Painting kitchen cupboard melamine doors

[221b]

Hello

My parents have acquired a set of lovely new kitchen cupboard doors second hand.

Some of them however, don't fit, so in this case, we are going to have paint the present ones to match the colour of the new set so as they blend in as seamlessly as possible.

I know other people have successfully painted over melamine doors with fair degree of success and achieved quite a professional look.

I'd really appreciate some "Top Tips" as to how I can approach this: ie brush or roller? Which primer? Which is the best paint to use? How many coats? Does it need a sealer? To sand or not to sand? etc :-)

Many thanks in advance for your help, Answerbankers :-)

Helen

[theshedman]

Hi Helen, as long as you are good with a brush you should get good results ronseal have product on market for this just click on the link. The instructions on how to use it are there too.

http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/product.jsp? id=7

Another product which I have used is Fablon Plus. It takes a while to put on but the finish is really good and it is washable and scrubable. It is made for the kitchen and is really hardwearing. It can be bought from B&Q and is available in many different designs and colours. Worth a look.

[LCDMAN]

As theshedman says, there are several paint makers doing specific products formulated just for this application - painting melamine surfaces. If you Google "melamine paint" then it will help. Certainly I have seen products from Ronseal, Jonstons paints, International Paints and Dulux ("cupboard paint") and others in my local Focus DIY. Some have a bigger range of colours than others. If you do end up using a normal gloss paint then you need to give the surface a very good sanding to provide a "key" for the paint.

Save you the effort - here are the Google UK results;

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=melamin e+paint&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7Ccoun tryGB

[221b]

Thanks LCDMan!

I was really hoping I'd be able to get a colour mixed up specially to match the old doors to the new doors, but in a melamine friendly paint.

Is this possible do you think?

Or am I expecting too much? :-)

Many thanks

Helen

[LCDMAN]

You have to bear in mind that melamine isn't porous in any way at all so you need a synthetic/solvent based paint (like an acrylic gloss) that doesn't have to soak in, but will dry in a sensible time. A water based gloss or emulsion will not work. Taking the doors off and painting them laying flat will avoid any potential issues with runs.

A very good sanding will be needed to proved a "key" (rough surface) for the paint to adhere to. Given those two things then you should be able to get a colour to match I would have thought.