second thoughts on using glass for fridge storage

I've been working on eliminating plastic from my life for a number of years now. Sure, I'll re-purpose plastic containers that I end up with, but I'm trying to buy less plastic, so I have less to deal with. One of the things I've done is replace tupperware type storage containers with glass jars and glass bowls using saucers as lids for storing food and leftovers in the fridge.



This has worked really well, except now my old refrigerator is beginning to suffer for it. It's about 12-years-old and has glass shelves with plastic frames. Due to the weight of all the glass, the plastic frames are beginning to crack and break. Bummer!

Buying new shelves is not an options, so does anyone have suggestions, advice, or words of wisdom for my problem?

Great question! I have gone down the same road as you and my fridge is groaning under the weight. I have a short term solution:
1) fill jars 2/3rd’s and then freeze
2) Place jars at the edges where there’s more support and they cause less bending
3) Batch cook less, or cook smaller batches - I’m guilty of just cooking too much stuff

I inherited a massive fridge when we bought this house. I have discovered it uses a huge amount of electricity, it’s noisy and heats up the kitchen which is ok in the winter but undesirable in the summer. The wide shelves are rubbish at supporting any weight. I will replace it at some time with a much smaller, more efficient  unit with narrower and therefore stiffer shelves.

As for fixing your shelves . . . Alas, I don’t have an answer. I’m sure we’re not alone with this problem.

Leigh Tate wrote: It's about 12-years-old and has glass shelves with plastic frames. Due to the weight of all the glass, the plastic frames are beginning to crack and break. Bummer!

I suspect that the weight of the jars isn't the main factor, but that the fridge was underengineered in the first place. 12 years is not an unusual life expectancy for an appliance these days.

So the shelves themselves are OK, it's just the support interface at the sides that is giving up the ghost? Can we come up with some sort of alternative support structure, a bookcase insert for the fridge? or stacking boxes (back to plastic again there though probably....) In the short term I would try and find something that fits exactly in the space in between the shelves to support them in the middle a bit to take stress off the plastic edges. It'll be a nuisance, because it will get in the way of stocking...

When I was in college a friend had a fridge from which all the insides were stripped out and a new set were knocked together out of 2x2s and random pieces of salvage. It seemed incredibly janky to young me, but now it seems kind of charming. You could make it as strong as you want it and custom heights to boot! Though, I guess there's no way around loss of some storage space with uprights being needed.

Edward Norton wrote:Great question! I have gone down the same road as you and my fridge is groaning under the weight. I have a short term solution:
1) fill jars 2/3rd’s and then freeze
2) Place jars at the edges where there’s more support and they cause less bending
3) Batch cook less, or cook smaller batches - I’m guilty of just cooking too much stuff

Edward, good ideas. And a good point about narrower shelves. We too, inherited an old fridge when we bought this house, but it was too small so I got the one I'm currently complaining about. It was also an energy guzzler, but it had metal wire shelves! Too bad they don't fit this one.

Like you, I'm learning to cook smaller amounts, and then I scrape all the leftovers into saved peanut butter jars which I keep these in my chest freezer. In winter, I defrost a jar, add a jar of bone broth, and we have soup for lunch. This is my husband's favorite soup!

Nancy Reading wrote:I suspect . . . that the fridge was underengineered in the first place. 12 years is not an unusual life expectancy for an appliance these days.

Ha! That's the problem with everything nowadays!

So the shelves themselves are OK, it's just the support interface at the sides that is giving up the ghost?

Actually, it's both. Let me show you.

top shelf

bottom shelf

I circled the cracks in the plastic part of the shelf in blue, so that's the problem I'm focused on at present.

The plastic support for the bottom shelf broke awhile back, so Dan replaced it with a wood support, as you see in the picture. You can also see part of the problem on the shelf - those are half-gallon jars of milk. I have goats and during milking season I have a lot of milk to refrigerate. I make cheese every couple of days, but still have to deal with a lot of weight due to the jars. I do like Edward suggested, and try to keep the heaviest ones on the side or where the shelf is supported.

Christopher Weeks wrote:When I was in college a friend had a fridge from which all the insides were stripped out and a new set were knocked together out of 2x2s and random pieces of salvage. It seemed incredibly janky to young me, but now it seems kind of charming. You could make it as strong as you want it and custom heights to boot! Though, I guess there's no way around loss of some storage space with uprights being needed.

Hmm. I don't know how doable that is, but it's something to consider!

1. Could you survive without the drawers at the bottom? If so, I'd remove the bottom shelf and put your milk bottles at the bottom preferably on a bit of some sort of rack so there's airflow under them, but that's not necessarily critical.

2. Can the "drawer shelf" fit any further up the fridge?  Often not - they're designed for only that lower position, but if so, I'd look at the underside of the plastic and see if you could whittle a piece of wood to fit under the front edge of the plastic, and use epoxy as a not-very-permie material to join the wood to the plastic? If you do move it higher, you will need a longer support piece of wood, or splurge like I did and use threaded rod (yep, been there, done that! Hubby didn't think it would work, but it's been going strong for at least 5 years now.) In fact, since the other shelf is breaking in the same area, you might consider drilling holes in the plastic and putting threaded rod all the way from the bottom wooden support (yes - spread the load so the rod doesn't break through the bottom plastic) to the top and use big washers and nuts under each shelf.

I hope you find a solution that works for you, but just remember that the shelves are designed for air flow and if you mess with the air flow too much, you may find things freezing that you don't want freezing.

Jay Angler wrote:1. Could you survive without the drawers at the bottom? If so, I'd remove the bottom shelf and put your milk bottles at the bottom preferably on a bit of some sort of rack so there's airflow under them, but that's not necessarily critical.

2. Can the "drawer shelf" fit any further up the fridge?

Jay, those are great ideas. I use the drawers because they're there, but putting the heavy milk jars on the bottom would help. It's not a fridge with notches for the shelves so I can choose where to put the drawers. I'll check on what can be done with the shelves tomorrow.