How to Adjust, Reverse and Remove a Refrigerator Door

We have almost all had the experience of looking at our refrigerator and realizing that the door is either not closing properly or tilts to one side when shut. This always means that your door needs an adjustment. On the other side of the coin, refrigerators are large cumbersome boxes. When they have to be moved through a doorway, it often means that the doors must be removed to do this successfully. When the box is put into its new spot, the door may or may not open in a convenient direction. When this happens, the answer is usually reverse the direction that the door opens. Having said this, we need to take a look at how to accomplish these three do-it-yourself level jobs.

The tilt of the door on a refrigerator is control by a simple plate on top of the box. These instructions will work on about 99% of refrigerators. If you paid more than $2,500 for your refrigerator, you may want to have the service work done by an insured technician to protect your investment. No one likes it when you put an ugly scratch down the side of something that cost a lot of money. Your relationship with your spouse could be permanently altered by such an error. So, use your head and decide if this task is for you before beginning.

With the disclaimer out of the way, let’s return to that plate on top of your refrigerator. It will be located in the corner of the refrigerator where the door hinge is. In fact, it is part of the hinge. This plate normally has three screws in it. These may require a screw driver, or you may need a socket, wrench, or nut driver of the right size. Just take a look and grab the proper tool.

Leave the door shut. Remove all three screws and keep them handy. You will need them again in about 30 seconds. The door latch and lower hinge pin should hold your refrigerator door in place. Now, look at the three holes you have uncovered by removing the screws. One of them will be slotted rather than round. This could be true for two of them, but not usually. Start the screws back into the holes but only screw them down about half way.

Grip the handle of the door and raise or lower the door until it is level and straight with the refrigerator. These should both happen at the same time. If your refrigerator is not level, take a minute to level it up by adjusting the legs before completing the job. Your refrigerator will be much happier if it is level. This will also keep the door from swinging open or shut too hard by itself. When the door is right with the world, make sure that it is positioned correctly from left to right. If this is a problem, then you will have to loosen the lower hinge at the bottom of the door and make a similar adjustment there.

Once these things are completed, tighten all of the screws until snug. There is no need to prove you are mighty to get these tight enough. You may want to loosen them again someday. When you do, you will appreciate that you did not overdo the tightening.

Removing the door requires about the same procedure as adjusting it. The major difference is that you will want to make sure that you put the screws somewhere safe other than the top of the box. If you have to remove the door or doors to move your refrigerator, you may want to consider taping it in place because you will probably need to remove it again on the other end of the trip. Use your best judgment. You can always remove the screws again if you put them back into place. This does have the advantage of keeping them where you can find them.

Once the top hinge is off, grip the door tightly on both sides. That is left and right, not inside and outside. Lift the door off ot the lower pin. Get help if you need it to safely lift the door. Set the door to the side. Now, remove the bottom hinge. You almost always have to do this because it will protrude from the box and be in the way while you move the refrigerator. For multiple door units, just continue the process for the other door.

You will have three pieces to remove on a top and bottom type of box and four to remove on a side-by-side unit. When you get ready to reinstall the doors, just follow the adjustment instructions to get the door in place. Always put the bottom hinges in place. The middle hinge will come next if you have one. It will look like a plate with a pin sticking out the top and bottom. The final hinge is the one at the top.

Not all refrigerator doors can be reversed. Only single and top and bottom units have this capability. Not all of them work either. If your door or doors are reversible, the door handle will attach at the top and bottom or the door, or there will be plugs on the opposite side of the door to cover screw holes. This will be true for the hinge holes on the refrigerator, too.

Begin the reversal process by removing the door or doors from the refrigerator. Once they are off, lay them on a rug or towel to protect the finish while you move the handles. Unscrew the handles from the door. Remove the plugs very carefully from the other side of the door. Attach the handles to the opposite side of the door. Insert the plugs in the screw holes left from removing the handle. Do this same process for all of the hinges when you move them from one side to the other.

When all of the screws holes have been unplugged and re-plugged, you are ready to attach the door back on the refrigerator. Just as when you remove the doors for moving, you now put the hinges back in place from bottom to top. When the bottom pin is in place, set the door onto it and shut the door to hold it while you attach the upper hinge. Take the time to level and adjust the door before you complete the job. If all has gone properly, you should have your door swinging in the opposite direction than before. With an bottom and top door unit, make sure you position the bottom door correctly before starting to install the upper door.

All three of these projects are fairly simple and quick. If you have any ability at all or even none at all, you will be able to finish any of these tasks in less than 30 minutes. Adjustments can take longer to get you tools than to make the adjustment itself.