If you've hired a contractor, they'll typically remove kitchen cabinets and dispose of them at a landfill. The cost of removal and dumping fees is usually included in their quote. To save money, ask your contractor if they can remove the cabinets carefully for reuse or donation.
Cabinets that are made from untreated wood can be taken to a local recycling center or picked up by an eco-friendly junk removal service like LoadUp or taken to your local recycling facility.
Contact your local waste management authority or check their website for guidance. Landfill or Transfer Station: If no other option is available, you can take your cabinets to a landfill or transfer station that accepts construction and demolition debris. Be prepared to pay disposal fees.
You can potentially sell the old kitchen cabinets to a number of salvage stores or online auction sites. You may be able to donate them to non-profit organizations that collect and recycle construction materials for use in low-income housing.
Wood is not a hazardous material, and you can typically bag it up and throw it out with your normal trash.
So, paring down the cost of cabinets brings down the total project cost commensurately. One way to do this is to get creative. Buying, bartering, or otherwise obtaining used kitchen cabinets helps bring down the considerable cost of new kitchen cabinets. The cost savings can be significant when buying new vs.
If your item that is still in good working condition, check to see if your local authority offers a service for re-use, or donate it to a charity shop or furniture re-use organisation.
If your kitchen cabinets were made with untreated lumber and are interested in recycling them, you'll need to drop them off at your local recycle center. Before you put the wood in your recycling bin, take off any cabinets that have been covered with kitchen paper.
As long as your cabinets are in good shape and aren't built-in—meaning you can separate them from the wall or side panel—you should be able to carefully remove the cabinets and move them around to accommodate a new vision for your kitchen layout.
If you live in the States, see if you have a local Habitat for Humanity. They might be able to re-use them. Or if they have a resale store, they may be able to sell them to help fund a project of theirs.
When purchasing new kitchen appliances from IKEA, with delivery, we can also remove your old appliances (in some markets). However, we unfortunately don't provide disassembly or removal of your current kitchen. You old kitchen will need to be dismantled before installation can occur.
Why can't I put wood into the recycling bin? Wood contaminates the recycling stream which is meant to be clean, residue-free, and only made up of items for recycling curbside (paper, plastics, glass, etc.). Wood can be reused or recycled into woodchips/mulch when brought to a proper facility.
Rent a Roll Off Dumpster
This is a quick and easy way to dispose of concrete and other construction materials, like bricks, at a low cost. A heavy debris roll off dumpster can usually handle between three and 12 pickup truck loads of waste, which makes it easy to work at your own pace and toss everything at once.
Yard waste is grass clippings, pine needles, leaves, weeds and branches that are no longer than 4 feet and no larger than 4 inches in diameter; untreated and unpainted lumber, sawdust, ground or chipped wood.
While a lot of kitchens in 2024 see white- or gray-painted cabinetry, I'm here to say that dark wood cabinets still have a place in modern kitchens, at least according to two design experts I interviewed.
Painting, staining, or refacing – Painting or staining oak cabinets can certainly bring dated oak cabinets into the modern era. Don't feel like you're limited to just whites or neutrals—try incorporating sultry dark tones or even fresh pops of color.
Kitchen cabinets made of particleboard, chipboard or another composite material should also not be recycled. These products are made by chipping up old bits of wood and adding glue to make sheets of lumber. The glue often contains formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals, making it impossible to safely recycle.