Painting kitchen unit doors

1jim

Hi
I am considering trying to paint my kitchen unit doors (rather than replace them as likly to be cheaper), has anyone tried this? what results can I expect and any reccomendations for primers/paints would be helpful, the units are mdf based covered with vinyl or similar covering (b&q type)
thanks
Jim

Savannah02K

Hiya

I did this about 3 years ago and the doors still look OK. I didn't use any primer etc, didn't need to. Went to Homebase and talked to guys there, there's a special paint you can get for doing MDF-think it was either a Ronseal product or Homebase's own version of it. Just did a couple of coats, used the small roller that you use for door panels, radiators etc, the foam one as I found that gave the best finish. Main thing is that when it's all dry etc only use a wet cloth to clean, don't use any abrasive cream cleaners etc as this will mark the paint. I also used a tile paint to cover up the nasty tiles, worked ok for couple of years but nowhere near as successful as the doors, one small knock (from an oven tray, falling knife) took off the paint back to the primer.

I'm really pleased with the cupboard doors, was guy at Homebase who'd just moved house and couldn't afford new kitchen who recommended the products, I even copied his colour scheme!

sallyrsm

I did my melamine units in my old kitchen. I lightly sanded them then rolled on an International Tile Primer, then used regular oil based eggshell in the colour of my choosing a Dulux one that I had blended myself, again with a roller the little foam ones. New handles and it looked fantastic for selling. My doors didn't have a gloss finish though I thought it might look better eggshell than gloss. Gloss a bit more unforgiving.