Do you want to find out how to switch a fridge door? Just remove the hinges and door handles, then reattach these on the side of the fridge that you want to switch its swing direction towards.
Imagine this scenario, you are in your kitchen preparing food, and then you decide you need one more ingredient from your fridge. Luckily, your fridge is right beside you at your left. So all you have to do is stay in your place, reach your arm out, and swing the fridge door open.
However, the fridge door opens facing the left and away from you because the hinge is on the right side. As a very efficient person, this bothers you. So now you have to walk past the open fridge door to the left side of the fridge to see what’s inside.
After grabbing your remaining ingredient, it is time to close the fridge door. You want to move straight to the right to go back to where you were and then close the door, but you can’t because of where the door is. I know it’s a small thing, but hey, if you could do something about it, why not?
If you ever thought to yourself, “if only my fridge door opens the other way” guess what, maybe it could. Most fridges that have their doors swing outwards to open, sometimes give you the option to switch the location of their hinges to the opposite side.
This is except for side-by-side refrigerators and French door refrigerators. To learn more about fridge doors that swing open and how to switch or reverse their opening direction, keep reading this article.
Which Way Should Your Fridge Door Be Hinged
A fridge door should be hinged away from the side you want it to face when opened. Most of the time, you want your open fridge door facing the direction you’re going to come from and go back to.
It saves you the trouble of having to deal with a fridge door blocking your access to the fridge. It saves you the effort of going to the opposite side of the fridge door, especially if your fridge is in a tight space or corner.
If you have your fridge placed side to side with a wall, the fridge door should open facing opposite to the wall. It would give you more room to work with, instead of cramming yourself in that tiny space when using the fridge. The step-by-step procedure on how to switch a fridge door is listed down below.
Steps To Switch A Fridge Door
Wait! Don’t remove that fridge door just yet. First of all, you have to make sure that your fridge has switchable door hinges.
The best way to know this is to read the user’s manual. An alternative way is to observe your fridge. See if you can find covered screw holes on the opposite side of the fridge door’s top hinge.
You can also look for these on the opposite side of where the fridge door handle is screwed. After you have made sure that your fridge has this feature, you could go ahead and apply the steps.
Step #1. Unscrew the hinges
Make sure you have removed the stuff placed inside the fridge door. The first step is to unscrew and remove the hinges and brackets. You must adjust depending on the model or type of fridge that you have. For example, if you have a top freezer or bottom freezer refrigerator, you would have to detach two doors.
The hinges should be removed in order, from top to bottom. If you have two doors, after removing the top hinge, set the top door aside and remove another hinge placed between the top and bottom door first. Otherwise, move on to the bottom hinge.
Step #2. Transfer the handles
If your fridge door does not have handles, you are free to skip this step. If it does, then look for the screws and undo them. Sometimes the screws are covered, so try removing these first if you don’t find them immediately.
Next, look for the screw holes for the handles on the opposite side of the fridge door. More than likely, these would be covered, so makes sure to pop them off first. After attaching the handles, cover the screw holes on the previous side where the handles were attached.
Step #3. Reattach the fridge door
With everything done, all that’s left is to return the door to the fridge. But this time, it hinged on the opposite side. Attach the bottom-most bracket and hinge first, then place the bottom door. Repeat the same process to the top door, and finally finish things off by attaching the topmost hinge and bracket.
Now, return the covers that you removed either from the screws or screw holes. Then make sure that everything is nice and tight. You don’t want your fridge door falling off. Congratulations! You have successfully switched the way your fridge door opens. It’s time to give that baby a nice swing.
Final Words
At the end of this article, I hope you have learned how to switch a fridge door. Thank you for reading up to this point of the article. Your time and effort are very much appreciated.