A three-year-old luxury condo in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, posed an interesting project for us at Brooklyn’s Best Handyman and General Construction. The owner was having difficulties with their kitchen; the thermofoil laminate on the kitchen cabinets was ripping off, and the glue was no longer adhesive in some areas. After conducting a detailed analysis on-site, we identified the root causes as excessive heat and humidity in the kitchen, a lack of door hardware that caused excess wear and tear, inadequate protection on the cabinet edges, and the use of ineffective adhesive.
We tackled the situation by first repairing the vent in the kitchen to reduce humidity, reapplying adhesive to all doors, protecting edges with plastic corners, and finally installing matching handles on all cabinets. What added to the challenge of this project was the toddler at home. As we didn’t want him exposed to the adhesives, we removed the doors and worked on them at our shop. This meant the project took triple the usual time, as we had to make multiple trips to minimize the smell of glue in their apartment. Also, the toddler’s curiosity meant we had to install a temporary baby gate for their safety while we worked. Despite these challenges, the kitchen turned out terrific, and the client was delighted.