Appliance & Furniture Removal — Aurora & Fox Valley, IL

Appliances and furniture are the two reasons most Aurora homeowners finally pick up the phone to call a junk removal company. They’re heavy, they don’t fit in a car, and Illinois has rules about how some of them have to be disposed of. Junk Nurse handles both, in one visit, with one transparent price — and we do the lifting.

Alex Welsch started Junk Nurse after 15 years as a registered nurse in the Fox Valley. The two values that ran his nursing career — show up when you say you will, and be honest about what you’re doing — turned out to be exactly what was missing from the junk removal industry. The price we quote is the price you pay. We arrive in the time window we promised. And when we leave, the space is cleaner than we found it.

This guide walks through every appliance and every piece of furniture we remove in Aurora and the Fox Valley, what the laws actually require, what donation looks like, and what you can realistically expect to pay.

What Junk Nurse removes: the full appliance list

Almost every house in Kane and DuPage County has at least one large appliance waiting in a garage, basement, or alley for someone to deal with. Here’s what we routinely take, and what that involves on our end.

Refrigerators and freezers

Standard side-by-sides, French door, top freezer, mini fridges, stand-alone chest freezers, garage beer fridges, and dorm fridges. Every one of these contains refrigerant, which means Section 608 of the federal Clean Air Act applies. We’ll cover that in detail in the next section — the short version is that you can’t legally put a refrigerator at the curb in Illinois, and the company hauling it has to handle the refrigerant the right way. Junk Nurse does.

Washers and dryers

Top-load, front-load, stackable units, and gas dryers. Washers usually need the water lines disconnected. Gas dryers need a plumber or HVAC tech to shut off and cap the gas line before we can touch them — that’s a hard line we don’t cross because it’s a safety and licensing issue. Electric dryers we can disconnect on-site (240V cord). Most washers and dryers we haul go to scrap metal recycling, and the working ones get donated when possible.

Ovens, stoves, and ranges

Electric and gas, freestanding and slide-in. Same rule as dryers: gas line shutoff is a plumber’s job. After that, we take it. Wall ovens require a bit more disassembly — we plan for that.

Dishwashers

Built-in and portable. Built-in dishwashers need the water supply and drain line disconnected; we can do that on-site for most installations. We also pull the unit out from under the counter and clean up after ourselves.

Microwaves

Countertop and over-the-range. Over-the-range microwaves are heavier than people expect and almost always need two people to remove safely — we bring two.

Window and portable AC units

Window AC units contain refrigerant just like fridges do, so Section 608 applies. Portable AC units, dehumidifiers, and some window units all fall under the same rules. Junk Nurse handles them properly.

Central AC condensers (outdoor unit)

The outdoor condenser unit is heavy (often 150–300 lbs), full of refrigerant, and connected to copper line sets that have to be properly disconnected by an HVAC technician first. Once that’s done, we haul the condenser and recycle it. The copper inside has real scrap value and we route it appropriately.

Water heaters

Gas and electric, traditional tank and tankless. Same rule as before — gas line work goes to a licensed plumber. After disconnect, we take the unit. Most water heaters head to scrap metal recycling.

Other appliances we routinely take

• Small kitchen appliances (toaster ovens, coffee makers, blenders)
• Trash compactors
• Garbage disposals (already removed from the sink)
• Wine fridges and beverage coolers (Section 608 applies if refrigerant-containing)
• Ice makers and stand-alone freezers
• Humidifiers and dehumidifiers
• Vacuum cleaners, shop vacs, carpet cleaners

See our full appliance removal service page for pricing details and to book directly.

What Junk Nurse removes: the full furniture list

Furniture is the other half of what fills our truck on a typical day in Aurora. Here’s what we take.

Sofas, sectionals, and sleeper sofas

Standard three-seater sofas, sectionals (L-shaped, U-shaped, with chaise), loveseats, recliners (manual and power), and sleeper sofas / pull-out couches. Sleeper sofas are notoriously heavy because of the steel frame inside — a queen-size sleeper can run 250–350 lbs. Sectionals usually break down into 2–4 pieces, which makes navigating stairs and doorways much easier. We disassemble when we need to.

Mattresses and box springs

Every size, every type — innerspring, memory foam, hybrid, latex, pillowtop. Box springs too. Some companies charge a separate “mattress fee” on top of their regular pricing. We don’t. Mattresses are part of the volume quote, period.

Bed frames and headboards

Wood, metal, and upholstered. Platform beds, four-poster beds, sleigh beds, daybeds, bunk beds, captain’s beds with storage. Most bed frames we disassemble down to the rails and slats for hauling.

Dressers, armoires, and entertainment centers

Solid wood dressers (heavy), particleboard dressers (often falling apart), tall armoires (sometimes have to come down stairs), and entertainment centers — the big oak ones that no longer fit a flat-screen TV. We’ll disassemble entertainment centers to get them out of basements and second-floor bedrooms.

Dining sets

Tables (wood, glass, marble), chairs (sets of 4, 6, 8), buffets and china cabinets. Glass-top tables we wrap before moving to protect everyone. China cabinets often come in two pieces — we know which.

Desks and office furniture

Executive desks, L-shaped desks, computer desks, filing cabinets (lateral and vertical), office chairs, bookshelves. Particleboard furniture is often unsalvageable — once it gets moved a couple times, the joints give. We’ll dismantle and haul.

Living room pieces

Coffee tables, end tables, side tables, console tables, ottomans, recliners, accent chairs, bookcases, TV stands. Glass items we wrap; heavy items get the right equipment.

Outdoor furniture

Patio sets, wrought iron tables, plastic Adirondack chairs, faded teak benches, propane fire pits (must be empty of fuel), grills (charcoal and gas — tank must be removed), umbrellas, hammocks. We take it all.

Specialty furniture

• Pianos (uprights and baby grands — see our piano removal page)
• Pool tables (must be disassembled in most cases)
• Hot tubs (drained and often cut down)
• Exercise equipment (treadmills, ellipticals, weight benches)
• Cribs and changing tables
• Office cubicles and modular workstations

See our furniture removal service page for pricing and same-day booking.

Why appliance removal is more complicated than it looks

From the outside, hauling a fridge out of a basement and into a truck looks like simple labor. It’s not. There are two separate legal frameworks at play, and a serious company has to comply with both.

Section 608 of the federal Clean Air Act

Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers, and other refrigerant-containing appliances are governed by Section 608. The law requires that the refrigerant (typically R-134a, R-22, or R-410a depending on age) be recovered by a certified technician before the appliance is dismantled or destroyed. You can’t legally puncture a fridge’s coils and let the refrigerant escape into the atmosphere. The EPA enforces this, and fines can run into thousands of dollars per violation.

The practical result for you, the homeowner: a junk removal company that hauls your fridge and just dumps it at a transfer station may be skipping that step. We don’t. Junk Nurse routes refrigerant-containing appliances through facilities that recover the refrigerant properly. It’s built into our pricing, not a separate charge.

The Illinois Electronics Recycling Act

Illinois bans electronics from landfills entirely. That includes TVs (CRT and flat-screen), computers, monitors, printers, fax machines, DVD players, cable boxes, gaming consoles, and most other plug-in electronics. The law was originally passed in 2008 and the landfill ban took full effect in 2012.

For appliances that include electronic components — smart fridges, washers with computer boards, induction stoves — the controls have to be separated and routed to a licensed e-recycler. Junk Nurse does this as part of our standard process.

Scrap metal recycling

Most large appliances are mostly metal. Refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves, water heaters, and AC units have real scrap value. Reputable haulers (Junk Nurse included) route the metal through scrap yards rather than landfilling it — both because it’s cheaper for the hauler and because it’s the right thing to do. You’re not seeing that on your invoice, but it’s why volume-based pricing works.

How appliance and furniture pricing works

Junk Nurse uses volume-based pricing — meaning we charge by how much space your items take up in our truck, not by counting each piece. That’s fairer for almost every job, and it’s why we don’t hit you with surcharges for mattresses, stairs, or appliances.

Here’s how the volume ranges work in practice:

• Single item ($89+) — one sofa, one mattress, one fridge. Quick in and out.
• Quarter truck ($150–$250) — a sofa plus a couple chairs, or a fridge plus a washer/dryer pair.
• Half truck ($250–$400) — a typical bedroom or living room cleared out.
• Full truck ($400–$600+) — full room or two, or a kitchen worth of appliances plus living room furniture.

For specialty items like hot tubs, pianos, and pool tables, we typically quote on-site or by photo because access, disassembly, and disposal logistics vary too much for a one-size-fits-all number. Even then, the price you get is the price you pay — we don’t adjust at the curb.

Donation: where your usable pieces go

One of the things Junk Nurse takes seriously is that not everything we pick up is junk. A perfectly good sofa whose owner is downsizing isn’t trash. A working refrigerator from a remodeled kitchen isn’t trash. When items are in donatable condition, we route them to local organizations that put them back into the community.

Hesed House (Aurora)

Hesed House on River Street in Aurora is the largest shelter in the Fox Valley and runs a transitional housing program. They accept donated furniture and appliances to furnish apartments for families coming out of homelessness. We coordinate with them on furniture that’s clean, structurally sound, and free of pet damage.

Furniture Bank of Illinois

Furniture Bank of Illinois serves families across the state who are setting up homes from scratch — refugees, domestic violence survivors, formerly homeless. They take sofas, beds, dressers, dining sets.

Habitat for Humanity ReStore (Aurora/Naperville)

ReStore locations in our service area accept gently used furniture and appliances, with the proceeds supporting Habitat builds. We deliver to them when we have donatable pieces.

What qualifies for donation vs. what doesn’t

Donation organizations have standards, and rightly so. They’re placing items in homes, not running a garage sale. A piece qualifies if it’s:

• Structurally sound (no broken frames, missing legs)
• Clean (no significant stains, no odors, no pet damage)
• Free of tears, rips, or major upholstery damage
• Smoke-free
• For appliances: working, recent enough that parts are available, and not visibly damaged

If a piece doesn’t qualify for donation, we route it through the appropriate recycling or disposal channel. Either way, you pay the same volume-based price.

The heavy lifting reality — we do all of it

When you book Junk Nurse, you don’t need to move anything out to the curb. You don’t need to disassemble the bed frame. You don’t need to walk the fridge up the basement stairs. We do all of that.

What we typically encounter and handle:

• Basement appliances and furniture. Old chest freezer at the bottom of split-level stairs? We bring a stair dolly and two people. Treadmill we know wasn’t moved in 8 years? Same thing.
• Second- and third-floor pieces. Sofa in an upstairs bedroom of a 1920s home in Aurora with tight stairwells? We’ve done it more times than we can count. We’ll often disassemble in place.
• Tight doorways and narrow hallways. Sectional that came in 20 years ago and the room got smaller around it? We can usually get it out the way it came in.
• Apartments and condos. Elevator coordination, COI delivery to property management, freight elevator booking — we handle the logistics.
• Outdoor pieces. Hot tubs in a backyard with only a 36″ gate? We’ve done it. Patio set frozen into the deck? We’ll get it.

Our crews are insured ($1M liability) and we’ve never damaged a customer’s property in a way that wasn’t made right. We move slowly when we need to, fast when we can, and we treat your home like it’s ours.

Common scenarios we handle every week

Single-item pickup

One mattress. One fridge. One sofa. You don’t need a friend with a truck, you don’t need to rent a U-Haul, and you don’t need to wait three weeks for Aurora’s bulk pickup day. Starts at $89. Same-day in most cases.

Moving day leftovers

Maybe the most common call we get. You moved into the new house, the old sofa didn’t make the cut, the kids’ old bedroom set is in the garage, and the previous owner left a dryer in the basement. We come once and clear all of it.

Full room or whole-house clearing

Kitchen remodel and you need the old appliances out before the new ones get delivered. Or a parent moved into assisted living and the house needs to be emptied for sale. We send a larger crew, often more than one truck. Always quoted on-site, never priced over the phone.

Estate and downsizing situations

Family members come from out of state, the executor needs the house cleared for sale, and there’s decades of furniture and appliances to deal with. We’re experienced with estate work — including knowing what to set aside if a family wants to do a quick walkthrough first.

Same-day availability for Aurora and the Fox Valley

Junk Nurse runs trucks Monday through Saturday, 7am to 7pm, and we hold space on the calendar for same-day calls. If you call before noon, we can almost always get to you the same day. The closer you are to our Sugar Grove home base (Aurora, North Aurora, Sugar Grove, Montgomery), the easier same-day is. Naperville, Batavia, Geneva, Oswego, Yorkville, St. Charles, Wheaton, and West Chicago are routinely covered too.

If we can’t do same-day, we’ll typically have you on the schedule within 24–48 hours. No phone tag, no “we’ll get back to you next week.”

Pulling it all together

Appliances and furniture are the bulk of what we do, every day, all year, across Kane and DuPage counties. The combination of practical experience, Section 608 compliance, real donation relationships, transparent pricing, and a crew that actually shows up is what built our 47+ 5-star Google reviews. We treat junk removal the way Alex treated nursing — show up, do it right, leave it better.