How to get rid of a refrigerator in Kansas City

The short answer

Carry-out from any floor is included, so a basement freezer costs the same as one in the driveway. Refrigerant recovery is included too — no freon fee, no environmental surcharge. Minimum visit is $75.

The Kansas City second-fridge problem

Households here keep a spare, at a rate that surprises people from denser cities. There is space for it — a basement in almost every house and a two- or three-car garage in most suburban ones — so the old fridge never actually leaves when the new one arrives. It goes downstairs or out to the garage and runs for another decade on drinks and a turkey once a year.

That produces two very common calls in this metro:

• The garage fridge that finally died. Unconditioned space, single-digit January cold snaps and 90-degree Augusts are hard on a compressor, and an old unit out there works far harder than one in a kitchen.
• The basement chest freezer nobody has opened in years. Usually still plugged in, usually holding something from a long time ago.

Both are $164 and $146, and both are at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Empty and defrost first — properly

This is the step people skip and regret.

• Empty it completely, including the door shelves and the freezer drawer.
• Unplug it and prop the doors open for a day. Put towels down; a chest freezer holds a surprising amount of meltwater.
• Do not unplug a full freezer and walk away. An unplugged freezer in a Kansas City basement in August is a genuinely bad week. If it is full and you cannot use the contents, deal with the food first and the appliance second.
• Shut the water line to an ice maker or door dispenser and disconnect it before the crew arrives.
• Wipe it out if it has been sitting. Nobody enjoys carrying a smell up a stairwell.

Refrigerant, and what not to let happen

Refrigerators and freezers contain refrigerant in a sealed circuit that has to be recovered by someone qualified before the unit is processed. That is a federal requirement and it applies identically on the Missouri and Kansas sides of the metro.

Practical implications:

• It is why many municipal bulky programs exclude or specially handle these units — check your own city's page rather than assuming.
• It is why a scrapper cruising an alley in the Northeast or a Northland subdivision may offer to cut the compressor out on the spot. Do not let them. Venting is illegal and it would be happening at your address.
• With a booked pickup it is handled and included. A fridge is $164 and that is the entire number.

The carry, which is the real job here

A standard fridge runs 200 to 300 pounds, a side-by-side more. Where it is determines how the crew plans the route.

• Pre-war houses in Brookside, Waldo, Hyde Park and the Historic Northeast: narrow basement stairs, low headroom, a turn at the bottom, and often an exterior cellar entrance that looks easier and is not.
• Post-war ranches in Raytown, Prairie Village, Overland Park and Gladstone: a straight basement run but a tight landing at the top.
• Walkout basements in Olathe, Lenexa, Leawood and Lee's Summit: the easy case, straight out to grade, though usually a longer carry to the truck around the side of the house.
• Apartment stock in Westport, Midtown and the suburban garden complexes: exterior stairs and a breezeway.

Door frames are the usual pinch point. If the fridge doors have to come off to get through, the crew does that. There is no charge for any of it — no stair fee, no long-carry fee.

Retailer haul-away and other routes

Buying a replacement? Arrange haul-away when you order. It is the cheapest route there is. The limits: it happens on delivery day only, it is usually like-for-like, and delivery crews often decline to bring a unit up from a basement — which is exactly where the old one is in this metro.

Utility or recycler programs. These come and go and usually target working refrigerators and freezers, the point being to retire an energy-hungry unit that still runs. Worth a check if your garage fridge still hums. Do not build a schedule on it.

Curbside. Frequently excluded, and where allowed you are moving it to the curb yourself. Never leave a fridge outside with the doors still attached.

Booked pickup. Published price, dated slot, carried from wherever it is.

Common combinations

If a whole basement or garage is being cleared at the same time, compare against the ladder — quarter $241, half $431, full $732 — and take the lower.

Booking it

Pick the right size off the list, say which floor it is on and whether the route is interior stairs or a walkout, and the total is on screen before you confirm. Same price across Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas.

Frequently asked questions