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Are you selling or donating your old cabinets & appliances?

njgolfnut
11 years ago

Did a few searches but couldn't find a thread on this topic. We have quite a few cabinets and a 48" built in fridge (at least 15 years old) and various other appliances. I was set to donate all when someone told me we could probably get decent cash on Craig's list. Not sure that it is worth the trouble. Demo due to start in a few weeks. What are you all doing with your old cabinets and appliances?

Comments (37)

  • ginny20
    11 years ago

    I donated to Habitat for Humanity ReStore anything that they would take,including the Woodmode cupboards,SS sink, faucet, GD, and cooktop. It was not a lot of a write-off since they were pretty old, but at least they weren't going to a landfill.

  • CEFreeman
    11 years ago

    I can tell you I got most of my kitchen, bedroom and laundry room from 3 different resale stores. (We don't count what I got on the side of the road.)

    If it weren't for donations, I'd still be cooking in a microwave & my sink would be sitting in the garage.

    That said, if you can sell them, great. If not? Call H4H because they pick up and you get a receipt for them. Sometimes that's a bigger amount off your taxes vs. the (headache) trouble of photoing them and selling them.

    When I find a better cabinet than one I have previously bought, I redonate the older/lesser one and "upgrade" myself.

    My vote goes for donate.
    Where is it that you live? [looking innocently sideways]

  • badgergal
    11 years ago

    I sold my old cabinets on Craigslist. One person bought all of them for $800. They were in good condition. My stove and refrigerator were donated to two different people. My lighting fixtures were donated to the Habitat Restore. The Corian countertops were hauled away by the contractor. Not sure what he did with them. Microwave went to the recycle center.

  • slonewby
    11 years ago

    I had our crew hang most of our old cabinets in the garage. We were sorely lacking storage in there and they look great! The ones I didn't want to hang got donated to one of our workers (who put them in his garage) ...I only changed one appliance (refridge) as our others were fairly new....it's in the garage right now, not sure what I"m going to do with that. Might donate it to the same worker...he'll probably sell it.

  • auroraborelis
    11 years ago

    I sold my old cabinets through Craigslist as well. They were actually fairly new as a previous owner had put in white laminate KraftMaid cabients, but the layout was not functional for us.

    I actually sold them for $700ish (I forget now). I knocked $100 off the price as the person who bought them actually came and removed them! He was a plumber so fairly handy and it went very smoothly.

    Not that many places will take donations for large items, I actually have a dishwasher I wanted to donate because I'm too lazy to list it on CL and no one wants to take it!

  • jakabedy
    11 years ago

    Mine were ca. 1978 chip-board Bonanza monstrosities. A few came out intact, but most were iffy. I posted them on CL and Freecycle. Nobody wanted them. Quel surprise.

  • gsciencechick
    11 years ago

    We kept our cabinets, but our stove and fridge were too old for our Habitat ReStore. They only want appliances no more than 8 years old. There was another local charity who took the appliances and even came to pick them up.

    Habitat may take the cabinets, but I've heard of others who they rejected.

    Honestly, I'd rather take the tax deduction than deal with people coming out to the house on CL. We don't have a garage to store them and would have to get them in the shed.

  • phallky03
    11 years ago

    I got $1200 for my cabinets listed on Craigslist. My appliances? Well, the fridge is going to my daughter, but I have not gotten any serious bites for the stove or dishwasher on CL. The dishwasher is right now sitting at the curb and I cannot even get someone to steal it!

    I had not thought about Habitat for Humanity.

  • ginny20
    11 years ago

    slonewby - Putting your cabs in your garage is a great idea. When we bought our house, there were metal cupboards in the garage and the basement. It wasn't until I redid the kitchen myself - 24 years later - that I realized that all those cupboards were from the original 1940 kitchen. It must have had a lot of cupboards. I can even see now where they built another drawer to take the place of the old sink. In a neighbor's house the other day, I noticed that they had 1940's cupboards in their garage, too.

  • hags00
    11 years ago

    I offer them free on CL and someone comes and hauls them away!

    I just advertised my working appliance but I think the kid that came to get them was going to metal scrap them. He worked for a business copy machine company and said work was slow so he had a cube truck and a dolly and was making a little cash that way. He took the all the appliances, the old hot water tank, the old storm door, the old shower doors and the kitchen sink so it was a bonus for me to move all that stuff at once!!

  • zeebee
    11 years ago

    1980s harvest gold refrigerator is destined for the dump, if it lasts until Demolition Day - with all its rattling, wheezing and groaning, I'm skeptical. Hoping to sell vintage 1930s range (in desperate need of refurbishment) and old oak sink cabinet (great if you have an unfitted kitchen and want a deeply-patina'd drop-in stainless sink that's integral to the cabinet). No other cabinets or appliances to speak of.

  • poohpup
    11 years ago

    I donated my whole kitchen to a local family who was in desperate need as they were without a functional kitchen. My KD offered her help for free and the family was able to use just about everything. Apparently it turned out pretty nice. I supposed to get pictures one day.

  • Buehl
    11 years ago
    • What cabinets we could salvage were re-purposed to the garage.

    • Our refrigerator is sitting in the basement and is used as a much-needed 2nd refrigerator (it turns out a 36" CD refrigerator isn't big enough for our family).

    • Our DW and range were donated to two different families in our church.

    • Our MW, which I had planned on keeping for a second MW, ended up being donated to a family our church did a make-over for locally - they needed a MW badly so we talked about it and realized we didn't really need 2...so off it went!

    To be honest, we did not take a tax deduction for any of them...

  • nycbluedevil
    11 years ago

    I am donating my kitchen (thermofoil faced laminate cabinets, SZ 42" fridge, Miele DW, Bosch range and MW and granite countertops to CET Restore in Massachusetts. I am far away but I sent them pictures and they really want my stuff, so they are coming to get it and it will all be recycled. I am so glad it is not going to a landfill.

    I tried Green Demolitions but they turned up their noses at the cabinets because they are not wood. Their loss because everything is in really good condition.

  • babushka_cat
    11 years ago

    she went to restore. hopefully someone will want to restore her (she had some issues...)

  • cj47
    11 years ago

    I asked the head demo guy if my 1959 oak veneer cabs were in good enough shape to be put in the garage. He laughed. I could see his point, they were in pretty bad shape. We chucked them.

    Everything else was listed on Craigs list for free or for not much money. Everything was taken--the fridge went for free to a guy who hosts an annual party and gets a free fridge off Craigslist every year to cool the soda. The horrible, horrible electric ceramic top Jennair range went to a guy who was going to put it into a rental unit, it only had to last for 3 months. The dishwasher went to a newly divorced fellow who needed one for his apartment. I was glad that everything found a home, and it humbled me to see so many people glad to get what I was glad to get rid of.

    Cj

  • CEFreeman
    11 years ago

    There's another outlet I forgot about. I give things to them frequently: Freecycle.

    If they want it, they come pick it up. It's one of the rules.

    Ginny, are the homes you live in worthy of restoration to their original condition? Some people will take anything to re-originate (I think I made that up). and metal cabinets...?

  • angie_diy
    11 years ago

    I only have a 15-yr-old DW (still working perfectly) and a 20+ yr-old low-end range to get rid of. Too old for ReStore. I plan to put on CL for free.

  • drbeanie2000
    11 years ago

    I sold our kitchen fridge on CL for $100, and hope to sell the flat-top electric stove too. I specify pick-up only and have my husband there when people come to pick things up!

    A friend who is rather ritzy was redoing her kitchen and wanted to donate the previous (I'm not going to say "old" because they looked brand-new) cabinets to H4H. They would not take them.

    I'm going to try to sell my c. 1998 solid dark cherry inset cabinets that have the cathedral (I think) style raised panels on craigslist. Right now they are sitting in the middle of the living room in my (vacated) empty house. I don't know how much I'll get but if I can't get anything I still hope SOMEONE will want them. They are are really good quality and I can't stand the thought of just tossing them.

    bean

  • weimom
    11 years ago

    We sold our cabinets on CL for $1700. They were 30 year old oak cabinets that were in good condition. We thought about putting them in the garage but didn't have the time and needed to get them out of the way to start the remodel. We sold our trash compactor on CL also for $75. We were going to donate to Habitat if they didn't sell in a week.

  • flwrs_n_co
    11 years ago

    Cabs will be sent to the landfill; hate to do it, but they aren't in good shape. If they were better, I'd reuse in the garage or laundry room. The appliances will be donated (as long as they're still in good working order) to families who need them. I won't CL anything simply because I'm not comfortable with strangers coming to my house.

  • njgolfnut
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Great responses here. I forgot that Restore doesn't take things that are over a certain age limit. I've used them before. But the appliances were less than 10 y.o. My cabinet guy said he gets calls from time to time from folks looking to purchanse cabinets to refit flip houses. Will follow up with that. Sounds like a better option then CL. Boy this is turning into more work than picking out my new countertops!

  • Circus Peanut
    11 years ago

    I bought my cabinets used at the Restore and have been forever thankful, since I could never have afforded a kitchen remodel without that boost. They are absolutely gorgeous and have worked so well for us. I thank everyone who makes these generous donations.

    If all else fails, use the "Free" section of CraigsList -- it never ceases to amaze us what some folks will come and take off your hands if you use that word. :-)

    Also, there are charities and/or scary roving dudes in old pickups that collect anything metal for free; the scrap prices are high right now and it's well worth their while to come and dismantle whatever it is. We actually made money tearing off our old aluminum siding and having someone haul it off.

    The only exception to scrap is enameled steel kitchen cabinetry from the 40's - '60s -- list that in the classified ads at retrorenovation.com; they have a very lively list of people looking to supplement or acquire St. Charles cabs and the like.

  • naughtykitty
    11 years ago

    My cabinets are ugly painted particleboard junk from the 80's. My KD said that H4H wouldn't take them and that I should just toss. They come apart relatively easily and the dumpster is coming today for Sunday demo day.

    My fridge is only 8 years old but it is a clunker and I don't feel right even giving it away to anyone. Our local Gas Co will give $35 and pick up old fridges as long as they are working. It works, just not very well. I will do this next week.

    My stove, DW, and OTR MW are all going to the neighbor who has older stuff than mine. They might give me $100 or so for it, but I won't hold them to it. Saves me the hassle.

    Brown tile countertop, backsplash, sink etc is all destined for the garbage. Not in good shape.

    Good luck with the remodels everyone!

  • CEFreeman
    11 years ago

    Why don't you give away locally? Are you guys not familiar with freecycle(.org?)

    The rules are:
    1) it must be free
    2) it must be as described
    3) it must be appropriate
    4) it must be picked up.

    I've donated 360 boxes of books, workout mats, doors, dog houses, washer and dryers, DW, you name it. Oh! Quilting fabric to a woman who was spirited out of her home, city and state by a Domestic Violence group. Her husband had the holes dug in the back yard for her and her son, and the lime. The police had to convince her that yes, he did mean it and they were arresting him. Anyway, she had to leave her quilting stuff behind, so it was cool. I had some fabrics she had had.

    When we had our fire, we were able to put in Wanted: Cat and dog supplies. People came out of the woodwork to help us.

    So don't marry yourself to CL. There are people right around the corner (waving hand high) who could use your stuff. There is a freecycle group for pretty much every town, and in bigger towns, for each area or neighborhood.

  • njgolfnut
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    CEFreeman, thanks for the info. I just found a local freecycle site. I may give it a try if Habitat doesn't want the stuff. I was just viewing some of the freecycle posts... will be pretty strange to so see "complete set of kitchen cabinets and appliances" after the Jelly Jars and Aluminum cans I just saw.. lol.

  • tracie.erin
    11 years ago

    I've bought quite a few things from Craigslist, so thanks to all of you who go that route. I got a 48" range top and double ovens for a criminal price, plus a warming drawer.

    I also bought a 36" slide out hood (CL) and single wall oven on clearance from Lowe's before we came across the RT & DOs, so I did donate those to H4H.

  • suzanne_sl
    11 years ago

    Our cabinets were originally intended to go to Habitat, but they ended up going to various garages and outside storage areas. The sink base and sink went to our workshop. Our local utility paid us $25 for the old fridge and picked it up - it's an energy efficiency thing.

  • pharaoh
    11 years ago

    Put them on CL or put them in your garage.

  • njgolfnut
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Update: Habitat Restore said they would come and due the deconstruction themselves to make sure all cabinets stay intact so they can easily reuse. This will save us money in the contractor's quote and help out a good cause. We are very happy with this approach.

  • young-gardener
    11 years ago

    We felt ours were trash worthy, but we put them along the road outside the house to see if anyone would take them. They were gone in under an hour, despite the water damage.

  • jennifereckle75
    6 years ago
    I am wondering how much I should sell this cabinet for.
  • 2ManyDiversions
    6 years ago

    jennifereckle75, we sell a lot on Craigslist (furniture, large machinery, cars, you name it!) Might I suggest you visit your local area CL, look at the prices for cabinets such as the one you have (and keep an eye on what sells, what doesn't), consider the condition and age, and then you can make a more informed decision on what you might be able to sell it for.

    We are re-purposing our old laminate cabinets to use mostly in the garage (base cabinets, some uppers) and using a few uppers in the utility room as well - I intend to add wood trim around those, chalk paint (smooth with satin poly), and update the fixtures. After the reno, our neighbor wants our fridge, and we hope to pretty much give away our range and DW on CL here.

  • 2ManyDiversions
    6 years ago

    Wow, they really made them work, didn't they? I wish the island were the same as the cabinets, but am guessing they didn't have enough to work with for that. Nice that they got a brand new kitchen, and you did too! That's a good feeling, isn't it?!

  • Toronto Veterinarian
    6 years ago

    I sold my old electric stove, as it was only 2 or 3 years old. Everything else was donated.

  • Milly Rey
    6 years ago

    My cabinets are too custom to the space. You would need the same ceiling slope.