A dead fridge is the least fun object in any house: 300 pounds, doors that swing, and a compressor full of refrigerant you can't legally dump. We dolly it out of the kitchen, the garage or the upstairs laundry room, recover the refrigerant the way the EPA requires, and recycle the metal — $221 flat, photo-quoted, often the same day the new one arrives. North Carolina bans fridges from landfills, and the city's alternative leaves the heavy part to you.
One photo — exact flat price back in seconds
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →One picture of the unit and the doorway it has to come through. Exact flat price back in seconds — no walkthrough, no "we'll price it when we see it."
Same-day is usually open across Wake and Durham counties. Replacing it? Give us the delivery window and we'll clear the space before the truck shows.
Water line off, doors strapped, appliance dolly under it, out through the garage. Refrigerant recovered by a certified tech, metal recycled. You lift nothing.
Flat, photo-quoted, and the disconnect, the carry-out, the refrigerant recovery and the recycling are already inside the number. Fridges price by size class — the ladder from a dorm mini fridge to a French-door counter-depth:
| Unit | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Mini fridge (dorm / office) | $155 |
| Chest freezer | $196 |
| Upright freezer | $201 |
| Refrigerator (standard / top & bottom freezer) | $221 |
| Refrigerator (large / side-by-side / French door) | $246 |
$75 minimum order. Carry-out, refrigerant recovery and recycling are included — there is no separate freon fee, no stairs fee, and no charge for taking the doors off when the fridge is wider than the frame. Clearing a whole kitchen? Send one photo of the fridge, range and dishwasher together and we'll price the set as one job. North Carolina charges no sales tax on the service.
Two outside numbers worth knowing. The City of Raleigh's special-item appliance pickup is $70 — cheap, but it's a scheduled curbside collection where the disconnecting, defrosting and 300-pound driveway walk are yours. The Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center accepts appliances and scrap metal free of charge if you can get it there. Traditional volume-priced haulers quote by truck fill and confirm on site, commonly landing in the $150–$600+ range for one or two appliances, sometimes with a separate refrigerant fee added. Our price covers the labor and the compliance those cheaper routes hand back to you.
| Option | Cost | Speed | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of Raleigh special-item pickup | $70 | Scheduled — days out | Curbside-only, city trash customers only. You disconnect, empty, defrost, strap the doors and walk 300 lb down the driveway — then it sits at the curb until the truck comes |
| Self-haul to Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center | Free (appliance / metal recycling) | Same day, if you're free | Genuinely free at the gate — but you supply the truck, the appliance dolly, the straps, a second person and a Saturday, and you still can't do the refrigerant recovery yourself |
| Retailer haul-away with the new fridge | Sometimes included | Delivery day only | Only the one unit it replaces, only if it's already emptied, disconnected and clear — and the delivery crew can decline on the spot |
| Traditional full-service hauler | ~$150–$600+ (some add a separate freon fee) | 1–3 days | Priced by truck fill and usually confirmed only once they're standing in your kitchen |
| JunkRabbit | $221 flat | Same day | None — photo-quoted, we disconnect and carry it out, refrigerant recovered, metal recycled, nothing left at your curb |
Not with your household trash — and unlike most "the city won't take it" claims, this one is state law rather than local policy. North Carolina bans white goods and appliances from landfill disposal outright, on the same statewide list that covers televisions and computers, whole tires, lead-acid batteries, used motor oil, yard trash, aluminum cans, #1–7 rigid plastics, pallets and fluorescent lamps. A refrigerator legally cannot be buried, so it has to be routed to metal recycling. That's why fridges get their own separate handling everywhere in the Triangle.
What Raleigh does offer is a scheduled special/appliance item pickup at $70 through Raleigh Solid Waste Services (919-996-3245). It's a real service and for some households it's the right call. But read what it asks of you: disconnect the water line and the power, empty it, defrost it, strap the doors shut, and move a 250-to-300-pound appliance from the kitchen or the back corner of the garage, down the driveway, to the curb. That's the entire hard part of the job, and the program returns it to you. Then the fridge waits at your curb — sometimes overnight, sometimes longer — until the scheduled truck comes around.
In the HOA suburbs that waiting period is its own problem. Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest and Brier Creek covenants are written specifically to keep bulk items off the street, and a refrigerator standing at the curb is about the most conspicuous violation available. There's also a coverage gap most people don't discover until they call: the program serves City of Raleigh trash customers. If you're in an apartment complex with private hauling, in a condo association that contracts its own collection, or in one of the surrounding towns, it isn't offered to you at all.
The honest free alternative points the other direction: the Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center takes appliances and scrap metal at no charge. We'll recommend it to the right person, because it's true. It just isn't a service — it's a destination, and everything between your kitchen and that gate is still on you: the truck, the appliance dolly, the ratchet straps, the second set of hands, and the Saturday. And neither route touches the regulated part: the refrigerant has to be recovered by a certified technician before the sealed system is scrapped. We do the disconnect, the carry, the recovery and the recycling as one flat $221, starting inside your house.
Two things happen, in order. First, the refrigerant is evacuated and captured by a certified technician. This isn't optional and it isn't a value-add — federal EPA rules require it before a sealed system can be crushed or shredded, venting it is illegal, and no legitimate scrap processor will accept an uncut fridge that hasn't had it done. It costs real money, we absorb it inside the flat price, and you never see it appear as a "freon fee" at your door the way some volume haulers add it after the fact.
Second, the unit goes to metal recycling, which under the state ban is the only lawful destination anyway. The steel cabinet, the copper windings in the compressor and the aluminum in the coils all get recovered and sold back into the supply chain instead of buried. The Durham Waste Disposal & Recycling Center accepts appliances and metal free, and that cheap disposal side is a big part of why fridge hauling in the Triangle can be priced as one honest flat number rather than padded against an unknown tip fee. If the fridge is newer and still running — the perfectly good unit that simply doesn't fit the new kitchen layout — say so, and we'll try to route it to donation instead, where Habitat ReStore locations across Wake, Durham and Orange counties can take working appliances.
North Carolina houses don't have basements. Between the clay soil and the shallow frost line, homes here sit on crawl spaces and slabs, and that single fact shapes every fridge job in this market. The spare unit is in the garage, boxed in by a mower, two bikes and a shelving unit that has to move first. The chest freezer is in the bonus room over the garage, at the top of one narrow flight with a hard turn. In older Five Points, Mordecai and Historic Oakwood houses the kitchen is a 1920s galley with a 30-inch doorway and original heart-pine floors, so the doors come off the fridge and blankets go down before anything moves. Downtown, Glenwood South and North Hills condos mean a loading dock, a reserved elevator window and sometimes a certificate of insurance for the building — less formal than a New York high-rise, but we file it when the manager asks.
What we bring for all of it: appliance dollies with stair-climbing straps, door-removal tools, floor protection, and two crew on anything over 200 pounds. The long suburban driveways in North Raleigh, Cary and Apex that make the city's curbside program such a chore are just part of the carry for us — and because it goes straight into our truck, nothing ever stands at your curb for an HOA to notice.
"Fridge died on a Thursday, new one coming Friday. They took the old one Friday morning before the delivery window. Didn't have to move a thing myself."
"Chest freezer from the previous owners, up in the bonus room over the garage, probably 30 years old. They latched it shut, walked it down the stairs, and handled all the refrigerant paperwork stuff I didn't want to learn about."
"Property manager here — needed fridges out of two units the same day. One photo per unit, one crew, both gone by 2pm. Invoiced clean."
How much does refrigerator removal cost in Raleigh?
Standard refrigerator $221, large or French-door $246, upright freezer $201, chest freezer $196, mini fridge $155. $75 minimum order. Carry-out, refrigerant recovery and recycling included; no NC sales tax on the service.
Will the City of Raleigh pick up my refrigerator?
Not as trash — NC bans white goods from landfills. Raleigh Solid Waste Services runs a scheduled special-item pickup at $70 (919-996-3245), curbside-only and city customers only: you disconnect, defrost, strap the doors and move 300 pounds to the curb, where it waits. We start inside the house instead.
What happens to the refrigerant?
A certified technician evacuates and captures it before the sealed system is scrapped — federal EPA rules require it, and no scrap yard takes an uncut fridge without it. It's inside the $221, never a surcharge, and it's the one part neither the city pickup nor a self-haul does for you.
Does the fridge need to be empty and unplugged?
Empty, yes — food, shelves and drawers out. Unplugging the night before helps with defrost drips (put a towel down). The crew handles the water line, the doors, the dolly and the disconnect.
Can you take a fridge out of the garage or an upstairs kitchen?
Yes — garages, bonus rooms over the garage, tight galley kitchens, rentals and second-floor apartments. Homes here are on crawl spaces and slabs, not basements, so that's where the spare fridge always is. Stairs and doorways are in the flat price.
Do you take chest freezers and mini fridges?
Yes — chest freezer $196, upright $201, mini fridge $155. Old chest freezers get strapped shut for transport; an unsecured lid on a dolly is genuinely dangerous.
Do you actually recycle it?
We have to — appliances are on North Carolina's disposal ban list. After recovery the unit goes to metal recycling; Durham's recycling center takes appliances and scrap metal free.
Can you come the day the new fridge is delivered?
Usually yes, and it's our most common call. Send the photo with the delivery window and we'll clear the space ahead of it.
Is it cheaper than a traditional full-service hauler?
Our number is flat and known before we drive out. Volume-priced haulers quote by truck fill and confirm on site, commonly running roughly $150–$600+ for one appliance, sometimes with a separate freon fee on top.