There is literally NO limit to what I can and will thrift. Meet my new double column Thermador fridge and freezer. Even I am baffled by this find. I’m gonna venture to say, it’s the find of my life…to date anyway.
How did this happen? It was a hot, not so special Sunday, and I was in the mood to hunt. However, most of the thrift stores in Huntsville are religiously affiliated, so they’re closed on Sundays. My husband suggested a thrift store called Value Village. He was in the mood to get out of the house too, so we decided to check it out.
We pulled up to a run down strip mall on North Parkway. My husband decided that he would stay in the car with our 6 month old while I checked it out. First let me say, it’s big, and big stores usually have the capacity for furniture. When we sold our 1,500 square foot condo in Chicago, we sold most of the furniture (which was tiny condo furniture anyway) to the new owners. So at this point, we happened to need a lot furniture considering that fact that we just bought a 4k+ square foot house. 
Typically, I do a quick scouting lap when I first arrive at a new thrift store. It’s just habit and helps me game plan. During this first lap I noticed two VERY large cabinets. As I approached them I realized that they weren’t cabinets at all, but a built-in refrigerator and freezer combo. Coincidentally, we were in the midst of a house (and kitchen!) renovation. I inspected them, and they seemed to be in good shape.
I called my husband, and said, ‘You aren’t going to believe this…”. I told him about the units and sent him pictures of the model and serial stickers. Immediately he began some online research and quickly learned that they are about 10 years old, and in new condition, they retailed for about $5k per column. Their life span can be as long as 25 years, so being very conservative, I figured I could get 5-10 years out of them. They wanted $680 for the pair.
I hailed over an employee and asked if anyone knew where they came from or could give me any information. After about 10 minutes, a guy mosey-ed out of the back (common Alabama form of travel). He said they were dropped off with a bunch of other salvage items from a big renovation job. He hooked them up in the back for about a week, and they seemed to work just fine.
Since no discount is ever good enough for me, I asked for a a better price. I rarely do this at the thrift store, but I knew had some bargaining power. Why? Well they taking up a decent amount of real estate in the store – stores are always eager to get rid of the big stuff. Also, these things are pretty specific – meaning not many buyers are going to be interested since they won’t fit in a standard fridge opening. At first the manager gave me an annoyed look, but obliged because of all the reasons I just stated. He marked them down $100, so I paid $580 for the pair. DEAL.
Worst case scenario – I just wasted 600 bucks. Best case scenario – I just saved myself around 7 grand. The next step was to get these bad boys into storage. Luckily, my husband has some very strong (and very nice) friends who agreed to help us.
Since our kitchen plans were still very much in the embryonic stages, we incorporated the new units into our design. Yep, I designed my entire kitchen around some thrifted appliances. I’m not sure if our house planner and general contractor thought I was a genius or an idiot (not that I care, because I know I’m a genius).
The units obviously needed an intense cleaning and a few new parts (thank you Sears Parts Direct!), but overall, they work great. Our cabinet maker designed new doors to match our custom cabinets, so now they seamlessly fit into our kitchen giving it a high end look. The built in feature wasn’t a ‘must have’ in my kitchen design, but now I can’t imagine it any other way.
My handy hubby pushing them into place. Note: We did have them professionally installed, because these type of column units are very top heavy and MUST be bolted into place for safety.
So seamless and pretty!
Not extremely deep, but oh so tall which is actually better for viewing all your food. I find that things don’t get lost in here because of this layout.
THERMADOR!
Drawers that glide effortlessly in and out.
Maxwell posing (in his Saturday uniform) to show you how stinking tall these bad boys are! They are 8 feet!
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