The short answer
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Refrigerator (standard) | $164 |
| Refrigerator (side-by-side / French door) | $183 |
| Mini fridge | $115 |
| Freezer (upright) | $149 |
| Freezer (chest) | $146 |
Each price includes the carry from any floor, loading, disposal and certified refrigerant recovery. The visit minimum is $75. There is no refrigerant fee, no stair charge and no basement charge.
Defrost it the night before
This is the one preparation step that genuinely matters, and it is the one most often skipped.
Unplug the fridge or freezer the evening before and prop the door open with a towel down in front of it. A unit that is still melting when it moves will drip the entire way out of the building. In a Fan or Church Hill rowhouse that means meltwater down a staircase with original heart pine treads and lime plaster at the landing, which is a repair nobody wants over a fridge.
If it is a chest freezer that has been running in a Northside basement since the nineties, give it two nights and put a tray under the drain plug. There is more ice in the bottom of those than you would believe.
Empty it completely, including the door shelves and the ice maker bin. And take the shelves out or tape them in — loose glass shelves rattling around inside during a stair carry is how they end up broken across a hallway.
Refrigerant is handled, not charged for
Every refrigerator and freezer contains refrigerant, and federal rules require it to be recovered by a certified technician before the unit is scrapped. It cannot lawfully be vented.
That requirement is the reason so many free routes quietly pass on fridges. A scrapper working a Richmond alley will take a dryer and leave the refrigerator. A general drop-off may accept a range and refuse refrigeration. And municipal programs typically handle refrigerant-containing appliances under a separate arrangement from ordinary bulk — check your own jurisdiction's current page, because the City of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield each set their own.
In our pricing it is simply inside the number. $164 for a standard fridge covers the removal, the carry, the refrigerant recovery and the disposal. Nothing is added at the end.
Getting it out of a Richmond house
Where the fridge is determines the whole day, and none of it changes the price.
Second-floor Fan and Museum District kitchens. Rowhouses cut into flats put full kitchens upstairs. The fridge comes down on a stair dolly with two people, straps, and usually the doors off to make it narrow enough for the quarter-turn landing. Taking the doors off is normal — it reduces the width by several inches and it drops the weight considerably.
Northside, Ginter Park and Bellevue basements. This is where Richmond's second refrigerators live, next to the furnace, alongside a chest freezer and the old water heater. If there is a bulkhead to the side yard, that is almost always the better exit than the interior stair.
Church Hill and Union Hill. Raised basements mean a long exterior flight down to the sidewalk even from a ground-floor kitchen.
Scott's Addition and Manchester lofts. Freight elevator, booked with building management in advance.
Short Pump, Glen Allen, Midlothian, Bon Air. Garage or kitchen, level access, driveway. The twenty-minute version.
The retailer haul-away, and its one condition
If a new refrigerator is being delivered, most retailers will take the old one — on delivery day, for that category of appliance, if it is emptied, defrosted and accessible when the crew arrives.
Two ways this fails in Richmond. In an upper-floor Fan or Oregon Hill flat, the delivery crew has a limited window per stop and a long stair carry with a turning landing is more than the slot allows. And if the old unit is in a basement rather than the kitchen, the installer is there to fit the new one, not to solve the old one's exit route.
Once delivery day has passed, that option has closed and the old fridge is in the garage or the hallway. That is the point at which most people book a pickup.
Doing it yourself, and the safety part
A full-size refrigerator is a two-person job with an appliance dolly and straps, and it is genuinely dangerous solo on stairs — the weight is high, it shifts as it tilts, and there is nothing to grab on a smooth cabinet.
If you are moving it yourself: doors off or taped shut, dolly strapped tight across the body, the stronger person below on the stairs, and keep it upright. Laying a fridge on its back or side can move compressor oil into the refrigerant lines, which matters if you were hoping to keep it working.
Then you still have to find a facility that accepts refrigeration, at whatever the current gate rate is, within its opening hours. Check before you load.
Worked Richmond totals
- Northside kitchen renovation: refrigerator (standard) $164 + electric range $134 + dishwasher $109 + microwave $30. The addition: $164 + $134 + $109 + $30 = $437. A half truck is $431.
- A Ginter Park basement, the whole cold-storage layer: chest freezer $146 + mini fridge $115 + dehumidifier $77. The addition: $146 + $115 + $77 = $338.
- A Church Hill kitchen upgrade: refrigerator (French door) $183 + gas range $137 + dishwasher $109. The addition: $183 + $137 + $109 = $429.
- A VCU-area student flat: mini fridge $115 + microwave $30 + small window AC $87. The addition: $115 + $30 + $87 = $232.
Refrigerators are dense and do not fill much truck space, so item pricing usually wins on appliance-only jobs. Once cabinets and renovation debris are added, compare against the ladder — quarter $241, half $431, full $732 — and take the lower.
A note on the second fridge
Richmond basements and garages are full of working-but-unloved second refrigerators, and there is a specific reason to deal with them rather than leaving them humming.
An old unit in an unconditioned space in this climate works hard. Richmond summers are long and humid, and a fridge in a damp basement or an uninsulated Henrico garage runs against a much higher ambient temperature than one in a kitchen. It costs more to run than most people assume and it will fail eventually anyway.
If it has held drinks for guests twice this year, $164 is the price of getting the floor space and the running cost back.
Frequently asked questions
How much does refrigerator removal cost in Richmond?
A standard refrigerator is $164 and a side-by-side or French door model is $183. A mini fridge is $115, an upright freezer $149 and a chest freezer $146. All include the carry and disposal.
Is there an extra charge for the refrigerant?
No. Certified refrigerant recovery is part of what the published price covers. There is no refrigerant fee or environmental surcharge.
What do I need to do before collection?
Empty it, unplug it and let it defrost overnight with the door propped and a towel down. Remove or tape the glass shelves. A unit still melting will drip the whole way out of the house.
Can you get a fridge out of a second-floor Fan kitchen?
Yes, at the same $164. Two people, a stair dolly, and usually the doors off to clear the landing turn. There is no stair charge.
Will the store take my old fridge when the new one arrives?
Usually yes, but only on delivery day, only for the same category, and only if it is emptied, defrosted and accessible. A long stair carry or a basement location often puts it outside what that visit covers.