The Cabinet Rehab Shop
By Nancy Brumback, Contributing Writer
Worcester—The Cabinet Rehab Shop can update worn and dated kitchen cabinets at a fraction of the cost of replacing cabinets.
The Worcester company will refinish cabinets with a new stain or paint color, reface them with a new style for doors and drawers, and repair them.
“Our work is, by far, the cheapest way to redo a kitchen,” said Gerry Brodeur, who owns the business with his wife, Robin.
“Refinishing stained cabinets involves either changing the stain or painting. Nine out of 10 of our customers are painting stained oak cabinets a shade of white.
“If the customer wants to stay with a wood stain, we strip the old stain and stain with the wood color the customer wants. If they are going with a paint finish, we clean the cabinets, prime them and finish with the color of choice.”
The finishing process Cabinet Rehab uses sets the company apart from conventional painters.
“We are not painting the cabinets. We use the best possible product to create a hard, scratch-resistant finish, a pre-catalyzed lacquer which we spray on. It’s the same product used on new cabinets in the factory. Stained cabinets are finished with a similar sprayed-on finish.
“This lacquer can only be sprayed on. Painters can’t do it, and you should not ask painters to paint kitchen cabinets with a brush and roller,” Brodeur said.
“If your dining room table was scratched up, would you refinish it with a brush and roller? Cabinets are just furniture hanging on the walls.”
Most of the spraying is done in Cabinet Rehab’s Worcester shop. Cabinet doors and drawer fronts are removed and taken to the shop. The remaining cabinet frames are prepped and sprayed in the customer’s home, with care taken to keep the sanding and spraying to a minimum with dustless vacuum equipment and careful ventilation. The entire process takes about a week and a half, he said.
Another option to update cabinets is refacing—replacing the doors and drawer fronts with a new style and color, then finishing the cabinet frame to match.
The company can also repair damaged cabinets before refinishing or refacing them, and can install additional cabinets, interior upgrades such as pullout trash bins, spice racks or soft-close drawers, and build soffits and crown moldings.
“We are not a one-trick pony. We can offer painting, staining, or refacing, whatever is needed to get the look the customer wants. The only thing we don’t do is install completely new cabinets,” Brodeur said.
He encourages customers to update their cabinet hardware when they redo the kitchen. “You get a big change for very little extra money.” Brodeur usually replaces the cabinet door hinges as well.
The company works on any installed cabinets, including bathroom vanities, libraries and office space, in addition to kitchens.
Cabinet Rehab is an offshoot of Brodeur’s long-time furniture refinishing business, Furniture Plus. “In 2014, we decided to make concerted effort to develop the kitchen cabinet business, and in 2015 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.”
For an estimate on a cabinet refinishing project, Brodeur asks people to email photos of the kitchen or other area, with a panoramic shot if possible, plus a close-up photo of the most damaged area. From those photos, “I can respond quickly with a ballpark figure of what the job will cost. If they decide to go ahead, I’ll go out and do a firm estimate.”
Cabinet Rehab works primarily in the central third of Massachusetts.
Cabinet Rehab and Furniture Plus are located at 100 Grand St. in Worcester. For more information, call 508-791-8450 or visit the websites, www.cabinetrehabshop.com and www.furnitureplusrepair.com.
