Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Refrigerator Magnets


weinoo

Recommended Posts

I know, I know - another banal topic. Goes along with my PB&J stuff, along with other things that creep into my deranged mind.

 

But...seriously, refrigerator magnets.  We've got a nice, shiny, new, stainless-steel, French-door, 33" wide, Kitchen Aid refrigerator.

 

And I'm on a need-to-know basis. Do I reinstall the refrigerator magnets that used to decorate our previous fridge, which wasn't stainless, but white, yet magetic?

 

Is your refrigerator covered with refrigerator magnets?  Does it look like a kindergarten's class project?

 

HELP!

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our fridge is an LG and is a couple of years old.  It is non-magnetic stainless steel on the front, but magnetic on the sides.  Ditto the stand-up Electrolux freezer.  Since the fridge slides in to an area between cupboards, the sides are not accessible except for maybe an inch .  The freezer sides are accessible and have various magnetic bits and pieces on them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I confess. My daughter just turned 30 and there are still a couple of pix of her as a kindergartener on the fridge. We did buy a new fridge about eight years ago and I must have transferred items and their magnets from the old fridge, but I am at a loss to remember the actual act of transfer. That act, like the one weinoo is contemplating, has been blocked from memory in service to sentiment. One thing I know: I haven't added anything new since then. I do have some very nice magnets, too: a wonderful Frida Kahlo, a holographic magnet from the Tate in London, an ancient one from New Mexico that has a tiny recipe on it for biscochitos, some lovely translucent colored ones my mother bought at the MOMA store and a very detailed hand-painted one on wood of a saguaro cactus that was acquired when we eloped to Bisbee Arizona oh so many years ago.  

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are magnets on both of our refrigerators (14 and 11), on the side of my gun safe (in the family room) (9), and on the back of our front door (7). Also on the hood over our stove for holding recipes (5). Yeah, we like magnets.

 

Also, my DW does NOT like stainless steel appliances.

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

;

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will tidy my fridge up soon and show you that it does have magnets but there’s nothing to suggest a kindergarten about what I hang there. My measuring cups & spoons are there and various and sundry gadgets that I’d like to have handy including some parchment paper.

  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I will tidy my fridge up soon and show you that it does have magnets but there’s nothing to suggest a kindergarten about what I hang there. My measuring cups & spoons are there and various and sundry gadgets that I’d like to have handy including some parchment paper.

 Well you’ll get the “reality” version as I don’t have time to tidy up right now. 

 

50762518-A19F-4374-8BE7-2F7A018922CA.thumb.jpeg.1ede7d91bfb251057d8c3ffc3ffabd44.jpeg

  • Like 8
  • Delicious 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

You give new meaning to "using every bit of available space".xD

 You have seen my house. You know how necessary it is. xD

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I periodically clean off the fridge and attempt a clean and clutter free fridge.  Things seem to sneak back on.  And now it is loaded up again.  My theory is that you are either a magnet and stuff fridge person or you are not.  And all the effort in the world won't change me to a clean and clutter free person.  :P

  • Like 4
  • Haha 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ours are all on the upper half of the fridge, out of the toddler granddaughter's reach (for now). 

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like "push pin" style rare earth magnets.

I prefer black, but they're also available in metallic, which, I think, would look good on a stainless steel fridge.

The wider, the better.

I acquired mine via eBay.

 

 

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

I like "push pin" style rare earth magnets.

I prefer black, but they're also available in metallic, which, I think, would look good on a stainless steel fridge.

The wider, the better.

I acquired mine via eBay.

 

 

 Mine came from disassembled hard drives. 

  • Like 4
  • Haha 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Mine came from disassembled hard drives. 

 I have may of them too, just not on the fridge. :smile:

 

  • Haha 1

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a magnet habit, nor did I grow up with one (outside of the ubiquitous letter-shaped magnets for teaching reading skills). 

 

However, many years ago when I was partnered with a general contractor/woodworker and assisting him with most aspects of his life, I got the idea of take some of the otherwise useless off-cuts, squaring them off, and doing the finishing work to convert them to fridge magenets as low-cost meaningful gifts.

 

I almost never gave them away - it was too fun to have them around to play with while I was tending to kitchen projects.  Hundreds of nice square magnets with discernible grain in many different colors, sizes, and thicknesses, and a fungible canvas like a freezer door?  Plus really pleasant to handle, thanks to the finishing process.

 

Also a good distraction for guests when the surface is between the public area and the core of the cooking work area.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our fridge is non magnetic and that delivered us from magnet proliferation. They are in a box somewhere. And things look neater.  

 

The only magnetic surface is the stove backsplash. Four timers and a church key live there. I glued superstrong magnets to replace the junk that they came with. The magnets came from new-fangled name tags that I get at meetings and are great. I can pound th timer and it doesn't fall off. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't give a rat's ass what my fridge looks like. 

I don't aim to impress, never will!

Not caring what other people think is a superpower!

  • Like 2

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't go out of my way to collect fridge magnets. The only one I have on the fridges now that I bought is the cutest bunny with a carrot and a thermometer that actually works pretty well to second guess the one on the HVAC thermostat. It was a dollar at Dollar General. There is also a cute kitten in a Santa hat that came on a Christmas present. Other than that, it's the emergency power outage number. Since I figured out our neighborhood is literally last on the priority list for restoration in the entire state, I get out my flashlight and call to get on the list to get a crew dispatched as soon as the lights go out. The recycling schedule is held up by that magnet. Then it's photos held up by the free AmEx magnets they send trying to get you to buy their credit card and other free magnets holding up postcards my nieces and nephew sent me or some such. It's quite cluttery, but I took SnickMouse's photo down to preserve for posterity after he passed, and now I can't remember what I did with it, so clutter is kind of good for me. At least I can find it when I want it. For some unknown reason all the clutter is on the sides of the fridges and the fronts are unadorned by any clutter at all. Feels like home to me though.

  • Like 1

> ^ . . ^ <

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loved collecting fridge magnets from various places for about a decade. My stainless steel fridge isn’t magnetic and the sides of said fridge are surrounded by built in cabinet sides. 

 

    I guess unearthing my collection may motivate me to start using the stand up deep freezer that came with the house! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...