Would You Do This?
I know I should have been packing, but a person needs a little down time, right? Anyway, I stumbled across an article at lifehacker about refurbishing your appliances with stainless steel contact paper.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t wrap my mind around this one. Contact paper? Really? Has anyone else seen just how ugly and tacky this stuff can be? ;) When I think of contact paper, I still have terrible memories. I remember going over to someone’s apartment and seeing their nice solid wood cabinet doors covered with flowered contact paper. It was SO UGLY!!!!! To each his own, I guess.
I suppose it’s possible that the stainless steel contact paper is thick and durable and is nice quality. It would definitely be a more frugal option than replacing your appliances. In case you’re interested, here’s a tutorial.
Has anyone seen this stuff? I’m curious to know.
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POSTED IN: kitchen, money saving idea
9 opinions for Would You Do This?
happyathome
Jun 30, 2008 at 8:41 am
No….that’s just wrong. Usually if you are at that point in an appliance, it is time to replace because inefficiency or issues with use. Not using contact paper to make them look what they think is pretty? Might as well use laminant!
Tammy
Jun 30, 2008 at 9:56 am
Because of the difficulty in covering rounded edges and making corners meet, this idea won’t improve anything unless the appliance has a frame for the front panel. We bought a Kitchenaid fridge in 1997 that had a black glass front panel. Our designer had the glass replaced with a sheet of stainless steel, which fit inside the frame (i.e. edges did not show). Our dishwasher also had a reversible front panel, black on one side, white on the other. This kind of panel could be covered with the stainless contact paper, but I would still be wary of scrubbing drips off of the paper. I would rather check into the price of replacing the panel with a piece of real stainless steel, and balance that against buying a new appliance.
Handy Man Fix Home Repair
Jun 30, 2008 at 10:04 am
It is not hard to do… And it does come out looking ok… Make sure you start with contact paper as wide as the width of the fridge.
It doesn’t help the efficiency which is why I recommend a through cleaning and gasket replacement too…
Karen
Jun 30, 2008 at 10:20 am
Handy Man: Where do you find the wide contact paper? Do they sell it at home improvement stores?
lindsey
Jun 30, 2008 at 10:48 am
My husband and I are buying a house….in the midst of looking at the millions of homes on the market, we found a house who went the thrifty way in the kitchen and recovered all the appliances with stainless steel contact paper.
The realtor even said that the kitchen came complete with stainless steel appliances…..and totally denied the fact that it was contact paper when I brought it up.
I looked horrible.
mom_of_14
Jun 30, 2008 at 1:04 pm
i don’t have any experience with the stainless steel paper…but i have a vague rememberance of seeing something like this done on one the “home improvement” type shows. they seemed to think it was a cool idea and it looked good on tv….i’m wondering if this is like real contact paper or if it’s almost like a sturdy laminate type material? i can’t remember how they did it on tv but i think it was something thicker. i personally wouldn’t try it because i have these visions of “wrinkles” in my fridge where i couldn’t get the bubbles out.
JayMonster
Jun 30, 2008 at 2:50 pm
The stuff I have seen, while “technically” contact paper was more like a veneer, and COULD come out looking real nice.
However, it would take a lot of patience, and skill to do it properly. If you think you could “slap it on” (like people did with contact paper on their cabinet doors, or are not the slow moving deliberate type, the results would be awful.
Gerald
Jun 30, 2008 at 5:01 pm
They sell this stuff at Lowes. It is wide enough and thicker than regular contact paper. If you have the kind of appliances with a trim around the edge, you could do it, but there is NO WAY you could go around the curves and corners on a standard appliance
Handy Man Fix Home Repair
Jun 30, 2008 at 6:15 pm
There are 2 links in the comments to 4 foot wide rolls… I have never used either company (I am pretty sure this stuff is easy to find at your local hardware store… I haven’t been to mine since this post blew up over the weekend or I would confirmed it…)
http://www.glassdecorandmore.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=s26brushed
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/sheetingfx/brushed.stainless.htm
It is much closer to metal than paper.
It can look very good. cleaning the surface (not having an textured surface) and a little practice…
Worst case… peel off the paper and try again or simple clean to get the glue off the fridge…
You can also paint it with an stainless steel epoxy paint… but you had better like the result in that case…
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