How To Replace A Refrigerator Crisper Pan (With Video!)

Is your produce not staying fresh as long as it should? It might be your refrigerator’s crisper drawer that’s to blame. Discover how to maintain, diagnose, and replace your crisper pan to keep your fruits and veggies in tip-top shape, with our easy-to-follow guide and step-by-step video just below.

Need to find the right crisper pan for your fridge? Search below with your exactly model number to find the perfect part:

Whatever you call it – veggie drawer, salad crisper, crisper pan – that drawer at the bottom of your fridge keeps your produce fresher longer by controlling airflow and maintaining a higher humidity than the rest of the refrigerator compartment. On most crisper drawers, you can control those features with a small slide lever that will open or close the vents in the drawer, allowing air in and out or keeping everything shut up tight. If you’re hoping to learn more about how a crisper works, or just want to replace your broken veggie drawer, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, we’re taking a look at how to get the most out of your crisper pan, how to tell if it’s broken, and how to replace it if it is. Let’s get to it!

How Does A Crisper Pan Work?

There’s not really any complicated machinery at work in a crisper pan. The humidity in the pan is produced by the produce you put inside of it, and let out or kept in place by a vent on the drawer. When you set your crisper drawer to high humidity, you’re closing up any vents and preventing airflow. When that vent is open, it allows a bit more air to flow in and out. If your crisper pan does not have an adjustable lever or vent on it, then you can assume that it is a high humidity drawer. This is important because an open vent will allow for the release of a gas called ethylene, which is produced by certain fruits and veggies as they age. Ethylene is a good thing! It encourages fruits to ripen, but with prolonged exposure, those fruits and veggies can overripen and start to rot prematurely. Letting that gas escape, then, can extend the life of the fruits and vegetables you put inside the crisper drawer.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Crisper Pan

You should keep produce that’s prone to wilting in a high humidity environment. That is, with the vent closed. Spinach, lettuce, and herbs like parsley can be stored in a crisper drawer set to high humidity, but other ethylene-sensitive fruits and veggies like cauliflower, citrus, and eggplant can benefit from the high humidity setting, as well. Apples, peaches, pears, avocados, and other fruits and vegetables that produce ethylene prefer a crisper drawer with the vent open, which would be the low humidity or “fruit” setting. In a low humidity crisper environment, the ethylene gas those fruits and vegetables produce is able to escape. By ensuring your produce isn’t trapped in an environment with the ethylene it produces, you’re allowing it to stay fresher, longer. Now that you know exactly how a fridge’s crisper works, let’s take a look at how to know when yours just isn’t working.

When Should I Replace My Crisper Pan?

Vegetable drawers are usually made of plastic, and with extended exposure to cold and changing humidity, they can become brittle and crack. The damage will probably be pretty obvious – you may see a crack or break, or you may find that the vent control or even the drawer itself gets stuck when opening or closing. If your veggies don’t seem to be keeping as long as they used to, and you’ve otherwise sorted your produce into the proper compartments, check the drawer for signs of damage. Any cracks or breaks will affect the humidity in the drawer, and the health of your produce. If you spot damage, it’s time to replace that crisper pan.

Finding The Right Replacement Part

Crisper pans come in a variety of shapes and sizes, so it’s important to make sure you’ve got the right OEM replacement part. Start with your refrigerator’s model number. You can find it in the manual for sure, but if you don’t have that on hand, the information is also on a sticker somewhere on the appliance itself.

Check the following places:

• On the exterior door or sides of the appliance
• Inside the door or on the door frame
• On the interior ceiling of the freezer or refrigerator compartment
• On the inside wall of either compartment
• On the fridge floor, beneath the crisper drawers
• Behind the kickplate at the bottom of the appliance

With the model number in hand, you can search below to find the right part on AppliancePartsPros.com. Order with us and you should have a genuine OEM replacement in just a few days!

How To Replace A Refrigerator Crisper Pan

For our step-by-step video above, we replaced the crisper pan in a Whirlpool side-by-side refrigerator, but you should be able to use our guide regardless of your refrigerator style or brand. Crisper pans are pretty much all installed the same way. A French door or top freezer fridge may seat this drawer in another location, but removing the old one and replacing the new one should involve basically the same steps.

This job is quick and easy, and no additional tools are needed to complete it! So, let’s get your refrigerator back in order.

Replacing A Refrigerator Crisper Pan

1. Before you begin, there’s a bit of prep work you’ll want to do:
   1. Once you’ve unpacked your new crisper pan and checked it for any damage it may’ve sustained in shipping, clean it with some warm soapy water and let it dry completely.
   2. When you’re ready to replace the old crisper pan, move any food it was holding into another part of the fridge or a temporary, temperature controlled location.
   3. Disconnect the refrigerator from power, either at the wall outlet or circuit breaker. This is a quick job, and you shouldn’t have any issues, but you should never do any maintenance or repairs on an appliance that is receiving power.
2. Remove the old crisper pan. You can find it near the bottom of your refrigerator compartment, and it should come out pretty easily. If you’re meeting resistance, try lifting up on it slightly as you pull it out – it may have to clear a tab or bracket. If it’s stuck, pull it out as far as you can and check the rails for grime or debris causing sticking.
3. Clean the area where the old crisper pan used to be. Now is a good time to wipe down the walls and shelves where the old crisper pan used to be.
4. Slide the new crisper pan into place, making sure it’s seated properly on the rails.
5. Plug your refrigerator back in and move any food into the new crisper pan. You’re done!

Where To Find Us 

If you need any replacement parts for your appliances, you can enter your model number at AppliancePartsPros.com to locate and order them quickly. Most orders arrive in just two business days, and we have tons of great information in our repair help section and YouTube videos to help you troubleshoot.

Stay connected with the latest DIY tips, tutorial videos, and repair guides by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We love hearing about your repair stories and successes. If you need more help or want personalized guidance, feel free to contact or call us at 877-477-7278. We’re ready to help you take on your next project with confidence!

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