your ideas always inspire and make me a little more happy with my 1949 house. 🙂
pam kueber says
🙂