We did it. We donated our old kitchen. It won't end up in a landfill. It is a massive relief.
This fitted kitchen was installed on the first floor of our house - currently split into two flats. It was old. It was blue. Apart from that, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it. The fact is that te had to get rid of it to turn the flats back into one property. We didn't need the kitchen. It didn't mean that it was not needed somewhere else.
A match made on Streetlife
So, ten days ago, fully determined to reduce my waste, I put an advert on my local Streetlife page and my local Freegle group page to find a new home for it. A few days passed without anyone contacting me. I started feeling quite pessimistic about our chances to get rid of it in a sustainable way - and without having to pay for its disposal (more on that later).
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| The advert I posted on Streetlife for free |
On Friday, Nadia contacted me. She was very eager to replace the kitchen in her rented flat (with the authorisation of her landlord). I asked her by email whether she wanted to come and have a look at the kitchen to make sure that she liked it. However, it wasn't very practical for Nadia to come and have a look at the kitchen (she has one child and expecting another one). It wasn't necessary either, she told me. Judging by the photos, she could see that the kitchen was much better than her current one. She wanted it. A day and time was then arranged for Nadia's husband to come and pick up the kitchen.
Is it good enough?
When I told my husband about the fact that I had found a family for our kitchen, he wasn't that relieved. "Have you told them that it's old? And blue?" Although Ben had initially agreed that the kitchen was good enough to be donated to someone, he was feeling guilty. To the point that I was almost unsure myself whether we were doing the right thing. Were we trying to dump an horrible, useless sets of cabinets onto an unknown couple? I quickly regained my judgement. No, we were not being mean. We were being generous and practical.
Yesterday, Nadia's husband came with a friend of his. In one hour, they took the kitchen down and loaded it onto a van. Later in the afternoon, Nadia sent me a lovely email thanking us for the kitchen. She promised to send me a photo of the kitchen once it's installed.
Donating our kitchen saved us some money
In all honesty, Nadia and her husband did us a favour by taking the kitchen cabinets, worktop and sink off our hands. Donating this kitchen saved us a few hundreds pounds. Last October, when we dismantled our big garden shed, we had to rent a van. We also had to pay a £95 disposal charge at our local recycling centre. Gardens sheds, demolition materials, bathrooms units and kitchen units are some of the waste that the Abbey Road centre recycles for a charge. It certainly makes you thing harder about how you can keep your waste to a minimum.
After the very positive experience with donating my kitchen, I now feel more motivated than ever to find a home for the items that we will end up getting rid of as a result of our house renovation project. I'll keep you updated.
P.S: as promised, Nadia sent me photos of the installed kitchen. It looks nice!
