How to Add a Nook for a Refrigerator Outside of the Kitchen

Measure the kitchen. Transfer the measurements to engineering-size, 1/4-inch graph paper. Detail the location and sizes of all appliances, counters, doorways, windows and features. Draw in each adjacent room to the kitchen. It is best to position your kitchen in the center of the paper so that your adjacent room can be seen in full when you look at your floor plan.

Tape your floor plan to a table. Tape tracing paper over the floor plan. Measure your refrigerator width. It is helpful to cut out a refrigerator shape at scale from scrap paper. Use this shape to help determine nook size in adjacent rooms.

Draw a variety of designs. Try to recess your refrigerator so that it doesn't jut into a traffic path. The refrigerator should appear to be part of the kitchen. You can create this illusion by facing the refrigerator into the kitchen. This may require you to demolish parts of the walls of adjacent rooms and build new walls to hide the side and back of the refrigerator. Try to draw every possible option you have. It is better to rob space from a mud, laundry or closet than from a bedroom, dining or living room. Avoid taking space from bathrooms unless you intend to remodel the bathroom.

Identify the design that works best for your house. It is important to run a dedicated refrigerator electrical line to the circuit breaker box when possible so that the load of the modern refrigerator doesn't draw down the electricity of other outlets or fixtures when it turns on and off. Budget for a licensed electrician to pull this wire for you as an essential part of your construction. If you want automatic ice maker, you will also need a water line.

Check with an engineer if you need to remove any walls in your home. The engineer can determine if the wall is load-bearing. Turn off electricity to the room being demolished. Remove any walls necessary to build your new nook. Be careful to avoid any electrical wires or plumbing pipes. Expose the floor to the subflooring level in the area where the walls will be built. If your flooring is carpet, remove all of the flooring where the refrigerator will sit so you can replace it with something more appropriate later.

Measure the length of your new wall. Tape the floor showing the exact location of your new walls. Use a plumb bob to transfer those measurements to the ceiling and tape the ceiling in the same way. Hang the plumb bob from the ceiling until the point is directly over your floor marks. Repeat the marks on the ceiling using tape. This will give you a visual guide.

Measure the length of the wall. Cut two pieces of 2-by-4-inch boards, one for the ceiling and one for the floor. Screw the board into the floor using long screws. Screw the board into the ceiling at the joists. The top board is called a top plate. Locate joists by moving a stud finder along the ceiling surface. If you cannot locate any joists, you may need to open the ceiling in the new nook and add blocking between your joists to support your top plate. Repeat for each wall.

Frame the walls by measuring flush against the existing wall between your top and bottom plates. Cut a 2-by-4-inch stud to this measurement. Toenail the stud into the top and bottom plate with the stud flush against the wall. Toenailing is to drive a framing nail through the vertical stud board into the top plate at an angle. Use two nails to attach each end of each stud. Frame your outside corners and end pieces in the same manner.

Frame between your studs by measuring every 16-inches on center for each stud. Add horizontal blocking between your studs to strengthen and stabilize your walls. Hire an electrician and plumber for expert mechanical installation. Finish your walls by installing drywall.

Measure your walls. Cut drywall to fit. Screw the drywall to the studs using drywall screws. Add drywall corner bead for outside corners. Apply flexible mesh tape over joints. Apply paper creased corner tape for inside corners. Use a wide drywall knife and joint compound to adhere the tape to the wall. Spread and smooth out the compound over screw dimples, joints and seams.