First off, I've gotta say - you guys have great style! Some of the pics I've seen on this site blow me away! Soooo, I'm hoping that someone out there has some advice for me!
I bought my first house 4 months ago, and have been loving the chance to decorate something of my own! It's been going pretty well, but the one eyesore (to me at least) is my kitchen. My living area is fairly small, and open concept, so when I'm sitting in the living room, I have to look at european-style melamine cabinets (with the oak strip on them) - and the more I look at them, the more they bug me!
I see that there are several threads asking if the oak strip on the bottom of european-style melamine cabinets can be painted out - and I'm happy to see the answer is yes. But, I can't seem to find any pictures of the finished cabinets. Is anybody willing to post their "after" pictures for me? I'm also thinking that once they're painted, I could put some long, sleek looking handles horizontally along the oak strip as a bit of a camoflage.
What do you think?
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I've posted pics of my kitchen under "Kitchen advice & yucky cabinets" on the design forum. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
Maybe you could remove a door and take it with you for advice at the paint store. Then they would know what your dealing with.
Sounds like you are pretty industrious tackling a bedroom in the meantime.
Have a chat with the store types and see what they can tell you about the stains. If the samples you are using are the ones I am thinking of (about the size of a ketchup packet) they are normal stains intended for raw wood.
There are special products made for going over that sort of thing that you can check out at leevalley.com and look up 'wiping stain'. it's a little different than a normal stain but that's the only option unless you sand all that lacquer finish off.
Thanks for the Lee Valley site DustBunnyDiva. I think I know why my stain didn't take...
I did sand the laquer off the spot I stained, but didn't know that the stain needed to sit for awhile before wiping it off. Lee Valley mentions leaving stains on for 15 to 60 minutes. The tester I bought didn't have any instructions with it...so I just kind of dabbed it on a spot that I had sanded and wiped it right off. Whoops!
Looks like I'm heading down to pick up another tester tomorrow. But today hasn't been a total waste - I finally got my spare bedroom painted a lovely mellow gold colour!
You aren't supposed to need to sand but I am not sure I trust that. If it were me, I'd do a light scuff, once over just in case.
As for roller or brush, when I was thinking of painting the cupboards in my last house those small foam rollers were recommended to get a nice smooth finish (mind you, that is where good paint pays off). I never tried it so can't tell you if it's true or not. Certainly rollers are faster than brushes.
I just checked out the Zinsser website. It said that with BIN primer you don't have to sand the surfaces. Does this apply to melamine cabinets too? Also, I'm wondering what I should use, a good paint brush (which I have), or a good roller (which I also have). I really don't want brush strokes.
I'm thinking of buying a sheet of melamine at Home Depot and experimenting on that instead of a cabinet door first. I believe it's exactly the same material. Anyone have any input on any of this? And thanks! you're all so helpful! :)
The problem you are having (I bet) is that you are trying a normal stain over that factory finished wood. The problem is the factory finish is usually a lacquer and stain will not penetrate lacquer. Even if you got it to look like you want, it would probably not adhere properly and the first good wipe, it's off.
There are special products made for going over that sort of thing that you can check out at leevalley.com and look up 'wiping stain'. it's a little different than a normal stain but that's the only option unless you sand all that lacquer finish off.
One of the tinted varathanes might work too to give the effect you want but you need to get one that will stick to lacquer (oil based probably).
As for painting outright, you need a really good adhesion primer and the BIN or 123 mentioned in the other thread are great. Both are made by Zinsser (if you go to zinsser.com you can click on projects they describe redoing kitchen cabinets). Once the primer is on you can use any kind of paint you like. personally I don't use melamine because I have seen it chip but there are lots of good paint options out there.
Well, I just did a little stain test patch on the inside of an upper cupboard to see how it would look, and I think that staining might be the way to go, for me at least. If my cabinets were the plain melamine, I'd have them painted in a heartbeat, but I'm so nervous that painting the oak will look funny - even though I've seen that it can look good....weird, I know! This way, if the staining doesn't turn out, I still have the option of painting over it, while if I painted right away, it would be waaaay harder to go back.
I got a teeny-tiny tester of stain from the local building supply in a dark walnut colour. Unfortunately, I don't think I did it right, as it really didn't darken the wood much - most of the stain went into the grain, while the non-grain bits stayed fairly light/orangish. I'm thinking that I may need to do more than just a light sanding over whatever finish is on the oak right now. I'm going to take a drawer front down to the store with me, and hopefully get a few tips from the staff.
It's funny, I threw this question out this morning 'cause I was thinking of doing this sometime in the next few months....but after the responses, I want to do it NOW!!!! :biglol:
I think you should use melamine paint. We'd love to see before and afters. I'm not sure about the trim but i would think its nailed in and then filled and painted.
I'm just wondering if semi-gloss paint is best (do I use acrylic or melamine paint, I'm conflicted :-) ). Oh, Puddlejumper, check out the other pics under the "painting melamine cabinets" thread, on the 2nd page. Very nice.
Thanks Puddlejumper! Today's my 1st time here, and I'm also looking for advice on melamine cabinets. I've seen pearly_white's cabinet pics (,[url]http://houseandhomeforums.com/showthread.php?t=7006&f=12[/url]) and they look great, exactly what I'm after! I'm just wondering if the paint used is melamine paint, and whether that's the ideal paint for the task.
I'm in a 3-yr old house and will be moving in a year and a half (per usual with military). So obviously I don't want to sink much money into it. I have melamine cabinets without the strip. That makes it easier. I'm wondering what pearly_white used to adhere the mdf molding onto the doors. Just glue?? And I'm nervous about wrecking my kitchen by accident, so I think I need to be cheered on, lol. Thanks! :)
I bumped up a thread " Before and After 80's kitchen" go have a look they have painted their cabinets and put the hardware you described.
I don't know for sure, I but I would think it's a dark brown paint.
Do some research on gel stains and wiping stains, because I think you can use them over old stains and varnish with only a slight scuffing for prepwork.
Hopefully that can be an option for you that's not too labour intensive that will give you the effect of an espresso finish.
That looks fantastic!!!! I was wondering how I could bring a darker brown into my kitchen, and was looking at maybe a chocolate brown subway tile backsplash, but I really like the look of those cabinets. Do you think that is dark brown paint, or was the oak stripped and stained? The pics aren't high enough resolution to get that kind of detail when zoomed in.
Not too long ago this issue was brought up in thread about prepping your house for sale. Look at this thread, and post #6 will show you a very simple and effective makeover of the same european cabinets you have.
[url]http://forums.houseandhome.com/showthread.php?t=20277&highlight=stager&f=10[/url]
It doesn't have handles, like you had hoped, but the paint alone is a vast improvement for the cabinets.