We didn’t expect to find cabinets for a dollar again—like we did for the office built-ins—but we couldn’t resist a trip to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to look for the four cabinets we need to construct the peninsula and frame the built-in microwave and fridge. We’re able to reuse the 36″ cabinet that used to sit where the stove now lives, which saved us a chunk of money up front. The good news: we found three of the four we needed and paid just $90 total.
Specifically, we scored a corner base cabinet for the peninsula for $50 and two upper cabinets—one to go above the fridge and a slightly taller one to sit above the microwave—for $19 each. For comparison, those same stock cabinets from a big-box store like Home Depot or Lowe’s would have been priced at roughly $219, $96, and $89 respectively—about $404 total. Buying secondhand saved us around $314, which made perfect sense since we planned to replace the doors anyway.
The main issue is the doors don’t match our existing ones—nothing we found, new or used, matched the 30-year-old doors already in our kitchen. But the solid oak cabinet frames were too good a deal to pass up. Once we paint everything white and install matching doors—either new or retrofitted from cabinets we’re not using—no one will know these cabinets came from the ReStore.
At first we could only fit two of the three cabinets in our trunk. Thankfully, the ReStore holds purchases for seven days, so we returned a few days later with a larger car borrowed from John’s sister and picked up the oversized corner cabinet.
They’re all home now, though not yet installed. Right now our carport and the sunroom are staging areas for the cabinets and doors we’ve removed and the new ones waiting to be swapped in. It’s a little chaotic—stacks of wood, cabinet frames, and stray doors—but it’s progress.
The sunroom looks especially full of lumber and smells faintly of fresh wood—which isn’t unpleasant, really. Over the next few days we plan to continue the install work and will share photos of the built-in fridge as soon as it’s in place and looking finished.
And because it’s Halloween, we couldn’t resist sharing a few costume photos of the kids. Meet Mrs. Monkey and Mr. Banana:
Clara loved doing her best monkey impressions—“ooh ooh ah ah” and lots of arm waving—while Burger, as the banana, tried to play it cool. The moment we popped the banana hat on him he sank down and gave us a look that clearly said, “this is not okay.” We didn’t make him suffer for long: the hat came off after a short photoshoot and we comforted him with a treat. Clara’s monkey character even shared one—she’s a very generous chimp.
Clara’s cousin Emanuel, who just turned two, joined in the fun as a ferocious lion and kept requesting candy corn between shots. His enthusiasm was priceless and added to the silliness of the day.
The banana-and-monkey combo is cute, but it might not top one especially adorable pair from last year.
Wishing everyone a very happy Halloween! Did you get up to any weekend projects—cabinets hunting, costume crafting, or a little candy-corn bingeing? We’d love to hear what you were doing.
Psst—see our pumpkin patch adventures, including a moon bounce and corn bin fun, in another post.