Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

[steveb53]

I have to replace an old Miele F623UI integrated freezer which has given up the ghost after about 15 years. According to an online manual, it is supposed to have a fixed hinge (with the cabinet door supported on the freezer door), but the kitchen installers fitted a sliding hinge to connect the freezer door to a separately hinged cabinet door. This has worked perfectly.

It looks like virtually all potential replacement freezers also have fixed hinges. Is it likely they will accept my sliding hinge instead? Is there anything I can check, e.g in terms of measurements, to verify this is the case?

[don]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

Hi

Googling your model no. you have an under counter freezer. I have to admit I have not come across one with sliders.

I think in this instance you need to consult a kitchen appliance fitter or a kitchen company to assist you in making the right choices and to make sure the new appliance can be adapted.

HTH

Don

[kwatt]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

I get asked this a fair bit, if you can convert or change a unit from fixed hinges to sliders or from sliders to fixed hinges and the short of it is, you cannot do it.

The cabinets come as they come designed to have one or the other system and they cannot in any way be changed or altered.

If you need fixed hinges and sliders then you need to buy the appropriate type as you can’t change it.

Ditto hinges that allow the door to move outward and clear.

Changing or adapting them after purchase is not an option and there’s a number of people that have had to buy a new unit on top of just buying one due to that.

K.

[steveb53]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

Many thanks for the quick answers.

kwatt – I have seen similar comments to the effect that you can’t convert, but as I said my Miele was designed to be fixed hinge but was converted to sliders.

[kwatt]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

Perhaps modified by a fitter but that may well not end well in many instances, I doubt many would even try.

But as a rule, they cannot be converted.

For a start, the parts to do it are not available which kinda hampers it all before you even begin meaning that however you look at it, its got to be a botch job in some respect.

K.

[steveb53]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

Thanks again.

It looks like I have a problem – I can’t find any under-counter integrated freezers with sliding hinges. Would it be possible to mount my existing cupboard door onto a fixed-hinge freezer door if I just remove the screws attaching the cupboard hinge to the carcass? I want to keep the existing appearance, at least when the door is closed, especially as it is side-by-side with an identical-looking under-counter Miele fridge with a sliding hinge.

[kwatt]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

Maybe is the answer.

To be honest you may well be better to try to get a local kitchen fitting company to look at it for you and see what can be done. I say that as without seeing the install and figuring it out in advance you could be in for trouble and, you do not want to be throwing money at it in error.

Don’t bother with the big retailers as I doubt they’d have a clue what you were even talking about.

K.

[don]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

don wrote:

I think in this instance you need to consult a kitchen appliance fitter or a kitchen company to assist you in making the right choices and to make sure the new appliance can be adapted.

Cough lol

[steveb53]

Re: Replacing integrated freezer with sliding hinge

In case anyone else has a similar issue:

I took the advice and used kitchen consultants, in fact the ones who installed my kitchen 16 years ago. They seemed a little baffled by my concerns and were confident that they would be able to install a new freezer easily.

I ordered a Siemens freezer (GU15DA50GB/05), which comes with fittings for hanging a fixed door. The installer discarded the fittings and simply mounted the sliders removed from the old freezer. Everything worked perfectly. The installer, who had been with the company for 20 years, said that he frequently used sliders (which the installers usually provide themselves), and he believed that, generally, they could be used as an alternative on freezers designed to allow fixed doors to be hung on them.

[Author]

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