Every cabinet in my kitchen had at least one loose handle. Some would spin freely when you grabbed them. Others would pull halfway out before catching. The one under the sink came off entirely one morning, leaving me holding a handle and staring at a screw that had stripped its hole smooth.

Threadlocker is the answer. Not glue — threadlocker. It is a liquid that hardens in the absence of air (inside the threads of a screw) and prevents vibration from loosening the connection. A tiny drop on the screw threads before tightening, and the handle will not come loose again. You can still remove it later with a screwdriver if you need to — it is not permanent like superglue.

The brand most people know is Loctite, specifically the blue variety (242). Red Loctite is permanent and requires heat to remove. Do not use red on cabinet handles unless you want your kitchen to become an archaeological site.

For Stripped-Out Screw Holes

If the screw just spins in the hole, the wood threads inside are gone. Three fixes, in order of effort:

1. Toothpick trick: Dip a wooden toothpick in wood glue, jam it in the hole, break it off flush, let dry 30 minutes, re-drive the screw. Works about 80% of the time.
2. Larger screw: If the old screw is thin, try a slightly thicker one of the same length. The new threads cut into fresh wood.
3. Threaded insert: Drill the hole slightly larger, screw in a metal threaded insert, then use a machine screw instead of a wood screw. This is the nuclear option — it will never fail again.

I fixed all twelve loose handles in one evening. It cost about five dollars for the threadlocker and toothpicks. My kitchen finally feels solid again.