Fridge

Please help us save our lovely Coldspot refrigerator!

We are desperately looking for a replacement handle for our Coldspot refrigerator, model number 

106 D9F2-B

our well-loved fridge, and a bit of our stove

the broken handle

First, some back story…

When we bought our lovely 1914 craftsman bungalow back in 2007, we fell in love with the 1950s kitchen, complete with Coldspot refrigerator and Hotpoint stove.

The Hotpoint had a few quirks: the thermostat had gone, so we had to use a thermometer in the oven; and the settings were so touchy that a tiny twist of the temperature knob sent the oven temp skyrocketing. Let's just say we bake everything at somewhere around 375 degrees. But our Hotpoint also has a strip of pink neon -- PINK NEON -- that can be turned on … just for kicks. It's love, I tell you.

The Hotpoint's neighbor, the yin to its yang, is our curvaceous Coldspot refrigerator. A real classic, complete with tiny "freezer chest" (about the size of the "freezers" one finds in dorm fridges), enameled steel crisper and "meat" drawers, glass shelves, and walls about 4 inches thick. Sure, we have to defrost it manually a couple of times a year, but apparently that means that it's actually pretty energy efficient.

Freezer Chest

The Coldspot refrigerator has served us well all these years, until a few days ago, when the handle -- a large, locking fridge handle -- snapped off.

Now, the 1949 Coldspot had a locking closure. I still remember the "kids, don't play in refrigerators!" messaging from my childhood -- you could get locked in an old fridge and suffocate.

So when I say that I'm looking for a handle for our fridge, well, it can't just be fixed with any old handle.

One day we will find a new handle -- that is, an old handle -- or find someone who had craft a new one for us. Maybe, if you're reading this, you will be our handle-helper… Until then, we're jimmying open the door with a screwdriver and living in fear of losing the pin that actually triggers the latch open.

Here's what we know about the fridge:

Model Number 106 D9F2-B

And here is a picture of the lock mechanism, minus handle (but including the bit of scrap metal we've stuck to it so that the pin doesn't shoot out when the door closes):

And here is the handle; you can see that the metal just sheared off after 60-some years:

We're open to options -- a replacement scavenged off an old fridge? A new one cast from the old? I just love my fridge and don't want to throw it out because the darn handle broke.

Thanks in advance for any advice or help you can offer!