Paint or Replace Kitchen Cabinets for a New Look
Have you gotten tired of the way your kitchen looks? Since cabinets dominate the appearance of most kitchens, if yours are looking dated and worn, that’s probably the source of the problem.
Solution? You have three basic choices:
Replace. This will transform your kitchen, but it’s expensive and a lot of work. First, you have to tear out the old cabinets. That involves ripping up soffits, disconnecting plumbing and possibly ruining your countertops. Then you have to install new cabinets, reconnect the plumbing and clean up the mess.
Refinish. This is a lot simpler and cheaper. It works best with wood cabinets, but in some cases, it will also work with laminate (Formica) cabinets as well.
Reface. This is a compromise between painting old cabinets and installing new ones.
If you opt to refinish, I suggest painting with a good, durable enamel. I prefer oil-based enamels over latex ones in a kitchen. They dry harder and are tougher, easier to clean and tend to adhere better to slightly oily surfaces. Most old kitchen cabinets tend to be somewhat oily after years of exposure to cooking.
You should first remove all the cabinet doors and drawers. Take off the hinges and hardware. Then wash everything with a solution of water and a strong cleaner, followed by cleaning with a bonding agent such as Wil-Bond, sold at paint stores.
Next, sand lightly with 220-grit paper. You want the cleanest possible surface before you start painting. This will assure maximum adhesion and a smooth paint job.
Now you paint. The job will be easier if you lay all the doors and drawers flat to paint them. If possible, work with a short-nap roller. This is faster and gives a more uniform finish than a brush. However, if the doors have a lot of surface relief, a roller won’t work.
You will probably need to apply two coats to get a good, uniform coverage. After the first coat dries, sand lightly with 220 paper before applying the second coat.
Rehang your doors and reinstall the drawers. You might consider a change of knobs and pulls to accent the new look. If refacing is your choice, you simply fit the old cabinets with new doors and drawer faces. Just remove the old doors and faces and buy new parts to install. This will completely change the look of the cabinets without the expense and hassle of total replacement or refinishing.
In some cases, you may want to put new veneer over your old cabinet frames so they’ll match the new doors. However, you often can skip that step.
While it may take three or four days to replace cabinets, replacing just the doors and faces should take less than a day.
You can buy new doors at any kitchen cabinet shop, which also will make them or order them for you.
Regardless of where you buy the doors, you’ll find many different styles and finishes available. You can get simple paint-grade doors, hardwood doors in both flat and frame and panel styles, frame-only doors designed to take center panels of stained glass or doors covered with plastic laminate.
Be sure to measure carefully so the doors will fit properly. It’s probably best to have the supplier come to your house and do the measuring. In some cases, the dealer will want to know the size of your existing door openings in order to make inset or overlay doors.
Inset doors have a lip that laps over the cabinet frame; overlay ones slightly overlap the opening. If you have European-style full overlay doors, which completely cover the cabinet face, the dealer will want to know the exact sizes of your existing doors.
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Tags: cabinet doors, Cabinets, kitchen cabinets