About a year ago, we acquired an aged freezer on Craigslist. Dedicated supporter of the elderly that I am, I insisted that we make a nice home for it on our back porch. 

Perhaps grateful at being given a chance for continued employment, that frosty old Sears Coldspot freezer set about making itself indispensable. 

Its most noteworthy asset is the way it has been keeping our ground beef, chickens, green beans, ice cream and lots of other vittles nicely frozen. So what’s so great about that, you may ask?  It is, after all, a freezer. That’s what it’s supposed to do. For a working life of 12 to 20 years, according to industry standards. Not this one though. It must not have read the fine print about how long it signed up for.

This is the second freezer of my acquaintance which continued working past its expected expiration date. This one and the only other freezer I ever owned just kept faithfully working 50 years and beyond. Except for some minor imperfections – there’s a crack on one shelf and the light only works sometimes – I think this freezer is definitely a “keeper”.

It has one embarrassing problem, however. Unfortunately, the exterior of the freezer  – and I say this with all due respect – is butt ugly. And because it has lived its life in the cruel outdoors, the freezer’s door, is plainly advertising its age – along with a lot of rust.

Since we like to entertain on our big back porch, Susy and I keep hoping nobody will notice the presence of the big rusty elephant in the room that contains dessert and the ice for their drinks. Guests are usually too polite to comment, but we just know what they must be thinking about our decor, and worrying whether the ice-cubes in their bubbly might require the need to schedule a tetanus shot. They have no way to be aware of the “inner beauty” of this fine and faithful freezer. 

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We decided if there was ever time for a face lift, this was it! Once the rust got scrubbed off, here’s the result. . . Thanks to 4 rolls of Magic Cover contact paper, our vintage freezer has managed to sort of quietly disappear into the woodwork on the back porch.

We were very proud of the old Coldspot’s new face.  At least until I saw the news yesterday. It seems the newer “bespoke” freezers at Samsung have also been getting a little cosmetic work done. Check it out!  

The caption under these refrigerators and freezers reads “Samsung Expands Their BESPOKE Refrigerators Line with A ‘Creators Collection of Original Artwork“

I suppose the “plastic surgeons” at Samsung are proud of themselves, but somebody ought to let them know that some old-time appliance engineers already thought of that. Here’s some vintage decorator appliances from the 1960s.

I never actually knew anyone who purchased such a colorful refrigerator or freezer, and I think I know why. When folks used to buy such a household asset, they expected it to be a one-time lifetime expenditure. Now, who would like to face looking at one of these day in and day out ad infinitum?

Of course, considering the longevity of today’s appliances, if you buy a new freezer today, you might only have to be looking at it for 12 years before you can scrap it.  Otherwise, check out the inventory of the oldies on Craigslist, and order some contact paper.