Salvaging Cabinets
Using salvaged cabinets to remodel your kitchen can sound like an impossible task, but it’s doable.
One solution is to visit EcoBuilding Bargains, where there is always a variety of high-quality cabinets that need homes, but it can make you wonder how to integrate them into the spaces in your home. The Gaylords, who live in Easthampton, have integrated a beautiful salvaged cabinet set with the help of their contractor.
Finding the Cabinets
The Gaylord home is a 1950s ranch house. After purchasing the home, they wanted to update the existing kitchen, but without changing up the entire style of the house.
“We also wanted to keep in mind the integrity of the time of the house, the neighborhood of the house, and the style of the house overall,” Emily Gaylord said.
After visiting EcoBuilding Bargains and looking through the constantly changing inventory, they finally found a cabinet set in their price range that would look great in their space.
“We saved a substantial amount of money by going with used cabinets and that was put into other features that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford,” Andy Gaylord said.
Using a Contractor
One key reason for their kitchen’s success was the use of a contractor.
“Sometimes I think the idea of using used building materials feels very overwhelming if you’re not a seasoned DIYer, but working with an experienced contractor meant we had someone looking at cabinet sets with us to make sure they would fit our space before we purchased them,” Emily said.
For the Gaylords, using a contractor was important in fitting the used cabinets into their home. Their contractor went with them to EcoBuilding Bargains and helped them pick the right cabinet set.
They worked with their contractor to configure some of the cabinets for their specific kitchen. This included combining two base cabinets to create a corner cabinet, as well as using the cabinet that would typically go above the refrigerator to one over the stove instead.
Lasting Impact
“Not only are we buying something that has been used before, but it means a new one’s not being built. So there’s a paying it forward environmental impact there,” Emily said.
Using salvaged cabinets allowed the Gaylords to not only save money on their kitchen project but also to be environmentally friendly. Using salvaged cabinets takes them out of the landfill, and they also re-donated their purchased cabinets that they didn’t end up using.
“The kitchen is the center of your home, you don’t realize how much of your life takes place in your kitchen, and so having the opportunity to make it what we really wanted, but still remaining in our price range and helping the environment I think was huge for us,” Emily said.
Visit EcoBuilding Bargains to see what’s available for your next remodeling project. Inventory is constantly changing!
