Slick factory surfaces need a waterborne bonding primer rather than an ordinary undercoat. Intact film takes cabinet painting well, while a door that is already lifting at the edge has to be stripped back or replaced instead.
Taunton North, the 2005 to 2015 streets of Brooklin and the condo towers at Port Whitby are where this stock sits. Melamine boxes are also standard behind oak doors right across the older east side of town, so most kitchens here involve at least one of these three materials.
What Bonding Primer Does For Cabinet Painting That Ordinary Primer Cannot
Nothing sticks to a melamine or laminate surface by accident. The face is a cured plastic film with no tooth at all, so the mechanical grip a primer normally relies on does not exist. A waterborne bonding primer solves that chemically, gripping the plastic and giving the topcoat something to hold.
The surface still gets scuffed and degreased first. After priming, the film wants three or four days before it reaches full adhesion, which is why cabinet painting on these materials is scheduled with a gap rather than rushed through in two days. A bonding primer is not a stain blocker, so a tannin-prone edge banding gets shellac as well.
Which Thermofoil Doors Take Cabinet Painting And Which Do Not
The test is simple and it happens at the visit. A door whose vinyl is still bonded across the whole face, with no bubbles and no lifted corners, is a candidate. A door where the film has pulled away near the dishwasher, the kettle or the range is not, because paint has no ability to glue vinyl back to its core.
Those doors have two honest routes. The film can be heated and stripped to the MDF underneath, which is slow and only worth it on a handful of doors, or the door is replaced and sprayed to match the rest of the kitchen. Thermofoil repair across Ontario is quoted anywhere from a few hundred dollars per door upward, and replacement is often cheaper. New doors are covered here.
Condo Kitchens Need Cabinet Painting On All Three Of These Materials
Small kitchens in Downtown Whitby and Port Whitby buildings were fitted with melamine boxes and thermofoil or laminate doors as a matter of course. They are sound, they are square, and they take a bonding primer perfectly well, which makes cabinet painting the obvious alternative to a gut renovation in a unit where a renovation means booking an elevator for a week.
On melamine the edge is the weak point. Chipped corners get filled and shaped before primer, and the door edge gets an extra pass because that is where the wear lands. Cabinet painting on these materials lasts as long as it does on wood when the primer is right.
Have The Doors Looked At Before Any Cabinet Painting Is Booked
Whether a kitchen is a straightforward cabinet painting job or a job that needs a few doors replaced is a five minute question in person and an impossible one over the phone. The visit is free and the answer is given plainly, even when the answer costs us the work.
Call +1 (289) 201-5986 or send photos of the worst doors through the contact page. The home page sets out how the rest of the cabinet painting runs.
Thermofoil, Melamine and Laminate Cabinet Painting Questions
Can thermofoil doors be painted?
If the vinyl is still bonded across the whole face, with no bubbles or lifted corners, yes. A door where the film has pulled away near the dishwasher, kettle or range is not a candidate, because paint cannot glue vinyl back to its core.
Why does melamine need a bonding primer?
The face is a cured plastic film with no tooth, so an ordinary primer has nothing to grip. A waterborne bonding primer grips the plastic chemically and gives the topcoat something to hold. The film then needs three or four days to reach full adhesion.
What happens to lifted thermofoil doors?
There are two routes. The film can be heated and stripped to the MDF underneath, which is slow and only worth it on a few doors, or the door is replaced and sprayed to match the rest of the kitchen. Replacement is often cheaper.