Refinish Laminate Cabinet Doors

An overlay is how the cabinet doors lay on the cabinet face.

Refinish laminate cabinet doors.

Glue adhesive backed mdf veneer panels to bottoms and sides with spray adhesive. While cabinet refinishing and cabinet refacing provide similar results the process of how the cabinets receive their facelift is different. Short of committing to a more costly replacement of outdated kitchen storage repainting laminate cabinets is an affordable way to turn the eyesore into eye catching modern cabinetry. There are two overlay styles.

Typically the easiest material to use is a peel and stick veneer. For this refinishing cabinets project we purchased 16 cabinet doors and eight drawer fronts along with new hinges. Step by step guide to refinishing your laminate cabinets. 1 remove the cabinet faces from the base and any exposed hardware using your permanent marker and masking tape to label the hardware s location.

Some mdf cabinets have a plastic coating and removing a plastic coating from kitchen cabinets is usually easier than removing a wood laminate. 2 lay the cabinets on a level surface with the edges accessible and cover your surroundings with drop cloths or old rags. Step 1 prepare the cabinets take all of the doors off the cabinets. Select new cabinet doors made from solid wood rigid thermofoil or bamboo.

The best way to do it is to use a heat gun to soften the adhesive and pull the laminate off in sections starting with the edging. Next self adhesive peel and stick lightweight easy to use veneer sheets are cut and pressed onto cabinet stiles and riles. However both are doable with patience and a steady supply of heat. Then choose your overlay style.

Fill any gaps with filler and sand smooth. Standard overlays also called traditional overlays leave the face of the cabinet box visible around doors and drawers creating a type of frame. Get diy step by step instructions on how to refinish kitchen cabinets with veneer to give your kitchen a fresh updated look. At the beginning of both projects a service provider will safely remove all cabinet fronts doors and hardware leaving only the frame on the walls.

If you are up to a more advanced do it yourself project you can resurface the cabinet framing and doors with new veneer or laminate. We found a wide selection of decorative glass at a local stained glass supply store and chose a crossreeded pattern.