Most stainless steel fridges are nonmagnetic. (We have the same fridge in a shallower style.)
A few stainless models include a regular steel backing plate just for this purpose, but they tend to be the pointlessly pricey models. I guess you could perform surgery on the doors and lay a steel plate inside each one…
Non-magnetic stainless steel. We work with it a lot in my shop. It’s a different alloy than other steel that magnets regularly stick to.
Magnets stick to iron, most steel is mostly iron. Some grades of stainless have a lot added to the alloy that the iron content drops by weight that the magnet doesn’t stick. What keeps it shiny and rust proof.
An A gets him ice cream. He knows that.
Tape just isn’t the same. No stores sell souvenir tape. They don’t make tape letters. Not right. I like the idea of a big magnetic sticky overlay though. The mag tape linked above also had sheets.
What kind of evil madman designs a fridge without a magnetic face?
I can tell you from experience that if some of the bigger neodymium magnates will stick right above the icemaker, they’ll go through the stainless steel shell and insulation and stick to the inner workings of the icemaker. It’ll probably also cause some problems…also, people won’t be able to get them off so they’ll slide them around and scratch the SS, I know that from experience as well. Don’t stick on of there there and say “hey, try to pull this off the fridge”.
Maybe use 1/4" cork “tiles” (office department) with double-sided tape - make sure to get the tape all the way to the edge, or it will crumble.
Then use push-pins (office department).
And, when you take down the artwork, put a few away very carefully - preferably matted. You’ll thank me 30 years from now.
Then remember “VERY LITTLE STAINLESS STEEL IS STEEL; IT IS NOT MAGNETIC!”
If you have enough iron to be magnetic, you also have enough to rust. Stainless is chrome and nickle, IIRC.
You got to know your grades of SS.
A bare minimum of 12% chromium added will be enough to create stainless, but it will rust fairly easily.
Up that to 18% and you have 304 grade. It will form a self-protective oxide coating and will not rust. The iron retains its body-centred-cubic crystal structure and is still ferromagnetic. The problem is that 304 is not that malleable. Good luck drawing a deep sink out of that stuff.
Enter 316 grade. 18% Chromium, 8% nickel, malleable and ductile. Problem is that it has a different crystal structure (fcc) and magnets won’t stick to it. It tends to look a bit more attractive too and resists scratching a bit better.
I am not sure what grades are used for modern kitchen appliances these days. Suffice to say that if it doesn’t attract a magnet then it is austenitic stainless steel (fcc crystal structure) similar to 316 and likely has a high nickel content. Now, there is not so much bending and folding involved in the manufacture of fridge doors that 316 is actually necessary. It is likely the metal was chosen for its cosmetic properties.
So you chose a pretty fridge with a shiny front made from an alloy developed for its mechanical properties but chosen in this instance for its cosmetic properties. There aren’t any easy solutions other than sticking something on the front. You could try some Blu-Tack.
What you should do is send some feedback to the manufacturer. There is no reason that they absolutely have to use this grade of SS. There are a lot of options that are ferromagnetic. Wise companies recognise the needs and wants of their customer base and respond to feedback. It won’t help for this fridge but might make a difference next time around.
If it’s any consolation I can’t use any of those magnetic bumper stickers as they made that panel out of aluminum, and putting them on the rear side is just not the same.
Nevertheless, I’d like to commend you for your attempts to recycle, to go green.
Our fridge is similarly afflicted. We use little photo holders that are a cellophane sleeve the pic slides into that’s sticky on the back. I imagine the wife found them at a HobbyLobby or the like.