The definite article does not follow any kind of distributive property in this example.
Unless each of the nouns is preceded by the definite article, they are understood to not have the definite article.
The fridge, shelves, walls, floor, and John himself, were all covered in foam.
can be:
The fridge, (the/some/all/two) shelves, (the/some/all/two) walls, (the/some unspecified) floor, and John himself, were all covered in foam.
which is not:
The fridge (that I was telling you about), the shelves (you know which), the walls (you can guess which), the (specific) floor, and John himself, were all covered in foam.