cabinet refinishing

[amistad]

Hello, Our home has some old, worn cabinets that look like inexpensive, pre-fab. The white paint is wearing off revealing the wood underneath. I'd like to resurface but, there are a number of cabinet doors and drawers that would be very time costly. In addition, the wood is not of good quality. Any ideas how I could make these poor old friends new again? Thanks.

[HayZee518]

Those cabinets might be a type that they sold in K-Mart or WalMart. Their construction is that of particle board with a vinyl stick on veneer. What you might do for at least the doors is get a sheet of wood veneer of whatever species you want. It is about 1/32" thick, can be cut with scissors or a hobby knife. Use a quality contact cement, apply to both surfaces and stick it on. Once you touch the two surfaces together be warned, you won't be able to move it. Weldwood has a solvent based contact cement use for formica counter tops - this works best.

[tom_matthews]

hmmmmmm........ it sounds like the type cabinets I re-finished last summer, which were cheap particleborad, but the finish was not a sheet veneer, but a more like a fake wood finish that was somehow printed on the wood surface. Water damage had called the board to swell in places, roughing up the texture and ruining the "faux" wood finish. I didn't have much money, but did have some time to invest (the odd nature of my job means I can actually get paid to work on my own house). And rest assured, the job IS DEFINITELY time-consuming, but can make a world of difference in cabinet appearance. In a nutshell:
1. Remove hardware, doors and drawers.
2. Remove old finish. Tip -- I tried both sanding and stripping, and here's what I decided: neither is fun. On doors and drawers I suggest removing the old finish with a random orbital sander--it works faster and cleaner than stripping product, but you'll need plenty of replacement discs. You may have to use stripper and stripping brush on some decorative prifiles that are tought to sand. Tip 2 -- Use high-quality stripping product on vertical surfaces where holding a power sander upright can quickly become fatiguing.
3. After removing all old finish, fill all nail holes and make any other necessary wood repairs.
4. Continue sanding, gradually moving from fine grit to finer grit to achieve a smooth finish.
4. Apply high-quality primer. I suggest using oil/alkyd painst and primers. I used KILZ. Alow to dry, then finish-sand again.
5. Apply high-quality oil/alkyd paint. Can be done with a brush, particularly on vertical surfaces of the cabinet carcass. But I used an HVLP sprayer on the doors and drawers. Allow to dry. Lightly sand. Apply a second cooat.
6. Re-assemble cabintes with new hardware (hinges, pulls, etc)

[amistad]

cabinet refinishing

Those cabinets might be a type that they sold in K-Mart or WalMart. Their construction is that of particle board with a vinyl stick on veneer. What you might do for at least the doors is get a sheet of wood veneer of whatever species you want. It is about 1/32" thick, can be cut with scissors or a hobby knife. Use a quality contact cement, apply to both surfaces and stick it on. Once you touch the two surfaces together be warned, you won't be able to move it. Weldwood has a solvent based contact cement use for formica counter tops - this works best.

I am thinking now of stripping the cabinets and drawers of paint and re-painting them. Would you have any helpful suggestions on how to proceed from this point? I like wood working very much although I don't have a lot of experience working with it.

[amistad]

hmmmmmm........ it sounds like the type cabinets I re-finished last summer, which were cheap particleborad, but the finish was not a sheet veneer, but a more like a fake wood finish that was somehow printed on the wood surface. Water damage had called the board to swell in places, roughing up the texture and ruining the "faux" wood finish. I didn't have much money, but did have some time to invest (the odd nature of my job means I can actually get paid to work on my own house). And rest assured, the job IS DEFINITELY time-consuming, but can make a world of difference in cabinet appearance. In a nutshell:
1. Remove hardware, doors and drawers.
2. Remove old finish. Tip -- I tried both sanding and stripping, and here's what I decided: neither is fun. On doors and drawers I suggest removing the old finish with a random orbital sander--it works faster and cleaner than stripping product, but you'll need plenty of replacement discs. You may have to use stripper and stripping brush on some decorative prifiles that are tought to sand. Tip 2 -- Use high-quality stripping product on vertical surfaces where holding a power sander upright can quickly become fatiguing.
3. After removing all old finish, fill all nail holes and make any other necessary wood repairs.
4. Continue sanding, gradually moving from fine grit to finer grit to achieve a smooth finish.
4. Apply high-quality primer. I suggest using oil/alkyd painst and primers. I used KILZ. Alow to dry, then finish-sand again.
5. Apply high-quality oil/alkyd paint. Can be done with a brush, particularly on vertical surfaces of the cabinet carcass. But I used an HVLP sprayer on the doors and drawers. Allow to dry. Lightly sand. Apply a second cooat.
6. Re-assemble cabintes with new hardware (hinges, pulls, etc)

I think stripping the wood will be a practical approach. I don't have any power tools and will be using hand tools for the work in general and detail work as well. Perhaps the outcome will be an improvement over the former surface considering the quality of products on the market today. And the fact that these cabinets were made 10 - 12 years ago and have received heavy use.