How to get rid of appliances in Kansas City

The short answer

Minimum visit is $75. Disposal is inside every one of those numbers, and so is refrigerant handling.

Retailer haul-away: one day only

If you are buying a replacement, arrange haul-away at the point of order. It is the cheapest route available and it costs you nothing extra to ask.

The limitation is that it happens on delivery day and only on delivery day. Miss the window and the offer is gone. It also normally covers a like-for-like swap — the kitchen fridge, not the second fridge in the Lenexa garage as well — and delivery crews frequently decline to bring a unit up from a basement, which in this metro is where a lot of the old ones are.

So: use it when it fits, and have a plan for everything it does not cover.

Refrigerant is handled, not surcharged

Refrigerators, freezers, window AC units and heat pumps contain refrigerant, and refrigerant has to be recovered by someone qualified before the unit is processed. That is federal, it applies in both Missouri and Kansas, and it is the reason casual routes decline these units.

Two things to know:

• We handle it, and it is included. There is no refrigerant fee, no freon fee, no environmental surcharge. A refrigerator is $164 and that is the whole number.
• Do not let anyone vent it in your driveway. Scrappers sometimes cut into a compressor to get at the metal. It is illegal and it happens at your address.

Preparing each type

Refrigerators and freezers

Empty it, unplug it, and give it a day with the door propped so it defrosts. Put a towel down. A basement chest freezer opened in an August Kansas City basement after being unplugged for a week is a mistake you make once.

Washers and dryers

Shut off the supply valves and disconnect the hoses. Hoses that have not moved in fifteen years will not move gracefully. If the dryer is gas, get the line disconnected properly.

Dishwashers

Water off, and disconnected from the supply and the drain. Most are also hard-wired or plugged under the sink.

Ranges

Electric ranges pull from a dedicated outlet. Gas ranges need a qualified disconnect and the line capped. The older Missouri-side housing stock in Waldo, Brookside, Hyde Park and the Northeast is full of gas ranges.

Water heaters

Drained, and gas or electric supply disconnected safely before the crew arrives.

Why so many Kansas City appliance jobs start in the basement

Because in this metro, that is where appliances live. Almost every house has a basement, and the laundry is usually down there, at the bottom of stairs that were built long before anyone was carrying a 200-pound front-loader.

• Pre-war houses in Brookside, Waldo, Volker, Hyde Park and the Historic Northeast: narrow, steep stairs with a turn at the bottom and often an outside cellar entrance that is worse than the inside route.
• Post-war ranches in Prairie Village, Raytown, Overland Park and Gladstone: straight runs, but low headroom and a tight landing.
• Walkout basements in Olathe, Lenexa, Leawood and Lee's Summit: the good case. Straight out the back door to grade.

None of it changes the price. Carry-out from any floor is included and there is no stair charge.

Typical combinations

Doing a whole kitchen or a whole basement at once? Compare the item total against the truck-fill ladder — quarter $241, half $431, three-quarters $587, full $732 — and take the lower.

What the curb will and will not do

The metro is two states and dozens of municipalities, and appliances are the category most commonly restricted by local bulky-item programs — several exclude refrigerant-bearing units outright or handle them separately. Whatever your city allows, you are also the one moving a water heater up from the basement to the curb.

Check your own city's bulky-item page rather than assuming the rules match the suburb next door, and never leave a fridge outside with the doors still attached.

Booking it

Pick each appliance off the list, see the total, book a slot. Crews cover Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte in Kansas, and the number is the same on both sides of State Line Road. No estimate visit, no on-site re-quote, no surcharge for the basement or the refrigerant.

Frequently asked questions