Khrushchev's refrigerator, or rather refrigerator under the window sill in the kitchen - this is an integral part of many houses left as a heritage from the 50-70s of the last century. In those days, not many people could afford to have a real refrigerator, and this was taken into account by the designers and builders. A fairly large box under an equally wide and vast window sill allowed people to store some perishable food in a cool and easily accessible place even in the winter season. It is precisely how to remake a Khrushchev refrigerator with your own hands that will be discussed further.

Many will agree that in modern world such sophistications are no longer necessary, or at least require some modification to fit into modern interiors. Although they are called “Khrushchev’s”, they were also found in the so-called Stalinists.

Actually, in any such apartment the layout does not allow for ample space for everything you need. And as an option, you can use the cabinet space under the window sill for more practical tasks. And most importantly, it is clearly necessary to do something with thermal insulation, because now everyone already understands that the better the house is insulated, the lower the cost of heating it will be. However, not everything is so simple with the possibility of remaking or improving the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is important to take into account a number of very important points that many DIYers often forget about.

For the sake of order, let’s consider modification options that can be applied to the Khrushchev refrigerator and explain especially important points in the implementation of the chosen method. It is quite reasonable to assume four options:

1. Completely or mostly seal the space under the window sill. This will ensure decent and high-quality thermal insulation. As a result, the wall will be leveled or a small recess will remain, sufficient for installing a heating radiator.
2. Modify and properly insulate the Khrushchev refrigerator in order to use it for its intended purpose and store food and pickles in it. Even with the fact that no significant alterations are required, a lot still needs to be done in order not to leave any chance for the cold to penetrate inside the apartment and not have a bunch of negative consequences.
3. This niche can be completely reoriented, for example, into a cabinet or as a place to install equipment that is unpretentious to low temperatures.
4. Dismantle the thin half-brick partition to the outside and perform glazing in the style. The most radical solution. Perfect for cases where the kitchen window faces either the north side or is blocked from sunlight by buildings or trees, quantity daylight, coming through such a window will more than cover the deficiency.

Remove the Khrushchev refrigerator

The simplest option is to completely seal the niche. This solves the problem of heat leakage through a wall half a brick thick and unreliable wooden doors. For residents of the northern regions this is actually very rational option. Because any other modifications of the Khrushchev refrigerator will require too much investment to do everything right.

The niche will have to be filled with bricks. This is the only way to create sufficient protection from external weather. You can use SNiP 23-02-2003 (SNiP II-3-79), which provides calculations to determine required thickness walls. However, it is already clear that for reliable thermal protection it is enough to either simply level the niche with the rest of the wall or leave a smaller niche with a depth of no more than 12-15 cm.

It should be noted that it is best to lay it with bricks. Options for plasterboard sheathing using various heat insulators can subsequently backfire. This is mainly due to the principles of building walls as such, vapor permeability, etc. Without going into details, if you simply sheathe it with plasterboard with insulation, then between the sheathing and external wall Condensation and frost will certainly begin to form, and as a result, the wall will begin to bloom and collapse.

If a niche with a depth of 12-15 cm is left, then you can safely use it to install a heating radiator. Although the alternative would be to simply leave it unused, because the window sill, which is simply huge, is often used as an additional countertop in the kitchen and it is better to leave space under the window sill for the feet.

Improvement of the Khrushchev refrigerator

The very idea of ​​a refrigerator under the window in a Khrushchev-era kitchen, albeit seasonal, is very practical; it is quite reasonable to try to leave a niche in the same quality. It is only necessary to bring it into proper condition so that its appearance matches the new renovation and functions better. Let us list the main points associated with the Khrushchev refrigerator:

• The back wall is only half a brick, most often there is a ventilation hole for the entry of external cold air;
• From the inside there are only wooden doors that separate interior space from the cold of the street;
• Due to ventilation holes Most of the outside air with low absolute humidity outside gets inside the Khrushchev refrigerator, so this protects against the appearance of frost and condensation.

So, it becomes quite logical that the main alteration of the Khrushchev refrigerator may consist precisely in replacing the inner door. It should provide maximum thermal protection that is appropriate in a given location. Great solution For the task at hand, it will be to install a door with one leaf made of metal-plastic. It is better to make one leaf due to the fact that the profile selected will be the same as on the door or for windows, and it is quite wide. As a filler, you can insert either a single-chamber double-glazed window, for example 4x10x4, or a sandwich panel.

It is better to choose accessories that are simplest in functionality. There is no need to add a transom system, especially since general dimensions and so they won’t allow you to insert anything significant. The metal-plastic door will need to be secured with anchors to the side walls of the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is enough to seal the space at the top and bottom polyurethane foam. The resulting door will normally support the weight of the window sill on top.

Swing door option made of plastic profile

The second option could be a sliders system with sliding doors. Again, it is better to order them from glazing manufacturers. In this case, the sliding door system will reliably isolate the apartment from the coolness in the niche. In fact, the result is a plastic Khrushchev refrigerator.

By lining the inside with plastic, you get a well-maintained appearance, not far from the same as in a real refrigerator. The main thing is not to skimp on installing a normal lock system sliding doors with fine-tuning. Because such a system is significantly inferior in thermal insulation to conventional swing systems of plastic windows and doors. A not fully closed sash will result in a strong draft of cold air down your legs.

What about inside niches? It is better not to close the hole outward, if there is one, again because when low temperatures Let it be better for outside air to come in, rather than hot and humid inside air. This way you can be safe and prevent condensation from forming in the large quantities. It is enough to seal the hole with any vapor-permeable thermal insulation material, For example, mineral wool. Options such as foaming or plugging with foam plastic will not work. The internal walls can be sheathed with either moisture-resistant plasterboard or plastic, or completely plastered.

Advice: As an additional “bell”, you can bring lighting inside. Again, taking into account the characteristics of this niche, it is better to use lighting powered by low voltage (12V, 24V) using step-down converters.

Making a useful cabinet out of a Khrushchev refrigerator

A completely acceptable option would be to use the niche of the Khrushchev refrigerator as an additional kitchen cabinet. In this case, it is inappropriate to use its coolness in winter, so you have to insulate the wall and only then begin installation drawers or shelves behind the door.

Reasons why you should not insulate the wall of a niche from the inside and. Everything is tied to the dew point and the detrimental consequences after condensation inevitably appears between the insulation and the outer wall, and subsequently mold. You can learn more about this in articles on the topic of insulating the walls of a house from the inside.

So what should you do? Most the best option this is if the apartment is already insulated on the outside of the building using polystyrene foam boards or mineral wool. Then the problem with insulating the Khrushchev refrigerator disappears by itself. It is enough to finish the Khrushchev refrigerator with plasterboard or tiles installed on the solution, and proceed to further installation of shelves or drawers.

Otherwise if not external insulation, then the most suitable option There will be at least one more layer of brick laid. At the same time, the hole for cold air access is sealed over its entire length with a mortar with brick chips, or blown out with foam.

Important: If any through holes in a residential building or apartment are blown with polyurethane foam, then be sure to outside the protruding foam should be cut off and plastered with a layer of mortar of at least 3-4 cm.

On top of the casing, you can either install an insert cabinet, assembled separately, or mount shelves or drawer guides directly on the walls of the niche. In any case, the depth remaining after insulating the back wall is quite enough to subsequently add quite a lot of kitchen utensils to the resulting cabinet.

Using a Khrushchev-era refrigerator to store kitchen utensils and non-perishable foods

Alternatively, with any modifications to the Khrushchev refrigerator, do not forget that you can also transfer the height of the window sill itself. For the most part, this concerns the window replacement process. Along with these measures, you can move the height of the window sill and equalize it with the height of all other kitchen surfaces. It is often possible to combine the window sill as a single surface with a transition to the main cutting table. The result will be almost 1.5-2 square meters useful area, and this will appeal to any housewife. It is important to take into account changes in the sizes of ordered windows.

Glazing instead of the Khrushchev refrigerator

You can do something quite radical. A thin partition that defines the outer wall of the refrigerator and, in fact, the side walls up to the edge of the window opening do not bear any load. Accordingly, it is possible to completely dismantle these parts of the wall and glaze from the floor itself to the top of the window opening. The result will be something similar to french window. This will significantly increase the amount of daylight in the kitchen.

IN simple version Of course, there will be no room left for a wide and comfortable window sill. However, this can also be solved. It is enough to divide the window space into two parts and still mount the window sill. A significant advantage will be the increase in the usable area of ​​the kitchen. However, such redevelopment may not fit into every design solution. So you should think carefully and weigh everything before starting work.

Obtaining permits can be a significant challenge for such alterations. Still, this is actually a redevelopment and, like any change in the apartment plan, this will require. In addition, this will affect the overall appearance buildings and city authorities simply may not allow such extensive changes.

As can be seen from the proposed renovation ideas, you can make good use of such a gift from the past as the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is important to take into account those points that can affect the comfort in the apartment or the thermal insulation; for everything else, you just need to show a little imagination and equip your kitchen with another useful element.

Video: example of work on arranging a niche under a window in a Khrushchev building

© 2012-2020 Question-Remont.ru

(3 ratings, average: 5,00 out of 5)

I have a nine-story house built in 1974, and I also have a Khrushchev-era refrigerator in the kitchen. Only it is a vertical cabinet almost to the ceiling. Closer to the ceiling, a hole was made inside the wall of the house for access to cold and ventilation. There are several shelves inside, and at the bottom there is a whole compartment where a medium sack of potatoes fits. Of course, I slightly ennobled and embellished this cold cabinet, washed, cleaned, and covered the inside with beautiful paper. I also painted the outside to match the color of the kitchen walls. In winter, I store homemade preparations there - jars of tomatoes, cucumbers, jam and potatoes. Very convenient for a city apartment. It turns out something like a “winter cellar”. I love.

If we talk about the fact that there is so little space in the kitchen, then there is no point in laying bricks. If we talk about heat loss, then in winter, with Euro-windows, the kitchen is already hot. But if you bring the doors into an aesthetic appearance and put a hole in the street so that dirt and dust don’t get in, then it makes a great pantry for pickles and preserves, and is also perfect for storing vegetables.

And I really regret that I removed the refrigerator and, to a greater extent, because I lost the large window sill. Think the best solution it would be nice to leave the window sill big size, and instead of a refrigerator, put in shelves with jumpers for better fastening (they are long, after all), for storing all kinds of decorative and ceramic kitchen utensils or for pickles stored at room temperature - it would also look nice. And most importantly, space would not be lost.

I also dealt with the so-called “Khrushchev refrigerator”, I didn’t clean it, I just restored it to give it at least some modern look, I installed plastic doors so that in winter all the heat wouldn’t escape through this “refrigerator”. In general, it can be used for storing food, such as potatoes, for example, I bought a couple of bags and put it there.

The idea was interesting, but not practical. On the one hand, savings on the refrigerator, and on the other hand, crazy heat loss. With the advent of plastic windows, the use of such a refrigerator for its intended purpose has become more effective.
But it’s better to buy a modern refrigerator; you can’t live without it anyway. It consumes little electricity. It’s better to fill the niche with bricks.

I didn’t bother with this Khrushchev-era window, I have a first floor, they decided to make a balcony - a loggia from the street, and they cut through this Khrushchev-era window to the floor, which resulted in an extension of the kitchen. Well, of course it cost a pretty penny, but my wife is happy and the kitchen is bigger. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to take a photo. I'll post it soon.

By clicking the “Add comment” button, I agree with the site.

A refrigeration compartment located under the kitchen window sill can be found in almost all Khrushchev apartments. Many housewives find such a compartment for storing food quite convenient and practical. But its original design, which was invented back in the 20th century, does not fit into the modern interior at all and requires some modifications. Will help correct the situation high quality finish refrigerator under the window, which is easy to do yourself.

The idea of ​​​​building a niche under a window arose in the last century. The reason for this was the shortage household appliances. Not every family could afford to buy a refrigerator. In addition, the models produced at that time were quite large and did not fit the size of small Khrushchev kitchens at all.

Design engineers found a way out of this situation. The option of a refrigerator built under the window was an excellent economical solution.

A fairly spacious niche did not take up space in the kitchen. We used it to store food in the winter. A thin brick wall inside the cabinet made it possible to fill the space with cold when the air temperature outside was low. Thanks to two tightly closing doors on the kitchen side, the required mode was maintained in the compartment.

Nowadays, such niches are often called Khrushchev refrigerators. For housewives of small-sized kitchens, a spacious cabinet under the window is just a godsend. You can store canned food and other non-perishable products in it. At the same time, the refrigerator compartment does not take up any space in the kitchen.

Advantages and disadvantages

A refrigerator under the window is a simple and easy-to-use structure. Its use has many advantages:

• the design of the refrigeration compartment is built into the wall, thereby saving space;
• in winter, at a sufficiently low temperature, you can use the niche as a freezer;
• no energy costs;
• ease of maintenance and cleaning of the refrigeration compartment.

It’s quite easy to make a convenient niche under the window for storing food with your own hands. In addition, its construction and repair do not require a lot of expensive materials.

The disadvantages that mainly relate to the old Khrushchev designs include:

• temperature changes contribute to the formation of moisture in the refrigerator compartment, which subsequently leads to the appearance of fungus and mold;
• Perishable food can only be stored in winter at a sufficiently low outdoor temperature;
• when using a built-in cabinet as a freezer, cold currents penetrate the room, helping to reduce its thermal insulation.

Due to the constant accumulation of moisture, the niche must be cleaned regularly. Old refrigerator compartments are completely unsuitable for modern kitchen interiors. But all the shortcomings can be easily corrected with the help of modern building materials.

Finish options

The niche under the kitchen window sill is extra bed for storage. You can improve the design of such a compartment and make a more modern refrigeration compartment, or you can completely redesign the compartment and use it at your discretion.

Improved designs

There are a lot of options for finishing the opening under the window. Most often, the following rather practical interior elements are made from spacious niches:

1. A cabinet for dishes and other kitchen utensils. A lockable additional storage compartment will never be superfluous, especially in a kitchen with a small area.
2. French window. Since the brick partition is not load-bearing, it can simply be removed and a large beautiful window to the floor. High-quality double-glazed windows will help save heat and create good sound insulation. French version windows will be completely transformed kitchen area and will give the design an aesthetic appearance.
3. Niche for heating appliances. Partially mortgaged brick wall You can make a recess to install a radiator. This design will provide additional warmth to the kitchen. In this case, the battery, hidden in a niche, occupies less space. Instead of a radiator, you can use an electric fireplace. It will not only provide warmth, but also create an imitation of fire, which will give the room a more cozy touch.
4. Dishwasher compartment. The problem with small kitchens is the installation of additional household appliances. A niche under the window is an excellent option for installing a dishwashing machine. To implement this plan, it is necessary to provide electrical power to the window and organize the supply and drainage of water.

There is an option to reconstruct the compartment under the window into a cabinet with a sink. This requires replacing the old window sill with a wider model and installing a sink in it. The niche under the window will serve as a compartment for utility lines.

Remodeling into a closet

The easiest and most practical way is to make a cabinet out of the compartment under the window. To build it you need:

• dismantle the old wooden box;
• All internal surfaces clean from dirt, dust and primer;
• according to the size of the niche, you need to build a new inner cabinet frame and doors from MDF or chipboard panels;
• insulate the internal walls of the opening with heat-insulating material;
• insert a new box with shelves into the niche;
• Seal all cracks with polyurethane foam.

This option is suitable if there is external wall insulation. If it is not there, then it is recommended to lay one layer of brick.

You can make a cabinet yourself or choose a ready-made one in the store. Also a good option is plastic box with hermetically sealed glass doors. Thanks to the insulation, moisture will not accumulate in such a compartment for storing kitchen utensils.

Refrigerator reconstruction technology for food storage

In Khrushchev's brick multi-story buildings, the wall thickness is according to building regulations is 51 – 64 centimeters. Moreover, the lower the apartment is, the wider the masonry. The thickness of the wall in the opening under the window, which was used as a refrigerator, is 45 centimeters.

During the construction of such houses, slag was used to insulate the walls. It was poured into the gaps between the brick rows. In many niches, holes were often left for ventilation.

To build a good Khrushchev refrigerator, in which there will be no excess moisture it is necessary to carry out a complete reconstruction of the old niche. At the same time it is enough important stage is his external design. You can complete the entire refrigerator finishing process yourself.

Preparatory work

In order for the refrigerator to be spacious enough, you should initially remove a layer of plaster and one row of brickwork. In this case, horizontally located concrete lintels should not be touched, since they are load-bearing elements of the wall.

After freeing up the internal space, the thickness of the partition going out will be 25 centimeters. Then you need to clean the entire inside of the opening from dirt and dust.

Screed

When the process of preparing the niche is completed, you can begin leveling the walls. For this purpose it is used cement-sand screed. It allows you not only to level all surfaces, but also to close the gaps present in the masonry. After completely dry mortar The walls must be coated with primer.

Construction putty and gypsum mixture for interior work will not work, since it is not able to withstand the effects of frozen condensate. For air circulation, it is necessary to leave a ventilation hole on which a protective grille is placed.

Insulation of the external wall and internal space

The best option is to insulate the refrigerator from the street. For creating external thermal insulation polystyrene foam is used. Plates of this material are laid on a previously leveled wall surface. The permissible difference is no more than 1 centimeter.

Expanded polystyrene – material for external thermal insulation

The material is attached to a special construction adhesive and additionally fixed to the wall with dowels. All joints are hermetically sealed with sealant or polyurethane foam. The top of the expanded polystyrene is reinforced with mesh and finishing.

To save as much space as possible in the refrigerator compartment for internal thermal insulation Sufficiently thin insulation should be used with low level thermal conductivity. Rolled foil isofol and foam text have these qualities.

The insulation process is performed in the following sequence:

1. Cut a sheet of foam text to the size of the rear inner wall of the niche. Make a cone-shaped hole in the prepared material at the level of the ventilation passage, the narrow side of which should go out onto the street. To adjust the temperature in very coldy it is equipped with a special handle in the form of a loop.
2. Prepare thermal insulation material for the surface under the window sill.
3. Secure all cut sheets of foam text using “ liquid nails"or construction foam.
4. Fix isofol up to 10 millimeters thick on top of the glued insulation. The side walls can also be decorated with such foil sheets.

Cover all joints of the material performing the screen function with special tape.

To maintain the temperature in a winter refrigerator, you can use a small fan that is installed in the vent. Such a device will forcefully suppress cold air into the refrigerator compartment, and will also protect it from stagnation inside.

The insulation of doors is also important. Their internal thermal insulation is performed using foil-coated isofol. Not only the walls of the doors are like this, but also their frames.

Decorative finishing

When choosing internal lining refrigerator under the window and the selection of material for the doors should take into account not only practicality but also aesthetic qualities. The following materials are well suited for finishing a niche:

1. Ceramic tile. This option is ideal for interior decoration. The tiles should be laid glue solution with frost-resistant properties. Looks especially beautiful ceramic products with a pattern imitating natural stones.
2. Plastic. This can be clapboard or sheets of plastic material cut to size. When choosing a facing product, you should take into account its strength and quality.
3. Gypsum board. For finishing the interior space, only moisture-resistant sheets are used. They are impregnated with a primer on top and coated with paint.

To ensure that the winter refrigerator has an attractive appearance and is in harmony with the surrounding interior, you should pay attention to the choice of doors. You can make them yourself or order the necessary design from the craftsmen. Good for decorating doors:

1. Metal-plastic. Doors made of this material are airtight, which allows you to completely protect the room from the penetration of cold air. For small winter refrigerators, a design with one door is suitable. For fairly large niches, it is better to install doors made of two panels.
2. PVC. You can make such doors yourself or order them from furniture makers. The sliding door design made of polyvinyl chloride or aluminum panels will look original.
3. Glass. Transparent doors look beautiful in combination with LED lighting. Special notes in modern design can be entered using tinted glass doors.

The finished design of a winter refrigerator can be made to order. The material and color scheme of the product is selected to suit general interior premises.

A convenient cabinet for storing food, built into the wall, will never be out of place. small kitchen. With the help of modern building materials, you can turn an old Khrushchev refrigerator into a practical and convenient element of kitchen design. And the simple design of such a product allows you to do all the work yourself.

Everyone is probably hooked on the architectural miracle called the “Khrushchev refrigerator.” So in our apartment there is this masterpiece of engineering. The first winter after purchasing this apartment, for a long time we could not find a source of cold. It seems that everything is insulated, the heating is good, and the temperature of the house does not rise above 16 degrees. The source of the cold turned out to be Khrushchev's refrigerator.

The lower edge of the niche is located below the level of the wooden flooring, so the cold from the street went directly under the floor, from where it successfully spread throughout the apartment. And there was no shortage of cold, since, as it turned out after dismantling the box, there were through gaps between the bricks in the wall to the street.

Now, let's talk about what we did.

To make it clearer what we see in the photo, I’ll explain that the work on insulating the refrigerator was combined with work on replacing plastic window sill over it. The first thing we did was tear out the box (seen in the first photo). Then I filled the cracks in the brickwork with mortar. I decorated this entire niche beautifully with brick and evenly plastered it.

Installed on top of Porilex plasterboard panels. For better thermal insulation It is desirable that there be a gap of at least 10 millimeters between the panels and Porilex, but I, saving so small space refrigerator, installed them closely. Fastened with screws directly through the thermal insulation.

The top of the drywall was puttied and painted.

I installed plywood on top, and then a new window sill. The space between the plywood and the window sill was foamed.

That's all. Now the Khrushchev refrigerator has turned into a slightly cool cabinet. All that remains is to hang beautiful doors on it, attach a casing around the perimeter and make a shelf.

We have already survived one winter with the new refrigerator. The temperature in the apartment rose by an average of four degrees.

Related materials

Very often we encounter such a situation as the lack of a complete tight fit between the door and window design which leads to very...

Window seals are a kind of “guardian of the house”: protecting the holy of holies from the penetration of cold, noise, moisture and dust. Made from high quality...

Our compatriots associate such a term as adhesive tape exclusively with adhesive tape, which can be said to be used everywhere. Of course,...

User comments:

And once upon a time, a “cellar in an apartment” was a popular accessory :) I remember, as a child, string bags with groceries hung outside the window of almost every kitchen in the winter. Or boxes like parcel boxes or vegetable boxes. Now the “miracle of architecture” has become not only unnecessary, but also harmful.

It’s strange, I live in a “Khrushchevka”, and I’ve been to many “Khrushchevka” buildings, but I haven’t seen such a “miracle” anywhere. Usually there is always a battery under the windowsill. Architects of that time were quirky. Well, it turned out beautifully, and the floors changed, a completely different look. I can imagine how this closet looked there before.

We have a battery to the right of the window (it is not visible in the photo). And he looked really disgusting. It’s also good that there were just cracks in the brickwork. And I looked in some apartments in general, just stupidly one brick was taken out and there was a hidden through hole on the street. Maybe when they heated it in a normal way, this refrigerator didn’t cause much harm... But now they save money... they only heat it so as not to freeze...

Today, many people close up such a refrigerator, turning it simply into an additional cabinet. I was interested in the information about Porilex, thank you. Our panel house is made up of two boxes almost side by side. Our apartment is at the junction, the side wall is freezing, and there is no way to get to it from the outside to insulate it: a very narrow gap. Now I’ll try using Porilex for interior wall cladding.

The renovation turned your Khrushchev refrigerator into an excellent built-in cabinet, which will not be out of place in the kitchen. If it's also cool, then it's perfect place for homemade marinades, which benefit from lower temperatures. Many people fill this niche tightly, but I would be sorry to lose additional storage space in the kitchen.

And I always feel sorry when a winter refrigerator in a Khrushchev-era building is sealed up or turned into an ordinary cupboard, it’s still very convenient device for storing food. I would rather insulate the doors themselves so that the cold does not penetrate into the room, and keep the refrigerator just in case. For example, during the holidays I really don’t have enough space for food in a regular refrigerator.

The generation of the 90s does not even remember such a phenomenon as the Khrushchev refrigerator, and yet at one time it helped our mothers and grandmothers a lot. Original design, created specifically for “Khrushchev” buildings, replaced a full-fledged, albeit seasonal, refrigerator. But time is running, houses built in the 50s still stand, but built-in refrigerators in apartments have long required, if not dismantling, then overhaul. Read our article about how to make a refrigerator under a window and modernize an existing structure.

Imagine modern life It is simply impossible to live in an apartment without a refrigerator, but in the 50s and 60s few people could boast of their own refrigerator, so Soviet architects invented a truly unique device - the Khrushchev refrigerator.

This design is a niche located under the window sill in the kitchen. The outer side of the niche is much thinner than load-bearing walls buildings and has through holes. Cold air enters through them in winter, which provides an acceptable low temperature for storing food in winter.

The dimensions of the refrigerator box allowed residents of Khrushchev-era apartments to save significantly kitchen space and store food longer, even if only 5-6 months a year. Plus, above the refrigerator there was a very wide window sill, which could be used as a full-fledged shelf or a small table for preparing food. IN summer time in such a ventilated refrigerator it was possible to store cereals, vegetables, fruits, sunflower oil, flour and other non-perishable foods that are usually placed in kitchen cabinets.

The inventors of the Khrushchev refrigerator made special dampers that helped regulate the temperature inside. Over time, this innovation became so popular that it found application not only in Khrushchev buildings, but also in more modern residential high-rise buildings - Brezhnevkas and even some nine-story buildings.

Design advantages:

1. Significant space saving in a small kitchen.
2. Possibility of refurbishment and increasing the usefulness of the area.
3. Saving energy - in winter you can turn off your regular refrigerator and store all your food in a winter refrigerator under the window.
4. An ideal place to store homemade preserves.

DIY Khrushchev refrigerator

If you urgently need to increase the usable area of ​​your small kitchen, the construction of a Khrushchev refrigerator will optimal solution. Making it with your own hands is not so difficult, especially if we're talking about about old brick houses.

Recessed niche under the window

First of all, you need to create a niche under the window in which the refrigerator will be located. To do this, knock the plaster off the wall to get to the brickwork. If you are afraid that you are working with a load-bearing wall and may violate the integrity of the building, your worries are completely in vain - the part located under the window does not affect the strength of the wall. Under window frame A strong concrete beam was installed, which is responsible for the integrity of the load-bearing wall.

The image above demonstrates the principle of well brick masonry, which is used for construction residential buildings. The voids are filled with heat-insulating material (slag). Based on your preferences, deepen the niche by dismantling part of the masonry inside the house. Thus, the wall will become thinner by about 25 cm.

To better understand the principle of operation, you should take into account the specific parameters of the brick. Its length is 25 cm, width - 12 cm, thickness can vary (height of the poke and spoon). Thus, the thickness of a single brick is 6.5 cm, a one-and-a-half brick is 8.8 cm, a double brick is 13.8 cm. Specifically, in our case, it is necessary to focus on the width and length in order to control the thickness of the wall during the process of dismantling the masonry.

When you have dismantled the inside of the masonry and knocked down some of the bricks across the masonry (with a poke), you will be left with a wall the width of a brick. This partition must be plastered cement mortar. Putty cannot be used because it is not waterproof and other performance characteristics cement-sand mixture. Keep in mind that when dismantling the masonry, gaps and cracks may appear on the outer part of the wall, through which moisture will certainly penetrate during the first rain. In winter, the water will freeze, the ice, as you know, will increase in volume, create pressure on the plaster and tear it. Therefore, the only acceptable solution is to cover the wall with cement, and on top of it you can apply finishing putty or other finishing, for example, tiling the refrigerator with ceramic tiles.

The Khrushchev refrigerator has one significant drawback - condensation forms on the walls. Therefore, mold forms there very quickly, the wood rots, a musty smell appears, and the structure collapses. These sad consequences will help eliminate modern vapor-permeable materials. When insulating the chamber, it is enough to lay a vapor-permeable membrane around the entire perimeter and forget about dampness forever.

Finishing a winter refrigerator under a window with ceramic tiles has its own characteristics. It is recommended to lay it on a prepared plastered base using special tile adhesive. If you live in the northern regions, it is preferable to use frost-resistant adhesives, for example, Ceresit CM11. In this case, you can use absolutely any tile, even tile battle. In this case, only a smooth, waterproof surface is important.

Khrushchev refrigerator doors

When you are done with organizing the internal space of the refrigerator, you need to solve the second, but no less important task - replacing and installing the doors. Doors in the design of a winter refrigerator play a decisive role, being responsible for maintaining cold inside the box and heat inside the apartment. Therefore, the requirements for them should be inflated.

The best option would be to install durable doors with external finishing like the rest of the kitchen. Then the refrigerator will fit harmoniously into the interior and will not be noticeable. You can make the sashes yourself or go to a workshop.

Door installation features:

1. To hang the doors on the winter refrigerator and make them airtight, the niche must have perfectly smooth edges with angles strictly at 90 degrees. It is quite difficult to achieve such parameters manually, especially without professional construction skills, but there are a couple of tips to help hardworking owners - align the corners using ceramic tiles or make a separate framework in the form of a frame on which the facade will be supported. If the edges of the frame diverge from the walls of the niche, you can hide this defect with a baguette or plaster.
2. Place central part groove for singing 22 cm from the corner of the facade. A distance of 7-12 cm is left from the end of the door to the central part of the hinge, depending on the dimensions of the door and individual preferences. If you are using very heavy panels, it makes sense to add another loop in the middle. In this case, it is necessary to calculate the distance between the canopies so that they do not come into contact with the shelves of the refrigerator.
3. To embed hinges, use end mill on wood with a socket diameter of 35 mm. You will need to make a groove 11-12 mm deep, so if you are working with a thin furniture panel of 16-18 mm, drill very carefully so that the cutter does not go through. To make it easier to control the penetration depth, sharpen the drill properly before work.
4. The second end of the loop can be fixed directly to the tile if you have made perfectly straight corners of the niche without a frame. To do this, use dowels (5-6 mm) and screws (at least 3-4 mm). To accurately make holes for the dowels, make preliminary markings on the tiles and use a 3 mm Pobedit drill bit.

Not only can they be used as doors furniture facade, but also double-glazed windows, wooden frames with glass, plastic or metal inserts. When creating a door for a winter refrigerator, it should be taken into account that wood is the best thermal insulation material. The plastic is too thin for this and will require additional insulation polystyrene foam or polystyrene foam.

If possible, make the door with a slat. This element, insignificant at first glance, fulfills important function, increasing the tightness of the door and promoting better retention of cold inside the frame. Even if you purchased or ordered a door, attach a crossbar to it, constructing it from a regular baguette.

Modifications of the Khrushchev refrigerator

If you already have an old Khrushchev refrigerator, you cannot help but agree that its design requires significant modification in order to somehow fit into the modern interior. And even if you are not going to use it for its intended purpose, this space can be organized for storing kitchen utensils and saving space in the apartment. But the primary task is to create good thermal insulation of this zone, because through holes in the wall, even if fenced off by a door, carry enormous heat loss during the cold season.

There are several modifications applicable to the design of a winter refrigerator:

1. Completely fill the space under the window sill, creating a dense thermal insulation layer and tightly blocking the cold bridges. As a result, you will get a flat wall or a small recess under the window into which you can install a heating radiator.
2. Remodel the refrigerator, make proper insulation using modern building materials and use the structure for its intended purpose.
3. Complete reorientation of space followed by installation in a niche gas stove, dishwasher or washing machine. Alternatively, you can fill the recess with a cabinet with drawers and install it on the windowsill hob or a sink.
4. Remove completely brickwork and install a French window. Such a radical decision will make a small kitchen lighter and visually increase its size. You can save on lighting, especially if the window faces north or is blocked from direct sunlight by other houses or trees.

Seal the refrigerator niche

The simplest, cheapest and fastest option is to completely seal the niche of the winter refrigerator. This way you will immediately solve the problem of heat leakage through a thin wall, especially if you live in the northern regions of the country. Other types of modifications will require much more time, effort and money.

Points to pay attention to:

1. It is necessary to seal the space with bricks, since only this material can provide complete protection from the adverse effects of weather. To determine the required wall thickness, use SNiP 02/23/2003, but even without any documentation it is obvious that to create high-quality thermal insulation you can simply fill a niche and make it flush with the rest of the walls. You can also leave a small recess of 15 cm - this will also be enough to retain heat in the apartment.
2. You should not use sheets of plasterboard for lining and sealing niches, since due to the temperature difference, condensation will very quickly appear on it, the material will become moldy and collapse.
3. If you decide to leave small niche, we recommend installing a heating radiator in it in order to retain 100% heat in the apartment.

Modernization of the Khrushchev refrigerator

If you don't want to part with this convenient design, it can be “ennobled” and made more functional.

Key points to note:

1. The thin back wall of the refrigerator has through ventilation holes that need to be cleaned from dust and dirt.
2. The apartment is protected from cold air only by thin wooden doors that have not been changed since Soviet times. Take care of purchasing or building new doors.
3. The shelves should also be replaced. You can put glass, plastic, metal or wooden shelves.
4. Pay special attention to space ventilation and the question of its necessity. If you decide to leave the outlets open, be prepared for the fact that the inside of the refrigerator will be very low temperature, at which not all products can be stored. If the holes are sealed, then at a temperature of -10C -20C outside, the temperature in the refrigerator will remain up to +10C. You should not plug the holes tightly with mounting foam or cement mortar - give preference to mineral wool.
5. Re-equipment of the refrigeration chamber takes not so much time as it takes money. From your preferences and design idea The cost of the work will depend.
6. Choose the simplest fittings - latches, fasteners, hinges, etc. It is not at all necessary to make a transom system for such small sizes; it is enough to install a regular one swing door. As an option, you can install sliding doors, which will save free space in the kitchen. The sliders system reliably insulates the interior from the cold in the niche.
7. Think about how you will line the inside of the refrigerator - tiles, plastic, wood or plaster. If you do interior lining made of plastic, the refrigerator will always be neat, clean and well-maintained (easy to clean).
8. It is recommended to install a door locking system with fine-tuning to minimize the risk of the door not closing tightly and causing drafts.

Helpful Hint: Install internal LED lightening with 12V or 24V power supply and step-down converters.

As you can see, making a modern, functional and stylish refrigerator under the window with your own hands is not so difficult. The main thing is to put in a little effort and imagination, then the brilliant invention of Soviet architects will live a worthy second life and will delight its owners for many years.

Finally, we invite you to be inspired by the original solutions implemented by the hardworking owners of Khrushchev’s refrigerators with their own hands.

Make a door from a regular double-glazed window, and use LED strip as lighting:

If you do not want all the food in the refrigerator to be visible, install a double-glazed window with frosted glass:

Great option for small kitchen– installation of a cabinet with drawers in a niche from the refrigerator:

A clear demonstration of how ordinary apartment in a “Khrushchev” can turn into stylish modern housing if you dismantle the refrigerator under the window and install a French-style window in its place:

There is nowhere to put the oven or dishwasher– install it instead of the refrigerator:

Mirror inserts on the doors will visually increase the space:

• Remove the Khrushchev refrigerator
• Video: example of work on arranging a niche under a window in a Khrushchev building

The Khrushchev refrigerator, or rather the refrigerated cabinet under the window sill in the kitchen, is an integral part of many houses left as a legacy from the 50-70s of the last century. In those days, not many people could afford to have a real refrigerator, and this was taken into account by the designers and builders. A fairly large box under an equally wide and vast window sill allowed people to store some perishable food in a cool and easily accessible place even in the winter season. It is precisely how to remake a Khrushchev refrigerator with your own hands that will be discussed further.

Many will agree that in the modern world such sophistications are no longer needed, or at least require some modification to fit into modern interiors. Although they are called “Khrushchev’s”, they were also found in the so-called Stalinists.

Actually, in any such apartment the layout does not allow for ample space for everything you need in a small kitchen. And as an option, you can use the cabinet space under the window sill for more practical tasks. And most importantly, it is clearly necessary to do something with thermal insulation, because now everyone already understands that the better the house is insulated, the lower the cost of heating it will be. However, not everything is so simple with the possibility of remaking or improving the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is important to take into account a number of very important points that many DIYers often forget about.

For the sake of order, let's consider modification options that can be applied to the Khrushchev refrigerator and explain the especially important points in the implementation of the chosen method. It is quite reasonable to assume four options:

• Completely or mostly seal the space under the window sill. This will ensure decent and high-quality thermal insulation. As a result, the wall will be leveled or a small recess will remain, sufficient for installing a heating radiator.
• Modify and properly insulate the Khrushchev refrigerator in order to use it for its intended purpose and store food and pickles in it. Even with the fact that no significant alterations are required, a lot still needs to be done in order not to leave any chance for the cold to penetrate inside the apartment and not have a bunch of negative consequences.
• This niche can be completely reoriented, for example, into a cabinet or as a place to install equipment that is unpretentious to low temperatures.
• Dismantle the thin half-brick partition to the outside and glaze it like a French window. The most radical solution. Perfect for cases where the kitchen window faces either the north side, or is blocked from sunlight by buildings or trees, the amount of daylight entering through such a window will more than cover the disadvantage.

Remove the Khrushchev refrigerator

The simplest option is to completely seal the niche. This solves the problem of heat leakage through a wall half a brick thick and unreliable wooden doors. For residents of the northern regions, this is actually a very rational option. Because any other modifications of the Khrushchev refrigerator will require too much investment to do everything right.

The niche will have to be filled with bricks. This is the only way to create sufficient protection from external weather. You can use SNiP 23-02-2003 (SNiP II-3-79), which provides calculations to determine the required wall thickness. However, it is already clear that for reliable thermal protection it is enough to either simply level the niche with the rest of the wall or leave a smaller niche with a depth of no more than 12-15 cm.

Read and see how to lay bricks in apartment conditions here.

It should be noted that it is best to lay it with bricks. Options for plasterboard sheathing using various heat insulators can subsequently backfire. This is mainly due to the principles of building walls as such, vapor permeability, etc. Without going into details, if you simply sheathe it with plasterboard with insulation, then condensation and frost will certainly begin to form between the sheathing and the outer wall, and as a result, the wall will begin to bloom and collapse.

Remove the Khrushchev refrigerator

If a niche with a depth of 12-15 cm is left, then you can safely use it to install a heating radiator. Although the alternative would be to simply leave it unused, because the window sill, which is simply huge, is often used as an additional countertop in the kitchen and it is better to leave space under the window sill for the feet.

Improvement of the Khrushchev refrigerator

The very idea of ​​a refrigerator under the window in a Khrushchev-era kitchen, albeit seasonal, is very practical; it is quite reasonable to try to leave a niche in the same quality. It is only necessary to bring it into proper condition so that its appearance matches the new renovation and functions better. Let us list the main points associated with the Khrushchev refrigerator:

• The back wall is only half a brick, most often there is a ventilation hole for the entry of external cold air;
• From the inside there are only wooden doors that separate the interior from the cold of the street;
• Due to the ventilation holes, mostly outside air with low absolute humidity from outside gets inside the Khrushchev refrigerator, so this protects against the appearance of frost and condensation.

So, it becomes quite logical that the main alteration of the Khrushchev refrigerator may consist precisely in replacing the inner door. It should provide maximum thermal protection that is appropriate in a given location. An excellent solution for this task would be to install a door with one leaf made of metal-plastic. It is better to make one leaf due to the fact that the profile selected will be the same as on the door or for windows, and it is quite wide. As a filler, you can insert either a single-chamber double-glazed window, for example 4x10x4, or a sandwich panel.

It is better to choose accessories that are simplest in functionality. There is no need to add a transom system, especially since the overall dimensions will not allow you to insert anything significant. The metal-plastic door will need to be secured with anchors to the side walls of the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is enough to seal the space from above and below with polyurethane foam. The resulting door will normally support the weight of the window sill on top.

Swing door option made of plastic profile

The second option could be a sliders system with sliding doors. Again, it is better to order them from glazing manufacturers. In this case, the sliding door system will reliably isolate the apartment from the coolness in the niche. In fact, the result is a plastic Khrushchev refrigerator.

By lining the inside with plastic, you get a well-maintained appearance, not far from the same as in a real refrigerator. The main thing is not to skimp on installing a normal sliding door locking system with fine-tuning. Because such a system is significantly inferior in thermal insulation to conventional swing systems of plastic windows and doors. A not fully closed sash will result in a strong draft of cold air down your legs.

What about the inside of the niche? It is better not to close the hole to the outside, if there is one, again because at low temperatures it is better to let outside air flow in rather than hot and humid inside air. This way you can be safe and prevent the formation of condensation in large quantities. A hole with any vapor-permeable heat-insulating material, for example, mineral wool, is sufficient. Options such as foaming or plugging with foam plastic will not work. The internal walls can be sheathed with either moisture-resistant plasterboard or plastic, or completely plastered.

Advice: As an additional “bell”, you can bring lighting inside. Again, taking into account the characteristics of this niche, it is better to use lighting powered by low voltage (12V, 24V) using step-down converters.

Making a useful cabinet out of a Khrushchev refrigerator

A completely acceptable option would be to use the niche of the Khrushchev refrigerator as an additional kitchen cabinet. In this case, it is inappropriate to take advantage of its coolness in the winter, so you will have to insulate the wall and only then begin installing drawers or shelves behind the door.

The reasons why you should not insulate the wall of a niche from the inside and explanations on this topic may take a separate article. Everything is tied to the dew point and the detrimental consequences after condensation inevitably appears between the insulation and the outer wall, and subsequently mold. You can learn more about this in articles on the topic of insulating the walls of a house from the inside.

Making a useful cabinet out of a Khrushchev refrigerator

So what should you do? The best option is if the apartment is already insulated on the outside of the building using polystyrene foam boards or mineral wool. Then the problem with insulating the Khrushchev refrigerator disappears by itself. It is enough to finish the Khrushchev refrigerator with plasterboard or tiles installed on the solution, and proceed to further installation of shelves or drawers.

Otherwise, if there is no external insulation, then laying at least one more layer of brick would be most suitable. At the same time, the hole for cold air access is sealed over its entire length with a mortar with brick chips, or blown out with foam.

Important: If any through holes in a residential building or apartment are filled with polyurethane foam, then the protruding foam from the outside must be cut off and plastered with a layer of mortar of at least 3-4 cm.

On top of the casing, you can either install an insert cabinet, assembled separately, or mount shelves or drawer guides directly on the walls of the niche. In any case, the depth remaining after insulating the back wall is quite enough to subsequently add quite a lot of kitchen utensils to the resulting cabinet.

Making a useful cabinet out of a Khrushchev refrigerator

Using a Khrushchev-era refrigerator to store kitchen utensils and non-perishable foods

Alternatively, with any modifications to the Khrushchev refrigerator, do not forget that you can also transfer the height of the window sill itself. For the most part, this concerns the window replacement process. Along with these measures, you can move the height of the window sill and equalize it with the height of all other kitchen surfaces. It is often possible to combine the window sill as a single surface with a transition to the main cutting table. The result will be almost 1.5-2 square meters of usable space, and this will appeal to any housewife. It is important to take into account changes in the sizes of ordered windows.

Glazing instead of the Khrushchev refrigerator

You can do something quite radical. Thin, which defines the outer wall of the refrigerator and, in fact, the side walls to the edge of the window opening do not bear any load. Accordingly, it is possible to completely dismantle these parts of the wall and glaze from the floor itself to the top of the window opening. The result will be something similar to a French window. This will significantly increase the amount of daylight in the kitchen.

In the simple version, of course, there will be no room left for a wide and comfortable window sill. However, this can also be solved. It is enough to divide the window space into two parts and still mount the window sill. A significant advantage will be the increase in the usable area of ​​the kitchen. However, such redevelopment may not fit into every design solution. So you should think carefully and weigh everything before starting work.

Obtaining permits can be a significant challenge for such alterations. Still, this is actually a redevelopment and, like any change in the apartment plan, this will require the design of the project and approval from the authorities. In addition, this will affect the overall appearance of the building and city authorities may simply not allow such extensive changes.

As can be seen from the proposed renovation ideas, you can make good use of such a gift from the past as the Khrushchev refrigerator. It is important to take into account those points that can affect the comfort in the apartment or the thermal insulation; for everything else, you just need to show a little imagination and equip your kitchen with another useful element.

Video: example of work on arranging a niche under a window in a Khrushchev building

Blog article Do useful things for your blog with our site.