The present invention relates to a door for a refrigerator appliance having reinforcing corner brackets that structurally complete the corners of the door. The corner brackets are located at the door corners of the vertical and horizontal side walls of the outer door skin. The brackets structurally replace and reinforce the horizontal side wall immediately adjacent the vertical side wall with a thicker, stronger material, such as, metal or steel, so that loading normally transferred to the outer door skin through the horizontal side wall at this corner location is instead transferred directly to the brackets mounted in the door. The horizontal side wall at the corner adjacent the vertical side wall has a cut-out or an open section. The brackets each have an opening positioned at the cut-out section. The opening is adapted to receive a hinge pin or closure cap. The door has an elongate supporting strut in the form of a hollow cylindrical tube engaging the brackets to reinforce the corners. The strut extends adjacent the one vertical side wall for supporting the corner brackets within the door to reinforce the door. Reinforcement brackets and tubes are located on each side of the door.
A refrigerator cabinet has an exterior cabinet shell and a plastic liner insert defining a fresh food compartment and a freezer compartment where foamed in place insulation extends between the exterior cabinet shell and the interior liner. The liner has a partition with upper and lower walls extending rearwardly of a front mullion wall and between sidewalls of the liner. The upper sidewall has a cut-out recess adapted to receive an evaporator tray housing that is seated on edges of the upper wall of the partition. The tray supports an evaporator coil, motor, and fan. The tray has a cover that forms, together with the upper wall of the partition, the floor of the freezer compartment. By locating the evaporator tray recessed in the partition, in the partition space between the two compartments can be filled with rigid foam that extends between the upper and lower food compartments and to the exterior shell of the cabinet.
A refrigerator cabinet construction is disclosed where a breaker strip interconnects an exterior cabinet shell with an interior liner. The exterior cabinet shell has an open side and a shell edge flange. The interior liner is to fit within the exterior cabinet shell and has a liner flange extending outwardly of said liner. The breaker strip includes an exterior wall with first and second ended flanges. The breaker strip includes a first interior wall and a second interior wall projecting inwardly from said exterior wall to define a first channel. The first interior wall has a first flange co-extending with the first end flange of the exterior wall to define a shell receiving channel, wherein the shell edge flange is inserted into the shell receiving channel. A third interior wall is connected to second exterior wall and coextends with the second end flange of the exterior wall to define a liner receiving channel into which the liner flange extends. The third interior wall is joined through a hinge to a hinged flange adapted to pivot about the hinge and engage the liner flange and the liner during foaming to locate the liner flange in the liner receiving channel against the second end flange of the exterior wall. A magnetic strip is disposed in the first channel. The use of the hinged flange part of the breaker strip provides the advantage of having the breaker strip secure the outer shell relative to the liner while at the same time thermally insulating the outer casing shell from the inner liner.
A refrigerator cabinet has an outer metallic shell into which is inserted a one-piece plastic interior liner having a fresh food compartment separated by a mullion wall from the freezer compartment. The mullion wall is part of the interior liner. A metallic reinforcing mullion strap extends between side walls of the exterior cabinet shell to reinforce the side walls and prevent buckling. The mullion strap extends through an open space between the fresh food compartment and freezer compartment on the interior liner. The mullion strap does not touch the interior liner and is surrounded by thermally insulating foam whereby heat loss through the mullion strap from the refrigerator compartment is reduced. Further, the mullion wall of the interior liner is covered by a plastic mullion cap which protects the mullion wall of the interior liner from stresses associated with door closure and includes a decorative mullion cover in which a heater is provided to compensate for sweating associate with heat loss through the mullion cap to ambient. By using a plastic mullion cap, heat loss is significantly less than using a metal mullion bar directly exposed to ambient.