I have read the other replies to the post "painting melamine kitchen cabinets" with great interest. I replied to this post as well but was afraid no one would sift through 3 pages of replies to get to my post, so I decided to start a new thread. Sorry for being redundant.
Anyway, I too am hoping to try my hand at updating my 80's melamine kitchen. I really love the looks of the cabinets acheived by those who responsed to "painting melamine kitchen cabinets". I got some great tips, Thanks!
However, before I dive into my own project, I have a few questions:
1) What is the best material to use for the accent trim on the cabinet face? MDF, oak, pine?
2) How do you attached the trim to the cabinet face, glue, tack nails or both?
3) If glue was used, what kind of glue?
4) My bottom set of cabinets have a combination of vertical cabinet doors and horizontal drawers. I was thinking of applying trim only to the top and bottom edges of the drawers, rather than creating a frame of trim on each drawer. I'm just not sure if this would look weird next to vertical cabinets with the full frame of trim? (see photo below)
5) Also not sure how to negotiate the trim on the bi-fold doors that house the lazy susans on either side of the stove (see photo)? I'm guessing a full frame on each panel of the bi-fold door would be most approriate, but I'm open to suggesions?
6) I have a very narrow set of vertical cabinets running along side the fridge (see photo). Any suggestions on what kind of trim layout would work best here?
7) Finally, any suggestions how to incorporate the trim motif to the open oak shelves above the stove?
Thanks, in advance for the advice and wish me lots of luck... I'm gonna need it! :o
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Well let's see...
1) use whatever wood/trim is the best price. Since you are painting it anyway, no need for solid wood like oak. You can get away with pine or primed MDF (primed does save some work) but MDF can be a bit fussier for attaching although it cuts much nicer.
2) Both. The glue is what holds the trim, the nails hold the glue until it sets.
3) I have no idea what type of glue and all the available glues drive me nuts. You will need on that will attach to laminate or melamine (whatever is on the front of those cupboards) and whatever trim you buy. Someone at the hardware store can help. I don't think the usual yellow wood glue will work since your cupboard surface is not wood. You will probably end up buying some PL product.
4) This is a taste thing. Last time I a kitchen trim I just did as you are suggesting and did the sides and the very top and bottom draw edge. It just looked to jumbled trying to trim each drawer using the trim I was using. You might want to figure out which trim you are using, where it's going to be placed (very edge or in a bit) and we can play layout to see how each version would look.
5) Agree, I think you just fake it to make them each look like individual doors.
6) I think you need to use the same trim on the narrow doors as the others but it really can depend on the style of trim and what sizes it comes in. Some comes in two or three sizes, others only one. This might be the time to scan some mags or visit some show homes and see what they do with panelled doors that are different sizes. I suspect they are all the same.
7). For you open shelves... again depends on the style of trim you use but maybe just use the trim on the outer edges and shelf fronts. It will really depend on the sizes available too because if you are using something a lot wider than the vertical parts of your selves, it may not fit or might look like too much.
If you really end up confused, get to a lumber store that has samples of the various trims so you can bring some home (or decide to spend a few dollars and buy a few feet of each of the contenders) so you can really see how it fits on all the doors, shelves, drawers before you go buying a hundred feet.
Something you might want to keep in mind. If you are DIYing this and if you don't have a miter saw, keep that in mind when looking at trim. There is some trim you absolutely have to have mitered corners with and it's a pain when you don't have the right tools or patience to do it. I'm doing mine and even though I do have a miter saw and have done a lot of miters before I went with one that I can use straight butt joints this time because miters are just asking for extra work and expense. The first kitchen I did this too I even had a finish carpenter to do it and he even screwed up not realizing the trim was not the same on both top and bottom so a bit of waste and swearing I can tell you. Now my motto is to keep it simple and save the aspirin money for something else.
I'll attach the inspiration photo for what I am going to do so you can see what I mean about the corners/joins being straight cut and how you can get one trim style in two sizes as it uses two sizes of the same type.