A Simple And Stylish Refrigerator DIY To Upgrade Your Family's Productivity

Your refrigerator can sometimes feel like a necessary evil. It's one of the most important appliances in your home, but it takes a big chunk of your kitchen's floor space. It makes sense to try getting more out of your fridge than simple food storage; after all, the front and sides are prime real estate for decorations, calendars, dry-erase boards, or magnet collections. Fridges can give off a sterile and imposing vibe, but there's a simple DIY that can counter this and increase your household's communication and productivity. Simply adding cork to a portion of your fridge will allow you to get new uses out of this appliance, and you can get creative with how you incorporate the upgrade to suit your specific needs and preferences. 

The idea is similar to using the side of your kitchen cabinets for organization, as your refrigerator is also a wide-open space just waiting to be utilized. You can vary how you hang the cork board from your fridge, but one of the most effective ways is to cover one side in a cork sheet. While there are tons of cork board wall ideas that upgrade home offices and areas around the house, this DIY turns a blank space into a productive and stylish one. 

If you have a fridge that is totally exposed on one side, this is a great place to try the cork board DIY. You can use a sheet secured with self-adhesive strips like this Flipside Products Cork Roll or tiles like these Go4Cork Large Square Adhesive Cork Tiles; either can easily be cut down to your desired dimensions with a utility knife. The natural element the cork brings will elevate your kitchen to seem more cozy. You can use the board to pin notes and reminders, hang calendars, or incorporate other ideas to spice up a boring fridge. You could attach a lightweight shelf for mementos, or even a magnet to hang cooking utensils — just make sure to use extra adhesive when installing your cork board if you plan to use it as a home for any heavier items.

To help bring out the warmth of the cork and draw attention to items mounted there, you could add lighting like this COB LED Warm White Strip Light. Use warmer lighting to bring out the softer color of the cork, and incorporate magnets or pins that match your kitchen's décor and color palette to pull everything together. This is also a good place to migrate wall-hung photos or souvenirs to give your walls a cleaner look.

If covering an entire side of your fridge doesn't work for you, this is where your creativity can come in. You could cut the cork board so that only a portion of one side panel or door is covered; the space above a counter, for example, or only the top half of the door where small children can't reach. There are plenty of ways to decorate this space. Try using trim, molding, or bobbin beads as a border, adding more style and definition. You can paint the border beforehand if you want a specific color, and choose one that complements your appliances or your kitchen's aesthetic.

Depending on your décor and kitchen theme, you could even use the cork board as a base, then cover it with fabric or peel-and-stick wallpaper. While this will negate the natural, warming element brought by the cork, it does allow you to play with the color scheme and pattern. These types of materials can also soften the appearance of your utilitarian kitchen appliance, bringing a more relaxed vibe to the space — and the cork base will still allow you to pin or hang items to your heart's content.