Slick factory surfaces refuse ordinary paint, so cabinet painting on thermofoil, melamine and laminate begins with a true bonding primer. Doors whose film has already lifted are stripped back to bare board, or else replaced.
Builder kitchens from roughly 2005 to 2015 fill Castlemore, the newer streets north of Sandalwood Parkway, and almost every finished basement in the city. Most are MDF or particleboard core with a vinyl film or a laminate face, and most take cabinet painting perfectly well once the surface is prepared for it.
Wall Paint On A Melamine Door Is The Fastest Failure In The Trade
Nothing in cabinet painting grips a glossy factory face on its own. Latex wall paint rolled straight onto melamine feels dry in an hour and peels off in sheets at the first fingernail, usually starting at the door edges where the film is thinnest. That single mistake accounts for most of the failed cabinet painting we get called to repair.
A waterborne bonding primer solves it and makes cabinet painting possible on these doors. That class of product is built to grip melamine, thermofoil, laminate and glazed tile, recoats within three or four hours and reaches full adhesion in three or four days. Stain blocking is not part of its job, so a door carrying water marks or old marker wants shellac beneath it too.
Intact Thermofoil Can Be Painted And Lifting Thermofoil Cannot
Thermofoil is a vinyl skin bonded under heat to a shaped MDF door. While that skin is tight everywhere, cabinet painting over it works. Once heat and steam have broken the bond, the film starts curling away from the board and no coating pushes it back down, because paint sticks to the vinyl rather than to the door.
Before any cabinet painting is quoted, the doors worth checking are those beside the dishwasher and on either side of the range, because heat and steam gather there. A lifted door has two honest answers. Heat strips it back to bare MDF for priming and painting, or a replacement door goes in and is sprayed to match the rest, which the cabinet refacing and door replacement page covers. Both appear on the quote as separate lines.
Melamine Boxes Are Normal In Basement And Rental Kitchens
The boxes in a second kitchen downstairs are almost always white melamine over particleboard, and so are the boxes in most rental units and apartments. Melamine paints well, but it chips at the raw edges, so the edge banding gets checked and any loose strips are re-glued before cabinet painting starts.
Swollen particleboard is a different matter entirely. A sink base that has taken a slow leak is soft, thickened at the bottom and rounded at the corners, and there is no coating that restores it. That cabinet gets replaced, a fact you hear during the visit. Condo kitchens with the same construction are handled on the condo kitchen cabinet painting page.
Laminate Costs A Little More To Paint Than Wood
Bonding primer, extra degreasing and careful edge work add labour, which is why the Ontario market puts a cabinet painting premium of roughly $150 to $400 on a laminate or thermofoil kitchen against a plain wood one. The written quote states it rather than burying it, and the total for a small basement kitchen still lands well under the price of new cabinetry.
Cure matters more on these substrates too. Bonding primer needs three or four days to grip completely, so doors stay flat in the shop and the cabinet painting is not rushed back onto its hinges.
Find Out What Your Doors Actually Are
A close photo of a door edge usually settles the question, because thermofoil shows a wrapped seam and laminate shows a glued line. Send one through the form or call +1 (289) 201-6897 and describe what you see. The visit carries no charge, and the cabinet painting quote states plainly which doors can be painted and which cannot. Everything else we paint, from oak kitchens to islands, is on the home page.
Honest cabinet painting on thermofoil means saying no to peeling doors, and the alternative to that honesty is a kitchen that fails again in eighteen months.
Thermofoil, Melamine and Laminate Cabinet Painting Questions
Can peeling thermofoil be painted?
No. Once the film has lifted, paint has nothing sound to hold. The doors are stripped back to bare MDF for priming, or replaced with new ones sprayed to match. Intact thermofoil with tight edges can be painted after degreasing and a true bonding primer. Each door is checked at the visit.
Why does wall paint peel off melamine?
Melamine is slick and non-porous, so ordinary latex feels dry within an hour and then peels in sheets at the first fingernail, starting at the door edges. A bonding primer is what grips it. It needs three or four days to bite fully, so the doors stay flat in the shop.
Does painting laminate cost more than wood?
A little. Bonding primer, extra degreasing and careful edge work add labour, and the Ontario market puts the premium near $150 to $400 for a laminate or thermofoil kitchen. The written quote states it as its own line instead of burying it in the total.