Donate, sell or drop off — decided before demolition, because it changes how the old kitchen comes out. What the two GTA Habitat for Humanity affiliates accept, how to take cabinets out whole, and where each region sends what the curb will not take.
Demolition is on Saturday. On Friday night somebody asks where the old kitchen is going, and the answer turns out to be the driveway — because the city will not take it at the curb, the charity wanted photos before it would book a pickup, and the cabinets that could have gone to a family across town are now in pieces, prised off the wall with a flat bar. What happens to an old kitchen is decided before demolition, not during it.
An old kitchen leaves the house one of three ways. Donated, usually to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore, if it is in good enough shape. Sold or given away online, if someone wants it. Or taken to a depot as renovation waste, because in the GTA the curb will not take it. The first two need the cabinets to come out whole and need a week or more of lead time. The third works at the last minute, which is exactly why so many good kitchens end up there.
So decide the route when you order the new kitchen, not when the old one is coming out. The choice changes how demolition is done: a kitchen headed for reuse is unscrewed, a kitchen headed for the depot can be broken up. Where this sits in the renovation order.
What they search at midnight “can i donate my old kitchen cabinets” — often from the room where they are still hanging, which is the right time to ask.
Two Habitat affiliates cover the GTA, with different rules. Habitat for Humanity GTA serves “Toronto, Brampton, Caledon, York Region, and Durham Region” and runs its ReStores through habitatrestore.ca. Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin covers Halton, Mississauga and Dufferin, with ReStores in Burlington, Milton, Mississauga and Orangeville.
Takes kitchens and appliances; offers in-home deconstruction
Its donation page lists “Kitchens” and “Appliances” among what it accepts, and turns down “Kitchen granite/stone countertops” and items that are “damaged, water damaged, moldy, mildewed, cut, broken, incomplete, missing parts and /or excessively stained/dirty.” It also reserves the right to refuse items “due to age, condition or available space in store.”
Takes kitchens with conditions; picks up from the garage or driveway
“Kitchens should be clean, in good condition, and less than 15 years old.” Send photos when you request a pickup, and make sure “all cabinet doors and hardware are securely attached.” It does not take thermofoil or countertops, and its list of refusals is specific: loose cabinet doors without the cabinets, “Cabinets with exterior hinges”, cabinets with “embedded wooden ‘end to end’ door handles”, peeling or bubbling thermofoil, and hand-painted cabinets.
ReStore locations change, so use each affiliate’s own store locator rather than a list here. And be realistic about condition. Habitat GTA turns down anything damaged, water damaged or incomplete, and HMD says plainly that its ReStores “do not have the resources to clean, repair or refinish items” — so a kitchen with a swollen sink base or a missing door is a depot kitchen.
The other reuse route is Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji and the like — Durham Region’s own reuse page points residents to them alongside the ReStore. A used kitchen is a niche buy, and the listings that work make it easy for someone to picture it in their own room:
Toronto keeps a Material Exchange Directory of local reuse organisations, some of which handle construction materials.
Cabinets come out the way they went in, backwards. They were screwed to each other and then to the wall, so that is what you undo. A pry bar is for the depot route only — particleboard tears around a screw that is levered rather than backed out, and a torn side panel is the difference between a donation and garbage.
Across the GTA the rule is the same in different words: old cabinets and countertops are renovation waste, and curbside collection does not take them. They go to a drop-off depot (where disposal fees generally apply), into a rented bin, or away with a contractor. Here is what each region’s own pages say.
| Area | At the curb? | Where cabinets go | Old appliances |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto | No — “Construction, demolition and renovation waste” including “cabinets, countertops” is not accepted | A city Drop-Off Depot — the seven transfer stations take cabinets and countertops — or a private company | Collected at the curb as oversized/metal items; “Remove doors from refrigerators, ovens and other appliances” |
| York Region | No — your town collects, and Aurora, Newmarket, Markham and Richmond Hill all exclude renovation waste | A York Region Community Environmental Centre or the Georgina Transfer Station; Markham directs residents to the Earl Turcott facility | By appointment through your town; at the regional depots, fridges are treated differently with or without a CFC removal sticker |
| Peel (Mississauga, Brampton) | No — “Renovation, construction, or demolition materials are not collected from the curb” | A Peel Community Recycling Centre | Not collected at the curb; take them to a Community Recycling Centre, or have the retailer remove them when the new ones arrive |
| Halton (Oakville, Burlington, Milton) | No — “Building & demolition debris” is excluded from bulk collection | The Halton Waste Management Site in Milton | By appointment only; remove the doors first |
| Durham | No — “We do not collect renovation material such as cabinetry, lumber, drywall, doors, carpet or underlay” | A Region of Durham Waste Management Facility | Metal goods by appointment; Oshawa and Whitby run their own large-item pickup |
Vaughan and the other municipalities not in the table run their own collection, but the pattern above holds wherever we looked: check your town’s waste page for the nearest depot and what it charges. York Region’s sorting tool sums up the whole question in two sentences: “Items in good condition can be donated to charity. Items that are not in good condition can be dropped off as garbage at the Georgina Waste Transfer Station or a Community Environmental Centre.”
In a condo, none of this goes down the chute or into the building’s bins, and the elevator has to be booked for it. What else changes in a condo.
Appliances follow different rules from cabinets, and the easiest route is often the one people forget to ask about. Peel Region says it outright: “Arrange for your retailer to remove your old appliances when your new models are delivered.” Ask when you buy, because the haul-away is booked with the delivery.
The old run is the best measuring tape the room will ever have: where the sink base sits is where the drain is, and where the wall cabinets were screwed is where the studs are. Measure it, then draw the new kitchen in our free planner around the same fixed points — real catalogue cabinets at the sizes that exist, in plan, 3D and elevation, with a PDF you can ⬇ Export for the installer. It runs in a browser and you can start without an account.
Quotes are from official municipal, regional and Habitat for Humanity pages, checked October 2026. Collection rules, depot lists and donation criteria change; your own municipality’s page has the final word.
Often, if they are in good condition and come out whole. Habitat for Humanity GTA, which covers Toronto, York Region, Durham, Brampton and Caledon, accepts kitchens. Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin accepts kitchens that are clean, in good condition and less than 15 years old, with doors and hardware attached. Damaged, water-damaged or incomplete cabinets are turned down.
Habitat for Humanity GTA has a deconstruction team that will dismantle kitchen cabinetry and appliances in your home for a fee, free for qualifying luxury home and showroom kitchens. Its regular pickup drivers will not disassemble items or take off doors, and in-home items must be on the main floor. Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin picks up only from a garage, driveway or designated moving area.
No. Habitat for Humanity GTA lists kitchen granite and stone countertops among the items it passes on, and Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin does not accept countertops. A stone top goes to a depot, a private hauler or a bin.
No. Toronto’s curbside collection does not accept construction, demolition and renovation waste, and names cabinets and countertops specifically. Take them to one of the city’s Drop-Off Depots, which accept cabinets and countertops, or hire a private company.
To a York Region Community Environmental Centre or the Georgina Transfer Station; Markham directs residents to the Earl Turcott facility. Aurora, Newmarket, Markham and Richmond Hill all exclude renovation waste from curbside collection, and disposal fees generally apply at the depots.
Peel Region (Mississauga and Brampton) does not collect renovation materials at the curb and sends them to its Community Recycling Centres. Halton excludes building and demolition debris from bulk collection; cupboards go to the Halton Waste Management Site in Milton. The Region of Durham does not collect renovation material such as cabinetry and directs it to its Waste Management Facilities.
Measure everything, shut off the water and disconnect the appliances, remove the countertop, take off the doors, drawers and fronts and bag the hardware, unscrew the cabinets from each other, then take down the wall cabinets with a helper before backing the base cabinets off the wall. Back screws out rather than prying; particleboard tears around a levered screw.
Ask the retailer delivering the new appliances to take the old ones away; Peel Region recommends exactly that. Toronto collects appliances at the curb with oversized and metal items, and most other GTA municipalities collect them by appointment. Remove the doors first, and have a gas range disconnected by a licensed gas technician.
The old run tells you where the drain and the studs are. Put real cabinets around those fixed points in plan, 3D and elevation, free in a browser.
Open the 3D planner →