By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer
Photo/Nancy Brumback
Business name: The Cabinet Rehab Shop
Address: 100 Grand St., Worcester
Co-owners: Gerry and Robin Brodeur
Contact Information: 508-791-8450
How did the Cabinet Rehab Shop get started?
“Our furniture refinishing business, Furniture Plus, has been around forever, and we’ve had requests to redo kitchen cabinets throughout the years,” said Gerry Brodeur, who owns the business with his wife, Robin. “In 2014, we decided to make concerted effort to develop the kitchen cabinet business, and last year we set it up as the Cabinet Rehab Shop.”
“We have been furniture refinishers for 40 years. When we do your kitchen cabinets, we come from a furniture perspective, and treat your cabinetry like furniture. We do not work like a painter using a brush and a roller. We apply a lacquer finish. You only get that by spraying; you can’t brush it on.”
What kind of cabinet rehab do you do?
“We repaint kitchen cabinets, strip and refinish kitchen cabinets, and also do refacing, which is putting on a different style of doors. About 75 percent of our customers also ask us to add the bells and whistles—trash pullouts, Lazy Susans, spice racks. We also modify kitchens, maybe a new microwave cabinet or add another cabinet or build out an island.”
How do you refinish cabinets?
“We use a spray technique that we would use on a fine dining table. We try to spray as little as we can within the customer’s home because of the vapors. We usually take off all the doors and drawers, which are done at our shop in a spray booth. It usually takes a long week, one week and one or two days into a second. We’re out of the in-home part in three or four days, and bring doors and drawers back a few days later.”
People do not need to replace their entire kitchen?
“Every kitchen gets banged up around the sink, the dishwasher, the stove and the utensil drawer. The upper cabinets may look like they’re still new.
“People don’t need to make a $10,000, $20,000 investment in new cabinets because the old ones are a little worn. We can give you a factory new look, down to the bare wood, and new hardware and hinges, maybe some add-ons. For an average-size kitchen it would probably be about $4,000 to paint, some new hardware. To rip it out and replace, it’s probably $12,000 to $15,000 minimum. And we do repairs or replace damaged doors, fix the floor under the sink if there’s been a water leak.
“Last week I went out to see a customer with a huge kitchen, a lot of cabinets. A big box store had told her $20,000 to replace everything. The upper cabinets were perfect, but the lower cabinets had a lot of dings; the dog had scratched them. I told her there was no need to do all the upper cabinets. I gave her a price of about $1,200 to take the five doors off that were really bad, match the paint and touch up the other cabinets.”
What geographic area do you serve?
“All of Worcester County and between I-495 and Worcester.
“Usually I try to qualify a project on the phone and by email first. I ask people to send me photos of the kitchen and of damaged areas, and can give them some idea what will work for them. I can give a ballpark estimate first.”
