Pricing depends on location. Post a picture maybe someone on here can tell how they are installed on give you better advice

Thank you. Just added photo.

I assume that you want to remove the doors and glass and bring it back to a blank wall?

Yes, just restore it a "regular" wall.

From the photo the unit looks shallow. IMO a handyman who works with doors, trim and electric should be able to do the job. I was on a site today looking for a handyman and 2 wanted $50.00 per hour and another wanted $150.00 per hour - go figure.

How handy are you? You could take the doors off by unscrewing the hinges, The shelves should be easy to remove. Carefully pry the molding off. Then brake down the boxes. You might have to have the drywall repaired.

Maybe once you take the doors off, you can use the units as bookcases.

Keep n mind that the flooring underneath will need to be addressed.

Agree with Mama Cita: you could find a different tone in the floor under the cabinets as the finish -- if there is one -- has been protected from sun and wear for many years...or you could find no finish on the floor at all, or you could find only sub-flooring. Dismantling the cabinets is the easy part; dealing with the floor and the part of the ceiling that is now concealed will be harder. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, but don't be surprised at what you find.

Maybe you could just remove the glass doors, replace glass shelves with wooden ones and paint the entire unit a color you like. What is inside of the middle section? Maybe you vould remove those doors and add a fireplace and TV. Pricing varies with the handyman/contractor, so get several quotes and referrals. Do what you can yourself and pay to have the rest done.

What is your style? These seem really style unobtrusive except for the color which is easily changed.

Really helpful comments. Thanks, everyone. To address some of the questions:

- The base / sides appear to be wood but all the doors and inner cabinet walls (if thats sense) are some kind of metal or even hard plastic? Maybe some plywood in there. I can't tell, but it looks kind of cheap.

- I wasn't sure if those materials listed above could even be painted. So far one painter quoted us 7K (!!!) to paint the whole thing and another said he wasn't "sure" if they could be painted (?)

- The pic is flattering. I think leaving them as is is not a realistic option. Parts appear white, parts appear beigey / yellow.

Oh, and all the floors need to be refinished anyway. They're in rough shape. So we're already paying to deal with that.

Plan on having to repair the drywall behind them - we recently had similar built ins removed and the drywall behind them ended up being a mess - plus there were outlets in the built ins that were either not needed, or in the wrong place that had to be fixed as well. In addition to the drywall and floor issues you may need an electrician to deal with any of those outlets (or to add new ones). It made such a huge difference for the better for us - so I would say yes, even if it does cost a couple thousand $

It cost you a couple thousand to remove them and deal with all that?!

When are you moving in?

Update: We found out that the base is solid wood, all the doors are formica, and the interior parts are a mix of wood and plywood. Any ideas on what that would mean for painting it? We are concerned that the different materials and different starting colors will result in an even worse appearance after being painted (planned color is dark green). Thanks for any input!

$7K to paint it sounds like an estimate to make you go away. Some contractors do that.

They are not your style, but now you want to paint them dark green.

I agree with graywinds123. I was given a quote over the phone, but when they sent the paperwork there was a difference. When I asked about it, they said 'oh we did not consider....'.

I said next!

Not sure about the tone here, but as I said from the beginning - we do not like them and have been exploring many ways of dealing with that and disguising them including painting or removing or painting some parts and replacing others. That's the "design dilemma."

I think this project mainly breaks down to two choices: 1) pay a lot of money to paint something you don't like, or 2) pay a lot of money to remove something you don't like and make repairs to what's left. I'm doubtful there is a cheap, esthetic project here.

I would do some exploratory surgery to find out if the floor under the cabinets is the same material as the rest of the room. If so, I would pay up and have the units removed before the floors get refinished. If the flooring doesn't extend underneath the built in, then remove the formica doors and paint.

I would try painting the entire parts you want ti keep. If the inside (plywood) does not match the outside walls and shelves you can apply wallpaper or contact paper to the inside, or paint the color of your surrounding walls. You are just going to have to get a few more estimates and decide which option is best for you. EACH CONTRACTOR'S PRICE WILL BE DIFFERENT. If the contractor changes the price on you without you changing the plans, they are probably not the one ti use.

Thanks to you all for this recent round of helpful comments. We're having someone drill a small hole to scope out what is behind / underneath. If there is flooring, we will probably remove...as of now...but still not totally decided. The other issue is that this was clearly constructed when TVs were boxy and small not flat and wide, so it wouldn't accommodate a newer TV easily and not sure that can be easily fixed.

No tone intended..........Best Wishes!

What do you actually want to do with the wall once the unit is removed.

Are you going to have a televison mounted on that wall?

Wall treatments with storage and shelving can be both attractive and functional. The issue is that yours seems to be a product of the 1980's when they did a lot of furniture with that glossy "lacquer" formica and glass shelving. However you could replace it with something that reflected your stye as well as providing function.

I am not understanding the issue - it's not going to be a $1000 project when everything is done. If you are refinishing the floor, that can be dealt with - worst case scenario is installing wood that feathers into the existing boards Demo is done all the time - drywal is replaced and repaired all the time - cabinet makers can build a custom unit or there are stores that provide semi-custom type of wall units in all kinds of styles.

Removing it all is the best option…no matter what it costs…anything less will just add another dilemma of how to make what is left useful or aesthetic..

Unless you are a collector of voluminous things that are meaningful and beautiful …filling the shelves will become a bigger more expensive project than removing it…add to that the room size may not warrant such a big piece as well

I would demolish those for free if you lived close by.

Not too difficult to remove them yourself. It shouldn't be difficult to take the doors, shelves out one at a time. Pry the mouldings off and then see whether the cabinets are screwed or nailed into support. Call a junk removal or hauling service to take them away.