If you have to move it yourself, you can slide it on a scrap of upside down carpet or furniture sliders. Or even cardboard. But if it's being delivered, easy! The delivery guys will need to be watched but they are usually pretty good. They'll wheel it in most likely and dump it where you want it (and they'll be secretly happy it's not in a kitchen).

You can probably drop it onto a chunk of fridge box and not worry about it.

Oh! LOL Is that it? All that worry for nothing :) Thanks Fori!

The person who installed my floor had to move my frig. He had long 2 rectangles of thin wood (can't remember the name of the product but it was thin, hard, and dark brown. To move frig he tilted the frig to one side and slid the rectangle under both wheels on the raised side and then did the same thing on the other side of frig. Then he could roll the frig on the wood rectangles and then onto other wood until he reached his destination.

Go to the hardware store and get some masonite. Have the delivery guys roll it across that and place it under it at it's temp location. Appliance wheels can and do scratch wood floors, and since yours are so pristine, you don't want to take any chances.

DH says masonite comes in 4x8 ft sheets which we have no way of getting home, and he was planning on using some large sheets of cardboard we have lying around. Is that useful or so thin as to be useless?

Those thin wood rectangles sound intriguing as well...

luane is the wood.

the fridge definitely CAN and WILL scratch up the floor if you don't put something under it. Fridges are not designed to roll side to side, just straight forward/back. And the wheels/rollers can drag. It won't go around a corner without dragging a wheel, so be careful.

It really depends on the weight as to whether cardboard or luane would be sufficient. If it is really heavy, it might crush the cardboard into the floor.

To move our fridge around, we bought a sheet of luan and cut it in half (two 4'x4' sections) then we just used them to "leap frog" the fridge around as needed. Put one sheet in front, then roll the fridge on and then put down the second sheet and roll the fridge to that one and off the first.

We were moving our fridge over ungrouted tile and did not want to take a chance of cracking a corner or edge.

A lot depends on what your flooring is - once we got the tile all done we don't worry about moving the fridge around on it one bit.

If I had hardwood, I would for sure use something underneath.

Cathy

Thanks everyone! It is a big fridge - FD with the freezer drawer under. 26 cu ft capacity I think? I will see if I can convince DH to run to the store before they get here, otherwise we'll double up the cardboard (just had a crib + mattress delivered so should have enough) and say some prayers ;)

Any hardware store will cut the masonite to size. THey also sell precut pieces. Luan isn't preferred because it can contain voids that can be crushed when the fridge rolls over it. Masonite is dense, smooth, and cheap. You need all three. Cardboard just won't work. It'll be a big impediment to the wheels rolling.

Well - I think this is a half victory. I told DH the advice, he said "fine, I'll run to the store after my shower" in THAT voice. Running to the store would be 45 minute round trip. Then I guess while he was in the shower he remembered some old paneling that we already have (he says it's made of masonite). So his new plan is to use the cardboard with the panel on top of it. I think this will have to do since when THAT voice comes out it's better not to push, and he's a little more ... particular ... about the floors than I am anyway =D

Update! After all that, we ended up not needing anything to get from the front door to it's temporary resting place! They had those moving straps and actually carried it right to where it went! Of course, if we hadn't had anything down they wouldn't have or would have dropped it or something, but we now have a beautiful new fridge.

Just a note of "don't do it the way we did"...
First, we had a major issue with our custom cabinets not fitting, to start off the mishap. After the cabinets had to be trimmed in place (aghhh, just the memory!) we carefully moved the range in place to check for fit. Upon moving it back to its temp. spot, the cardboard got caught underneath and bunched up, leaving part of the range feet or wheels or whatever, to leave a large gauge in the newly refinished kitchen floor.
So.... my advice, don't use a flat sheet of cardboard for moving appliances!