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Discussion Forum

Refacing options for melamine doors

plainview | Posted in General Discussion on June 26, 2008 08:19am

Hello,

I’m a beginner renovating my first place. Both because of my own finances, and the modest nature of the space, keeping costs down is very important. The place came with cheap old kitchen cabinets with exterior hinges, which I junked. I then bought some used cabinets of the type we’ve all seen: interior hinges, and melamine doors with oak strips which serve as handles. The big problem with the faces is the melamine is an awful almond colour that simply has to go.

My original (ignorant) idea was to buy new pre-fab doors (ie, Home Depot-types) and mount on the existing boxes. I now realize that the dimensions of the existing doors are irregular, and either the new doors or the existing boxes would need to be ripped down to size. Is there an easy way to rip the new doors and cover up the “seam”?

Another option would be to somehow keep the doors and refinish them. The oak trim doesn’t bother me, as it can be painted easily. The  problem is the melamine: I’ve done some searching on melamine paint, and it looks difficult to achieve good results. Yet another option, perhaps, is to keep the oak trim, but order new, white melamine faces to replace the existing almond. Can a person custom-order melamine pieces at a reasonable price?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, I’ll try to upload a picture or two later.

Thanks.

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Replies

  1. USAnigel | Jun 26, 2008 08:48pm | #1

    Sounds like you have the baseline of faceframe cabinets. You could laminate over the almond with formica using a spray contact glue. You could order doors from a door maker and they would be to your size, Lots of them on the net.

    full overlay doors on faceframe cabinets need special hinges.

    1. plainview | Jun 26, 2008 09:23pm | #2

      Hi USAnigel, thanks for the message. In fact, the cabinets are of the frameless, European variety, which is why I bought them (the original cabinets were face frame).

      Edited 6/26/2008 2:31 pm ET by plainview

      1. USAnigel | Jun 26, 2008 10:15pm | #3

        Maybe they are Metric sizes, which would make them seem odd.

         

  2. Biff_Loman | Jun 26, 2008 11:25pm | #4

    You should be able to find a local shop that will make up some MDF doors for you on a CNC machine.  You could get a nice raised panel look.  Then you could paint them, either with a rented sprayer or a foam roller/brush.  Having painted a couple kitchens, I'll let you know it is patience-testing. . . but cheap.

    Make sure to get the doors drilled for hinge cups.

    Otherwise, I dunno.  Actually re-veneering the existing doors strikes me as a royal PITA. 

    1. plainview | Jun 27, 2008 12:10am | #5

      Here's some pictures of the cabinets and offending doors....

      1. Biff_Loman | Jun 27, 2008 01:30am | #6

        Yeah. My grandpa built himself a kitchen just like that in the '80s. Times change.Well. . . if you really want to preserve them and do something with them, I'd paint. Sequence:1. Zinsser BIN or equivalent shellac-based primer, which sticks to everything, but not everything sticks to it, so:
        2. Zinsser 1-2-3 or equivalent
        3. Latex enamel finish paintWhat's nice is that your doors are mostly flat, so you can roll them with a foam roller. Leaves an OK finish.

        1. plainview | Jun 27, 2008 02:33am | #7

          Yes, all the painting sounds tedious. What about cutting new melamine to size? The only problem here is covering the cut ends -- is this difficult? Is there somewhere I can read up on how to do this?

          Many thanks.

          1. TomE | Jun 27, 2008 03:11am | #8

            Painting can be tedious but most of the paints mentioned can be had in rattle cans.

            Clean up the doors, mask off the oak and spray them.

            Better yet, if you have use of a capable compressor then you can buy a HF HVLP spray gun and go at it.

            Krylon Fusion or similar might work as well.

            I did a Fusion rattle can spray job on some really old "walnut look" laminate kitchen cabs for the in-laws rental property.

             It looked great when I left it but haven't seen it since, so can't vouch for the durability of the stuff.

          2. Biff_Loman | Jun 27, 2008 05:39am | #10

            You'll want to edge-band the cut ends with iron-on edge-banding. It's just vinyl tape with hot-glue on one side, and you can use a household iron to heat it up until the glue melts and sticks. Trim off the excess.A kitchen's worth of doors would be a task.For boring the holes for your hinge cups, you'd want a forstner bit and (preferable but optional) drill press.On the flip side, melamine and edge-tape is cheap cheap cheap! I would definitely replace all your hinges if they aren't the clip-on/off type, which will save you some grief.Btw, of the two kitchens in my house, the main kitchen is just flat melamine doors. It's a plain, clean look that was a serious upgrade from the 40-year old grease-caked excuse for a kitchen that we had initially.

  3. DougU | Jun 27, 2008 05:12am | #9

    My original (ignorant) idea was to buy new pre-fab doors (ie, Home Depot-types) and mount on the existing boxes. I now realize that the dimensions of the existing doors are irregular, and either the new doors or the existing boxes would need to be ripped down to size.

     Why buy the replacement doors at Home Depot? Why dont you look into getting new doors from a company that makes them? any size you want!

    You could get new MDF doors that have been made on a cnc that have a raised panel look for not to much money.

    Take a look at whats out there in doors http://www.walzcraft.com  ,  this is just one company that will make you a door any size, any style, almost any type of wood.

    Doug

  4. drbgwood | Jun 27, 2008 06:00am | #11

    I don't have any pictures of it at the moment, but a friend of mine is an interior designer who also does cabinet re-finishing.

    I saw a kitchen she did a month or so ago.  they started out as plane white malamin doors..  She tacked something similar to shoe molding on the edges, made "rectangles" out of base cap in the centers to mimic raised panel (like you'd see waynscotting done on walls).  Then she painted them all with whatever kind of paint you need to paint malamine with, and glazed them (makes them look old with brown streaks and highlights)

    I think it was the most dramatic improvmement of before / after of anything I have ever seen.  It went from malamine doors to a high-end kitchen.

    I'll try to get you some pics..

  5. drbgwood | Jun 27, 2008 06:10am | #12

    I did have a picture...

    The picture may be big.  If so I'll try to figure out how to downsize it agian.  If someone could do it for me, thanks.

    these are plain old white flat malamine cabinets... well, used to be.

    1. plainview | Jun 27, 2008 06:27am | #13

      I don't understand how this is possible...I need some time to regain my composure.

      1. plainview | Jun 27, 2008 11:02pm | #14

        Based on the very helpful comments from all of you, I'm leaning toward melamine.

        I've been told that the iron-on banding is a pain to do. Any suggestions are appreciated on tackling this.

        Thanks again.

    2. DougU | Jun 28, 2008 03:24am | #15

      Here's your picture reduced and lightened up a bit.

      View Image

      Doug

      Edited 6/27/2008 8:25 pm ET by DougU

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