Large surface bubbles on kitchen cabinet doors

FreeBear

Albermarle said:

ThisIsWeird said:

kuepper said:

Slinky said:

kuepper said:

If the doors/drawer fronts were replaced or they and the drawer fronts were painted the frames/surroundings/plinths etc would look shabby so they'd have to be done ie everything bar the worktop would have to be done the same way or it would look a mess. Who would do such work anyway - is it a common practice? - and wouldn't it cost as much as replacement?

Our kitchen was fairly new when we bought the house, but we didn't like the colour of the doors or the worktops. I got Granite Transformations in to quote for replacement doors, they cover the worktop with a new hard surface, new sink, juggling a few cupboards around. The quote came in at £13K. For that I'd want a new kitchen. We decided we'd live with the existing layout, got a new sink and worktop installed for about £2K (expensive sink), and found a chap who spray painted all the doors and cabinetry for us for about another £2K. Looking at it now, you wouldn't know it was originally a different colour.

I guess you might be able to buy a cheap new kitchen for less, but the existing one was an expensive German kitchen, so it made more sense to work with what we had than rip out and replace with something of lower quality.

Unfortunately I couldn't just get the doors etc painted because of the bubbles in them and it's just mdf underneath the covering not solid wood. I think I'll just have to sound out some kitchen fitters for advice on alternatives

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

Would there not be some glue/sticky residue left on the MDF, after the foil layer was removed? Seems a bit unlikely you would get a nice clean surface for painting. I have never done it so I do not know, but I would kind of assume that is what would happen.

A combination of scrapers and sanding will get rid of any adhesive. Once cleaned, a coat of primer/buffer coat applied, and sanded smooth. Then your top coats, sanding in between when necessary.

As long as the preparation is top notch, the finish will be blemish free.

ThisIsWeird

Albermarle said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

Would there not be some glue/sticky residue left on the MDF, after the foil layer was removed? Seems a bit unlikely you would get a nice clean surface for painting. I have never done it so I do not know, but I would kind of assume that is what would happen.

Possibly, but I'd assume that most adhesive would be on the foil layer. In any case, some prep will be needed - a light sanding, a sealing primer - BIN or similar.

I hope that's all, as it's something I'm planning to do myself :-(

kuepper

ThisIsWeird said:

kuepper said:

Slinky said:

kuepper said:

If the doors/drawer fronts were replaced or they and the drawer fronts were painted the frames/surroundings/plinths etc would look shabby so they'd have to be done ie everything bar the worktop would have to be done the same way or it would look a mess. Who would do such work anyway - is it a common practice? - and wouldn't it cost as much as replacement?

Our kitchen was fairly new when we bought the house, but we didn't like the colour of the doors or the worktops. I got Granite Transformations in to quote for replacement doors, they cover the worktop with a new hard surface, new sink, juggling a few cupboards around. The quote came in at £13K. For that I'd want a new kitchen. We decided we'd live with the existing layout, got a new sink and worktop installed for about £2K (expensive sink), and found a chap who spray painted all the doors and cabinetry for us for about another £2K. Looking at it now, you wouldn't know it was originally a different colour.

I guess you might be able to buy a cheap new kitchen for less, but the existing one was an expensive German kitchen, so it made more sense to work with what we had than rip out and replace with something of lower quality.

Unfortunately I couldn't just get the doors etc painted because of the bubbles in them and it's just mdf underneath the covering not solid wood. I think I'll just have to sound out some kitchen fitters for advice on alternatives

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

I never meant the MDF was also bubbling

kuepper

Albermarle said:

ThisIsWeird said:

kuepper said:

Slinky said:

kuepper said:

If the doors/drawer fronts were replaced or they and the drawer fronts were painted the frames/surroundings/plinths etc would look shabby so they'd have to be done ie everything bar the worktop would have to be done the same way or it would look a mess. Who would do such work anyway - is it a common practice? - and wouldn't it cost as much as replacement?

Our kitchen was fairly new when we bought the house, but we didn't like the colour of the doors or the worktops. I got Granite Transformations in to quote for replacement doors, they cover the worktop with a new hard surface, new sink, juggling a few cupboards around. The quote came in at £13K. For that I'd want a new kitchen. We decided we'd live with the existing layout, got a new sink and worktop installed for about £2K (expensive sink), and found a chap who spray painted all the doors and cabinetry for us for about another £2K. Looking at it now, you wouldn't know it was originally a different colour.

I guess you might be able to buy a cheap new kitchen for less, but the existing one was an expensive German kitchen, so it made more sense to work with what we had than rip out and replace with something of lower quality.

Unfortunately I couldn't just get the doors etc painted because of the bubbles in them and it's just mdf underneath the covering not solid wood. I think I'll just have to sound out some kitchen fitters for advice on alternatives

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

Would there not be some glue/sticky residue left on the MDF, after the foil layer was removed? Seems a bit unlikely you would get a nice clean surface for painting. I have never done it so I do not know, but I would kind of assume that is what would happen.

Yes that's what I'd be worried about, plus what painted mdf would look like anyway

ThisIsWeird

kuepper said:

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

I never meant the MDF was also bubbling

Oops - misread your post.

MDF is perfectly paintable - lots of folk on this forum have made bespoke units from MDF sheet. Yes, it may need a bit more prep, especially on their edges/ends, but that isn't an issue.

Whether your fascias will be suitable won't be known until the foil is peeled away. If it can be removed without damage - ie if the adhesive releases from the MDF to leave it smooth - then you should be fine. The risk is that the adhesive is so well bonded in places that it'll peel off the smooth surface of the MDF, exposing the fibrous centre. That can be fixed, but will be a lot of work.

I'd experiment using different techniques; I'm guessing that using a hair dryer - or carefully a paint-stripper gun - as you gently peel away the foil might work.

Then try sanding the surface - gently, with ~120 to 180 grit paper if there's obvious adhesive on the surface. Then I'd seal it with something like BIN, or possibly just an MDF primer.

Depending on your style of doors - if they are 'shaker' for example, then hand-painting using a quality brush could give the best finish, as light paint marks show its bespoke nature. Otherwise, use a mini foam roller. There's a thread on here showing this, but the recommended type was a short-pile roller.

Albermarle

ThisIsWeird said:

Albermarle said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Are you sure the MDF is also bubbling?! That would only be if repeatedly soaked in water.

More likely it's just the 'foil' laye lifted, so the MDF below - if the foil can be removed cleanly - should be 100% paintable.

You will then have a 'bespoke, hand-painted kitchen', so could add £10k to your house's value...

Would there not be some glue/sticky residue left on the MDF, after the foil layer was removed? Seems a bit unlikely you would get a nice clean surface for painting. I have never done it so I do not know, but I would kind of assume that is what would happen.

Possibly, but I'd assume that most adhesive would be on the foil layer. In any case, some prep will be needed - a light sanding, a sealing primer - BIN or similar.

I hope that's all, as it's something I'm planning to do myself :-(

I assumed sods law would apply, and most would be still stuck to the door !