Russ' Do It Yourself Home Workshop

So I’d normally be posting a repair to help others save money and headaches, but on this one, I have to ask for help.  I’ve got a fairly nice Whirlpool Gold refrigerator (GS6NVEXSS01) that has ice and water in the door that has a mechanical nuisance that I’d like to solve.

The refrigerator is only a couple of years old and has developed a problem with the poorly designed plastic insert that frames/contains the dispensing equipment.  What I hope you can see from my pictures is how it’s pulled away from the door of the fridge because the flimsy plastic retaining tabs have broken from, I believe, just opening and closing the door.

I’ve looked around and found that I can purchase the replacement part, which looks like it includes a lot of things I don’t need, for about $300-$400…at least from what I can tell.  Ouch!  I haven’t actually talked to anybody yet to see if the plastic trim part is available without all the other stuff that hangs on it.

I’ve thought about drilling a couple of small (#4) holes in the corners and using some small, black self-tapping screws to fasten the corners down.  But, before I did that I was wondering if anyone else had a problem like this and what they did to solve it.  Has anyone see a “re-design” of this part?

My wife and I really like the overall design and functionality of this “ice and water through the door” part of the refrigerator, but I’ve got to say I’m really disappointed in the mechanical design. 

2010-11-21 Update

I finally took it upon myself to fix this.  Here’s what I did.

I found some #4 (I believe) black, flat head sheet metal screws and very carefully drilled holes in the upper corners of the plastic bezel.  This was after making sure there was some metal behind the bezel that could accept a sheet metal screw.  I counterbored the holes in the bezel using a countersinking bit so the screw heads would be flush with the surface. 

Then came the hard part…drilling the holes in the sheet metal behind the bezel.  Maybe I have crappy drill bits (but I think I used a brand new one), but that piece of sheet metal is HARD!  It took me quite a while to punch a hole through it will the drill, but it all worked out well.  Here are my results.

The screws are barely noticeable.

Everything is being held in place and has been for several months now.

I’m much happier.