Refrigerator Door Shelf Bar Replacement: The Ultimate Guide for DIYers

Is your refrigerator door shelf bar broken or missing, leaving your condiments teetering dangerously each time you open the fridge? Don’t worry—a quick fix is just around the corner! With our step-by-step guide and a handy how-to video below, you can easily replace the door shelf bar yourself and restore your fridge to tip-top shape in no time. Let’s get started!

Become a DIY Pro with this Step-by-Step Guide to Replacing a Door Shelf Bar

The shelves, bins, and bars holding everything in place on your refrigerator door put up with a lot, and sometimes the beating they take is a bit too much. Luckily, no matter the make or model of your appliance, a broken refrigerator door shelf is quick and easy to replace – the hardest part is probably the cleanup.

Want to know how to DIY replace a missing or damaged door shelf retainer bar in your refrigerator? AppliancePartsPros.com has you covered with a detailed guide! Keep reading to learn how.

When Should I Replace A Refrigerator Door Shelf Bar?

This might seem obvious – when it’s broken or missing, right? That’s a natural time to replace a refrigerator part. There are a few other instances, though, where it might be appropriate to swap an old, still-working component out:

• Has it gotten brittle? Plastic will start to get brittle with age, particularly if it’s been cleaned with something harsh like bleach. If you notice the shelves in your refrigerator getting brittle, and especially if you see any cracks, chips, or fractures, you can avert a disastrous mess by replacing the shelf bars while they still work.

• Is it discolored? Whether the shelf has yellowed with age or is speckled with set stains from condiments and sauces, you may want to replace the shelves in your fridge to give the interior a cleaner, fresher look.

Finding The Right Replacement Part

Because every refrigerator is different, it’s especially important that you get the right part if you’re replacing a door shelf, and opt for a genuine OEM part if you are able. To track down an appropriate compatible refrigerator door shelf, you’ll need your appliance’s full model number.

You can find your refrigerator’s model number on a sticker on the appliance. Look in these spots:

• Check the exterior door or sides of the appliance

• Inspect the interior of the door or door frame
  

• Examine the interior ceiling of the freezer or refrigerator compartment

• Look inside the walls of either compartment
  

• Find it on the floor of the refrigerator, under the crisper drawers
  

• Search behind the kickplate at the bottom of the appliance

Once you’ve got that number written down, head on over to AppliancePartsPros.com and type it into the search bar. You’ll be presented with a list of compatible OEM components guaranteed to fit your appliance. Order through us and you can have that part in hand in as little as two days!

Tray, Bin, or Bar: Which Do I Need?

Refrigerator door shelves can vary wildly in size, but there are generally two main styles of door shelf components:

• The door shelf bar, which is what we’re replacing today, is a metal or plastic arm that snaps into place and keeps items from sliding around on shelves built into the inner lining of your refrigerator door.
  
• The door bin is a plastic or glass tray that slots into place on your refrigerator door. These are very common on Samsung refrigerators.

While bins and bars are installed in relatively similar ways, their steps aren’t identical. This guide goes over replacing a door shelf bar. If you’re looking for instructions on replacing a door shelf bin, check out our YouTube channel’s list of refrigerator repair tutorials for an appropriate visual guide.

How To Replace A Door Shelf Bar

For this tutorial, we replaced the door shelf bar on a Frigidaire refrigerator. If your refrigerator is within the Frigidaire family of brands, including Electrolux, Gibson, Kelvinator, Westinghouse, Sears, and Kenmore, the steps laid out here will match exactly what you need to do.

That said, since door shelf bars are generally installed the same way regardless of the refrigerator’s make or model, this tutorial should be useful to you no matter what type of fridge you have.

Tools for the Job

You don’t need any special tools to replace a shelf in your refrigerator, but do make sure you have the right replacement component! For the refrigerator in our video, that was part no. 240534901.

Before You Begin…

You’ll want to make sure you have adequate room to complete this job. Remove any items from the shelf you’re repairing, and if there are bulky items around it, relocate those, too. You may also want to take this as an opportunity to thoroughly clean the inner lining of your refrigerator to remove any sticky residue.

Once your refrigerator’s prepped, you’ll want to temporarily shut your refrigerator’s power off. Any time you perform maintenance on an appliance, you should disconnect it from power for your safety. Either unplug your refrigerator from the wall outlet or flip the circuit breaker to be sure it’s not receiving power.

Replacing A Door Shelf Bar

The most time-consuming part of this job is clearing the shelf off and putting everything back again at the end. Replacing the bar itself should take you less than five minutes, but your prep and clean-up time can vary.

First Step: Remove the old shelf bar

The shelf bar is locked into place by a couple of tabs – one on either side – that can be released by hand. Slide your fingers beneath the bar and press up on each side to free it up. You may need to bend the bar slightly outward to help with this.

Second Step: Line up the new shelf bar

Grab your new part and make sure it’s properly aligned with the tabs on the door on both sides.

Third Step: Press down on the new bar to secure it

Gently press down on each side of the bar until it snaps into place. Then give it a tug to make sure it’s secure. Once it’s in place, you can plug your refrigerator back in and start loading the shelf back up again!

Help! My Refrigerator’s Old Door Shelf Bar Is Stuck In Place

If you’re having trouble getting an old door shelf bar out of your refrigerator, lay a warm, damp cloth over the part where it’s stuck and leave it there for 15 minutes. That should help to loosen up whatever old food debris is holding it in place. You can also try popping it out with a putty knife or flathead screwdriver.

What Can I Store On A Refrigerator Door Shelf?

The refrigerator door shelves are both the warmest spot in your fridge and the spot that experiences the most temperature fluctuations. Keep that in mind when you’re storing items there. You’ll want to use the door to store preserved items like condiments, sauces, soft drinks, and pickles. Avoid keeping perishables like eggs or veggies in the door unless you know you’ll be using them within a day or two.

Check out our complete guide to refrigerator organization to get a better idea of where everything should go in your fridge!

8 Tips To Prolong The Life Of Your Refrigerator’s Shelves

With all those temperature fluctuations and the frequent use they see, the shelves in your refrigerator door are prone to fracturing, cracking, and chipping. You can reduce the chance that the shelves in your refrigerator door become damaged with these tips:

1. Avoid Overloading the Shelves. If you need to apply force to place an item on a shelf or if the base appears to be sagging or the front bar is bending, it indicates that the shelf is too full.
   
2. Avoid Overfilling the Refrigerator Compartment. Excess items extending past the shelves can cause damage to the door shelves upon closing the refrigerator door.
   
3. Avoid Slamming the Refrigerator Door and Never Force it Closed if it Meets Resistance.
   
4. Keep Heavier Items on the Bottom of the Door Shelves or Store Them in the Refrigerator Compartment.
   
5. Clean Jars and Condiment Bottles Before Placing Them Back on the Shelf. This helps maintain a clean area and prevents food items from becoming stuck on the shelves.
   
6. Gently Remove Stuck Items. Avoid pulling out items that have become stuck due to hardened residue. Use a warm, damp sponge or towel to slowly and gently release the substance that is causing the item to stay in place.
   
7. Use Suitable and Mild Cleaning Products During Cleaning. Avoid using bleach as it can weaken the plastic shelves of the refrigerator. Opt for gentle, food-safe cleaning solutions instead.
   
8. Allow Shelving Components to Reach Room Temperature Before Cleaning. To avoid breaking glass and plastic, let the shelves reach room temperature before exposing them to sudden temperature changes such as immersion in soapy water during cleaning.

Wrapping Up

That’s another successful repair in the books! Have some questions that aren’t answered by this refrigerator door shelf bar replacement guide? AppliancePartsPros.com can help! If you need assistance not already offered by the many tutorials on our blog, head on over to our main site to get in touch with our friendly team of experts. Whether you’re trying to track down a compatible part or just need some help with how to install it, AppliancePartsPros.com is happy to help!