Recessed Refrigerators for Dummies - The Freelance Files MMCCXLIX

Typical built-in refrigerator

Around Antisocial Network HQ we long ago realized that there are people out there who are perfectly happy to pound out any amount of bullshit necessary to pick up a few pennies. The self-appointed "expert contributors" to eHow.com have always been a prime example. Where else do you find a "state-tested nursing assistant" with a BS in "communications/public relations" pretending to know "How to Recess a Refrigerator"? Trust us: once you start reading the tripe uploaded by eHowian Nicole Brown, you just won't be able to look away...

We aren't certain, but we suspect that Brown took her cues from the one and only Naima Manal when it came to ginning up this set of "instructions." She may have consulted some reference for cutting a new door in an existing wall and/or building a closet in a corner, but we note that there are zero "references" attached to her post that have anything to do with recessed fridges. Nicole (like Naima before her) decided that, to recess a refrigerator into a wall, you cut a hole in the wall and shove the appliance in. 

Duh: to recess a refrigerator, you build out from the existing wall, Nikki! You either include a space for it within a line of cabinets or you build a second wall at the depth of the appliance, perhaps including a pantry or other storage. You DON'T cut a hole in the wall and build some sort of box in the room on the other side of the wall. What would you do if the appliance is on an outside wall, huh?

Even if one found it necessary to follow the fifteen steps Brown rattled off, several of them are... questionable. Take the first few, for instance:

• "Ensure that the wall is not load-bearing by determining if it runs perpendicular to the floor joists... Removing a section of a load-bearing wall can weaken the home's structure." – Not all walls that run perpendicular to the joists are load-bearing, Nicole. And even if it is, you could always shore up the header... if you knew what a header was.
• "Check the length of the refrigerator power cord to ensure it reaches the nearest outlet. This will prevent you from having to wire a new electrical outlet." – Refrigerator outlets are almost always on the wall behind the unit. Anyone following Brown's logic will have to rewire... not to mention, most houses built in the last forty years have plumbing behind the fridge for an icemaker. What of that, Nikki?
• "Measure the width, height and depth of the refrigerator with a measuring tape. Add at least 10 inches to each measurement to provide adequate clearance for the refrigerator." – Ten inches? Really? A five-inch-wide gap on both sides? Naaaahhhhh.
• "Transfer the width and height measurements to the wall on both sides in the location where you plan to place the recessed refrigerator. " – How, pray tell, do you transfer those measurements to the other side of a wall, hmmm?  Hint: if you're dumb enough to do this, you'll need to strip off the drywall floor to ceiling on the back of the wall.
• "Cut through the drywall along the outline on both sides of the wall with a reciprocating saw. Remove the drywall on both sides..." – That construction's sure gonna look weird in the room on the other side of the kitchen wall!

Some of Brown's other dumbassery include steps like screwing studs together with 4-inch screws (the thickness of two 2-by-4s equals three inches, not four) and telling people to screw the "top plate" of her opening (actually, a 2-by-4 header) into the jack studs even though there's drywall on both sides. And we could go on from there... but we won't.

Frankly, what Brown appears to have done is built a closet that opens into the kitchen; although she didn't put a ceiling on it. We are pretty sure that a box sticking out of the wall at a random location will look like it was designed by a Dumbass of the Day! In other words, some clueless self-appointed freelance "journalist" who thought that a built-in appliance sticks through the wall into the next room. Duh.

Oh, yeah, and Brown warned people to wear gloves and goggles – duh – but did not warn them to check the wall for electrical wiring or plumbing before attacking it with a reciprocal saw. Hence the "dangerous stupidity" tag.

SE - APPLIANCES