In edit town mode click on the house icon to bring up the details about the family, copy the family and house to the family bin then bulldoze the family lot and kick them out.

They appear in the clipboard in the top left. Click on them and delete them entirely.

The family and house still exists because they're in the family bin. Moving them back into the town corrected the problem. All my fridges work fine.

You will, however, lose all relations with any townies and wants and promises of course. I prefered a working fridge.