Slick factory surfaces such as thermofoil, melamine and laminate shed ordinary paint, so this kind of cabinet painting starts with an adhesion primer that grips them, followed by a sprayed enamel topcoat that holds for years.
These surfaces fill London condos along Richmond Street, the rental houses of Old North and Broughdale, and the builder kitchens of Hyde Park and Summerside from 1995 to 2010. Each one can be painted if it is sound. Doors that are already peeling belong on the refacing and door replacement page instead.
Melamine and laminate are paper or plastic sheets bonded to particleboard, and nothing sticks to them without help. Ordinary primer beads up, then comes away in one sheet. A waterborne adhesion primer designed for glossy surfaces bites into them, is fully bonded after three or four days, and gives the enamel something to hold.
Prep follows the same order as every other cabinet painting job: degrease, scuff-sand until no sheen remains anywhere, wipe down, bond-prime, sand the primer, then spray on enamel in two or three light passes. Edges get special care, since a chipped melamine edge is the one spot where a finish can lift, so chips get filler and sanding ahead of the primer.
Thermofoil is a vinyl skin vacuum-pressed over a shaped MDF door. Where the vinyl is still tight, the door is degreased, scuffed, bond-primed and sprayed like laminate, and thermofoil cabinet painting lasts as long as any other. Where the vinyl has lifted, most often along the top edges of the doors flanking the range and over the dishwasher, paint cannot fix it. Paint does not glue vinyl back to MDF, and the heat that lifted it will keep lifting it under the new colour.
There are two honest answers for a peeling door. Heat can strip the vinyl down to the MDF, which then gets sealed, primed and sprayed along with everything else, or a new door in a matching profile can take its place and be painted to match. The quote lists each peeling door by position and prices both options, and we say which one we would pick.
London condos and student rentals were fitted with melamine because it was cheap and wipeable, and it has held up better than its reputation. A ten-door galley in a tower off Wonderland Road or a twelve-door kitchen in a rental near Fanshawe takes two days of cabinet painting, its doors at the booth and its boxes sprayed where they are. Building logistics are covered on the condo kitchen page.
Ontario market figures put the bonding primer step at a few hundred dollars over a plain wood kitchen, because the primer costs more and the scuff-sanding takes longer. Stripping peeling thermofoil is priced per door, and replacing a door is priced per door. The written quote shows each of those as its own line beside the standard cabinet painting price, so a kitchen with two bad doors is not priced as if every door were bad.
Photograph the worst door, send it, and we will say whether cabinet painting, stripping or replacement is the answer. Use the form or call +1 (226) 271-3465. The London Cabinet Painting home page covers every other service we run.
Whatever the cabinet, vanity, pantry, island or built-in, the prep, primer and sprayed enamel match what the kitchen received.
Kitchen cabinet painting keeps the kitchen you have: doors, drawer fronts and boxes are each prepped to suit their material, then sprayed with a hard enamel in a fresh colour, for far less than replacing anything.
See Kitchen Cabinets
A spray gun lays hard enamel onto cabinet doors in thin, even passes that a brush cannot match, leaving a factory-smooth surface with no ridges, stroke marks or drips where grease can gather or chips can start.
See Spray Painting
Refinishing suits cabinets built from wood too good to hide. Stripping or sanding removes the tired old finish, a new stain goes on if a different colour is wanted, and a hard clear coat locks the grain in.
See Refinishing
Golden oak from the 1980s becomes a current painted kitchen through oak cabinet painting: tannins get sealed under a shellac primer, the open grain gets filled or stays on show, and a hard sprayed enamel goes over top.
See Oak Cabinets
Refacing hangs brand-new doors and drawer fronts on cabinet boxes still worth keeping, or replaces a lone damaged door, after which every piece is sprayed at once so the whole kitchen reads as one matched set.
See Refacing and New Doors
A two-tone kitchen sets a light painted perimeter against an island done in stained wood, charcoal, green or navy, and the island can be done as part of the whole kitchen or sprayed by itself as its own small job.
See Two-Tone and Islands
Condo kitchen cabinet painting suits a galley with somewhere between ten and fifteen doors, respects the building's rules on hours, elevators and parking, and sends the doors away to the booth so the suite remains livable while the work is done.
See Condo Kitchens
Painting a bathroom vanity takes a day or two: its doors, drawer fronts and box get the full kitchen prep and a sprayed enamel that tolerates steam, at a fraction of a kitchen's size and price.
See Bathroom Vanities
Rental property cabinet painting gives landlords a durable, sprayed, wipe-clean kitchen finish between tenants, priced per unit and scheduled around move-out dates, with hardware and hinge fixes done at the same visit.
See Rental Properties
Tall pantries, laundry and mudroom cabinets, wall units, bookcases and fireplace mantels are built into the house, so instead of going to a booth they get sprayed in position behind sealed plastic, using the same hard enamel a kitchen gets.
See Pantries and Built-Ins
Hardware and hinge work rides along with a painted kitchen: abandoned handle holes get filled and sanded smooth, a drilling template places the new ones, soft-close hinges replace the tired originals, and the metal finish is picked to suit the colour.
See Hardware and Hinges
Colour and sheen get settled before any cabinet painting begins, on full-size sample doors sprayed in the actual product and left standing in the actual kitchen, with the colour matched from whichever paint deck the owner prefers.
See Colour ConsultationSomeone comes out, counts doors, checks the material and writes up the quote. There is no fee for the visit and nothing to sign.
Give us whatever you know about the kitchen, and a call comes back to arrange a time. A name plus a phone number gets the form through. To skip the form and talk it over, call +1 (226) 271-3465.
