Refacing Kitchen Unit Doors
If your kitchen units are beginning to look past their best, or even if you are just fed up with them, you can give your kitchen a whole new look simply by re-facing the kitchen unit doors.
The amount of effort and expense involved depends very much on the style of the existing doors. But whatever sort of door you are working on, it is easiest to remove it first by unscrewing the hinges.
Some doors comprise a wooden frame with a panel of decorated hardboard or other material, which fits into slots in the inside of the frame and is held in place by small screws.
If your doors are constructed in this way, renovation is a very simple task.
Remove the door handles and unscrew the central panels.
Rub down the wooden doorframes with sandpaper and paint or varnish as necessary. For the central panels, you can try to either recover the existing panels with a self-adhesive decorative vinyl such as Fablon or replace the panel’s altogether.
Decorative vinyl’s comes in a variety of colours and designs, including some very realistic wood grain and some bright, plain colours. If you decide to do this, make sure that the surface of the panels are completely smooth, and that any chips or bumps have been filled. The vinyl will mould itself to the surface of the panels and any indentations or specks of dirt will show particularly if you are using a plain colour.
The fit the vinyl, cut a piece slightly larger than size of the panel – you can do this with a pair of scissors.
Peel away the backing paper at one corner and lay it on the panel making sure than the pattern is straight.
1. Gradually peel away the backing paper and smooth the vinyl against the panel as you go using a soft cloth. Make sure that no air is trapped under the vinyl, or you will end up with bubble on the surface.
2. Once the panel has been completely covered take a knife and trim off any excess vinyl around the edge of the panel. You can use a marking knife, but take care not to cut through the panel laminate.
Replace the panel in the slots in the door and screw it back in position
If the panels are too badly damage to recover you could cut out new hardboard panels using the old ones as a template, and cover or paint them. Alternatively, you could replace them with a ready decorated hardboard such as Laconite. This is supplied in large sheets, and one sheet should covered approximately eight doors.
If your cupboard doors are finished with a plastic coating or decorative laminate, you can simply sand it down and stick new laminate over the top providing the surface is relatively smooth.
Most manufacturers of laminates produce a special grade for use on vertical surfaces. Because it is not subject to heavy wear, this is thinner and considerably cheaper than the grade normally used for work surface. In addition, it does not add too much to the thickness of the doors.
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