We didn’t expect to find $1 cabinets again like the ones we scored for the office built-ins, but we couldn’t resist stopping by the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to look for the four cabinets needed to build our peninsula and enclose the microwave and fridge. We were able to reuse the 36″ base cabinet that used to sit where the stove is now, so that saved a lot of money. To our surprise, we found three out of the four we needed and spent only $90 total.
We picked up a corner base cabinet for the peninsula for $50 and two upper cabinets—one to go over the fridge and a slightly taller one for above the microwave—for $19 each. By comparison, buying these same stock cabinets new from big-box stores would have cost about $219, $96, and $89 respectively, a total around $404. Buying secondhand saved us roughly $314, which made sense because we planned to replace or repaint the doors anyway.
The reason for replacing the doors is simple: they don’t match our existing ones. Our cabinets are about 30 years old, and nothing we searched for, new or used, matched exactly. But the solid oak frames were a steal. Once they’re painted white and fitted with new or repurposed doors that match our kitchen, no one will know they came from the ReStore.
We only had room for two of the three cabinets in our trunk, but the ReStore holds items for seven days, so we borrowed a larger car from John’s sister a few days later to pick up the big corner cabinet.
Now all the cabinets are home, though they haven’t been installed yet. The carport and our sunroom are currently acting as holding areas for the old cabinet boxes and doors we’ve removed, along with the new pieces we’ll be swapping in.
The sunroom looks especially chaotic at the moment and smells like fresh-cut wood. That’s not the worst scent to have indoors. We hope to share the finished built-in fridge project in the next few days.
But since it’s Halloween, we couldn’t resist sharing photos of the kids in costume. Meet Mrs. Monkey and Mr. Banana:
Clara loved doing her best monkey impression—saying “ooh ooh ah ah” and waving her arms—while Burger roamed around looking embarrassed. As soon as we put the banana hat on him he slumped and half-closed his eyes like he was saying, “this is not okay.” We took the hat off after a few minutes and cheered him up with a treat. Clara’s generous little monkey handed him a bone-shaped snack.
Clara’s cousin Emanuel, who just turned two, joined in the fun as a ferocious lion and kept asking for candy corn during the photoshoot. It was adorable.
Of course the banana-and-monkey pairing isn’t quite as sweet as one especially cute duo from last year, but it was still a lot of fun.
We hope you all have a happy Halloween. What did you get up to this weekend? Any cabinet hunting or candy-corn binging happening at your house?
P.S. We also had a pumpkin patch outing with a family moon bounce and corn bin—those photos are worth checking out too.