Over the summer I learned that one of our neighbors was renovating their kitchen and was also doing a small addition to their home. While the perfectly good kitchen cabinets were already spoken for I asked them what they had planned to do with their kitchen sink. It turns out they were planning on throwing it out and they asked if I wanted it. I measured their sink and also went home to measure mine – they matched perfectly. In October their renovations began and the sink was dropped off at my doorstep.
While the sink wasn’t in perfect condition it sure beat our green sink from the 1980s. The kitchen remains the one part of the house we haven’t renovated (and don’t plan to do so anytime soon) so this sink would make a big difference and officially make our kitchen green-free! (Previously I spray painted our green range hood black).
I decided to document the removal process with my GoPro for fun and test out my video editing skills. While it took a fair amount of time to get the old sink out, this was the easy part. For the install we had to move the drain pipes which was a time consuming process. The video of the kitchen sink removal is below and can also be found on YouTube. I hope to do more videos in the future as I enjoy the process.
It’s a great feeling to upgrade your house for free. Although this might not always be an option I highly recommend keeping an eye and an ear out when anyone you know is upgrading. Craigslist is also a great option and I’m confident you can outfit a fancy new kitchen (dishwasher, fridge, stove) very inexpensively with a little patience. Washer and dryers are another good thing to buy used on craigslist as many people upgrade from the more standard washers and dryers which I find to be more reliable than the fancy new ones (I scored my washer and dryer for $150 when I bought my first rental in 2012). It’s amazing how many people want the latest and greatest and capitalizing on someone else’s upgrade can save loads of money. For another example of this check out this blog post by 1500 Days on his $50 dishwasher score.
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