Keezer Help/Suggestions - 8.8 Kenmore

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

denverdan

Active Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2010
Messages
37
Reaction score
2
Location
Denver
I just picked up a used white chest freezer (8.8cf Kennmore) for $100 off CR. However, it's white and has a few scrapes and small dents here and there. SWMBO also commented that no matter what I did to it, it would still look like a freezer so I'm trying to get ideas that are not overly complicated, but still makes the keezer look like a piece of respectable furniture.

I really don't want to paint the freezer black since some of the marks would still show. Is it possible to put laminate on the sides without affecting the freezer performance? I do not want to build a cabinet either since my wood working skills are sub-par.

I was thinking of some sort of black laminate for the sides with black wood trim including the collar with taps. The top could be some sort of bronze tile. Or, maybe lacquered wood. Is there a preference to do tile or laminate for the top? Also, would it be a real pita to store liquor bottles and glasses on top? I haven't seen many people doing this. Another idea was to add a railing for the top 3 sides with matching wood.

So many ideas! Also, I love the "Show us your kegerator" thread. Good stuff.
Cheers.
 
Check the sticky at the top of the DIY page for lots of photos and ideas on keezers.
 
You could buy some paneling (either really thin interior stuff or exterior beaded wood sheets).

It wouldn't take much wood working to wrap the sides. Of course I'd leave the cooling fins open in the back.

That being said, I have a full wood shop and could have treated my kegerator any way I wanted, but decided to leave the metal parts as they are (white). I painted my collar black. I also have a stainless spill catcher(?) mounted on a black piece of shaped wood which is glued to the metal.
 
Looks like I just need to make a trip to HD or Lowes. The paneling sounds interesting. I'll have to see what they have at the store.

Now that I've had time to look at more keezer porn on the forms, I think I may do some black paneling and add black wood trim around the edges. The collar will be black also. Was thinking of creating a bar top with a lighter shade of yellowish/orangish wood around the edges, and laminate tiles with epoxy poured over them for the center. We have a small house so if I don't make a bar top, and since it will be in our mud room , the keezer will end up with stuff stored on it (dog toys, laundry, extra food, etc). And, if I do this right and it looks like a respectable piece of furnature, SWMBO may also promote this for use in the dinning/living room.

Any thoughts on using brass taps? I think it may look classy with brass against the black wood. I'll post pictures once this project gets off the ground.
 
So I went with the paneling and have had no issues. Just liquid nailed some 1/8 MDF directly to the freezer and painted it black. Turned out great! When the freezer kicks on it seems to have no issues radiating the heat. Here are some Hi-Res photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31525331@N00/sets/72157627150048913/

4538-keezer.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Amazing man.. absolutely beautiful imho..

rapid fire question time now hhaha...

how much did this cost ya?

did you clamp the mdf down somehow while waiting for the liquid nail to dry?
did you do three sides? how did you do the top? how did you attach the molding?

This is basically what I want to do with my keezer... sorry for all the questions thanks for any help
 
Cost, lol...not sure. Without any kegging equipment I would say <$300 including the used freezer. Not too bad. Bought the 4 keg kit from Midwest, and the Perlicks from Amazon (cheaper)

For the MDF, I just cut to size and laid it on with the liquid nails with weights on top. I flipped the freezer and did one side at a time until dry. I did the same thing with the trim I used to cover the corners where the MDF seam was exposed. And yes, if you turn the freezer around it looks like a freezer from the back....no use in putting in more work than necessary! I did nail the trim to the collar where I could with small nails in addition to the liquid nails to make sure it was secure. The nails disappeared under the paint.

I tossed out the freezer top and created my own using thick plywood as a base and some extra laminate hardwood flooring my brother-in-law had. Unfortunately you can't buy that stuff by the piece which I found out at HD. My first idea was to create a stone tile top, but got lucky with the spare flooring. The flooring also had some seams around the edges so I purcahsed some thin trim to cover that up.

One other note, the top extends just further than the collar on the three sides by a few mm so the trim attached to the lid will lay over the collar when opening and closing. I used weather stripping to make the seal between the top and collar. If you look at the photo on the flickr site with the pocket door open you will see how some of this is put together. You will also see that the corners are rounded. I used wood putty to connect the two pieces of trim, let dry and sanded to a rounded edge. A few coats of paint made it look seamless.

One problem I had was painting the MDF. It really needs several coats to make it look right. The collar and wood trim was painted without any issues. So far no issues with the MDF glued to the sides. I can easilly feel the heat radiate through the MDF + the back has nothing on it also.
 
Looks great! I like the job you did with making the top.

When you say you tossed out the stock top, did you already throw it away? If you still happen to have it and could do without the power cord connection, I could sure use it to extend the cord on my keezer. I used the stock top on top of a collar and now the cord is about ~8" too short.
 
Back
Top