Painting over MDF kitchen doors where laminate has started peeling

SMW87

Hi all,

I am in the process of purchasing my first home. Thankfully not much needs done to the house. One thing that needs attention is the kitchen.

It is mdf with laminate covering and about half of the doors have cracks or laminate is peeling off.

Can i just peel all this off and paint over directly, similar to the way people paint hardwood doors? Will it give a good finish?

Iv worked out its going to cost around 700 to replace the doors, but want to try and save where I can.


Thanks

S

TheCyclingProgrammer

You can paint over laminate with the right paint, but the problem is if its peeling off or cracking, I don't think you're going to get a good result unless you can somehow glue it back down and fill the cracks (or peel it off cleanly which seems unlikely).

SMW87

I was thinking of removing all the laminate and then painting directly onto the MDF, too much laminate is missing

Reece_

Nothing stopping you doing what you suggest, a lot of faff though.
A heat gun ( not staying in one place too long ) should help remove the laminate, you'd then want to get the underlying mdf sanded nicely, atleast down to 240-320 grit, a sanding sealer helps too and will stop paint soaking in quite so much. Best results with the paint finish would come from spraying really, depending on what you intend to paint with and the design of the doors, brush marks will make them look nasty and too obviously painted imo.

dirty_magic

It does work, my friend did it in her rented flat because the landlord wouldn't replace the damaged door. It didn't look great though, you could tell it was painted.

I think it's probably worth saving and getting doors you like!

SMW87

Thanks for the replies folks. Looks like I may just have to bite the bullet and get saving lol

kathrynha

We tried paining the naff cupboard doors when we moved in to our house, and it really didn't look good. Definitely worth saving up to replace them.
If they are standard sized cupboards would Ikea ones fit as that could work out cheaper?