This disaster unfolded over the weekend and I’m still living in denial about the $1,200 appliance currently blocking my building’s hallway đ
So my old fridge finally died (RIP to 8 years of faithful service), and I had some cash saved up from a work bonus recently. Saw this gorgeous stainless steel double-door beauty on sale and just… bought it. Like a complete amateur who apparently forgot that physics exists.
The delivery guys showed up Saturday morning, took one look at my second-floor walkup situation, and basically went “lol good luck.” No elevator obviously, just narrow stairs and a hallway that was clearly designed by someone who hates large appliances.
My boyfriend and three of his friends volunteered to help (bless them), thinking “how hard could it be?” Cut to 2 HOURS of them trying every possible angle, removing the doors, tilting it sideways, basically attempting fridge Tetris while I stood there having a full existential crisis.
Plot twist: even if we somehow defied the laws of space and time to get it upstairs, there’s this sharp 90-degree turn right at my apartment door that makes zero geometric sense for anything wider than a pizza box.
So now I have a $1,200 fridge chilling in the hallway (literally, it’s still plugged in because I’m in denial), my neighbors think I’m insane, and I’m googling “do appliance stores take returns on items that are technically homeless?”
TL;DR: Bought a fridge that’s physically impossible to get into my apartment, now I’m the building’s unofficial hallway appliance dealer and my ego is in shambles.
Comments
8 years? my fridge is 45 and works like new
I’m so confused. You probably could have refused delivery when they showed up. Now that it’s unpacked and used you’re stuck with it.
Cut a deal with the place you bought it at. You will lose a few hundred dollars. Or, make a deal with them to take a smaller refrigerator off their hands. that way they wonât have to give you any money back, they can sell the one you bought, and you still get a new fridge
I used to deliver appliances and furniture. Fun job, even when I fell off the truck and almost broke my ankle. Or the time someone complained we wouldn’t drill a hole in the floor and install a water line for their fridge.
Anyway, yeah one time we brought one in. Had to remove the front door to get it inside. Got the fridge in place with practically zero space. So it fit… but the doors wouldn’t open!
Thankfully the customer realized it wasn’t our fault, said they’d figure something out. We put the door back up, they gave us a tip, and then we left.
Don’t give up. There is always a way out (or in, in your case). I managed to drag a washing machine through a door that had the same width as the washing machine. I had maybe 2 millimeters of space on each side.
Not to point out your FU might be worse, but why would you buy a refrigerator for an apartment? Do you have to supply your own refrigerator? Maybe thatâs how some places work⌠I donât know.Â
Youâre just going to have to sell your new refrigerator if they wonât take it back. Youâll get something close to it as you got a great deal, right?Â
Do you have a balcony door that is larger? I canât imagine the cost hid having it lifted. But if you really want itâŚÂ
Sorry you had a bad refrig experience. đ
Build a scaffold to the window, remove the window, and slide it through.
I did the same thing, took the door off my house, and the doors off the fridge. It fit, just, squashed up against both sides.
I did something similar. 36â double door Maytag. The fridge should make it in sideways if you take the doors off, take the freezer drawer out (if itâs that kind of fridge) and take the front door off its hinges. A couple of minutes with a power drill screwdriver. If you can get your building super in on the fun it should work.
Edit: renting an appliance dolly from your local self storage or U-Haul store would be a big help
Keep cool.
Am I the only one concerned with the fridge dying after just 8 Years? Mine are significantly older and still run fine đ
Sell it on marketplace. Or swap for a smaller appliance. Maybe ask around at a smaller independent appliance store if you could swap it out for a smaller one. Eat the lost cash situation
Measure twice, purchase once.
Just knock down the walls, install said fridge and renovate the apartment. You got more bonuses coming in the next ten years. Whatâs life without a fridge of epic proportions?
Sorry I can’t help but laugh how did you not think “my place is narrow/ small” when seeing a double door behemoth online? That “… And just bought it” is what kills me the most lmao
Oh I feel your pain here, I kind of made the same mistake when we moved in. Ordered a double-door fridge-freezer, measured the gap it was to fit into and was happy… till the day it arrived and realised it wouldn’t fit in through the front door! Ended up taking the door off its hinges to get it in with millimetres to spare, then had to repeat for the next two doors to get it into the kitchen. Lesson learned: check the measurements against the doors as well
I hope you waited about 24 hours if you tilted the fridge a severe degree, because that can mess up the compressor.
Take it all a part and reassemble! Take lots of pictures and don’t break the freon seal.
I did seriously have to do that with a queen bed box spring. I could bend the mattress, but couldn’t get the box spring to make the angle. Had to take both short ends off, squish it a bit, move-it, replace ends and then staple gun all the fabric back on. Left the bed when we moved.
Return and buy a counter depth fridge, skinner, should go through.
Or…. hire a boom and go through the window.
Long ago I worked the appliance department at Best Buy. Probably 1 in 10 large appliances came back because the buyer hadn’t measured. Generally the Best Buy delivery team just gave up and brought them back, and we refunded the price. Don’t know if they still do that.
But I’ve got a better one. Previous owner of my house finished an attic including a laundry closet – about 56″ wide, which should *just* fit a washer dryer pair (typically 27″ wide each).
Oops, but he framed a double door on the closet. So you could slide the first unit in easily, but then there was less than 27″ of width remaining. So no go.
(I didn’t need a second laundry room anyway, so I converted it into a kitchenette đ
do you have a back door?
Remember: PIVOT!