Thermofoil, melamine and laminate doors carry slick factory surfaces where ordinary primer will not hold, so the job begins with bonding primer, plus an honest verdict on the doors worth painting and the ones past saving.
Builder kitchens in Martindale, Grantham and the newer streets of Western Hill, along with most condos and rental units near Brock, carry these doors. The work is insured. The visit tells you before the quote whether every door is a candidate.
Melamine and high-pressure laminate are hard, glossy and non-porous, so a standard primer sits on top and comes away in a sheet the first time a door is scrubbed. A waterborne bonding primer bites into the surface after a thorough degrease and a fine scuff sand, and it reaches full adhesion over three or four days. The topcoats go on thin over that, exactly as they would in any other cabinet painting job.
Edges are the weak point. Melamine chips at the edges of drawer fronts and doors, and those chips get filled and sanded ahead of the primer so the paint has something solid to hold. The cutlery drawer and the doors beside the range get extra attention because that is where wear shows first.
Paint does not re-glue vinyl to MDF. Thermofoil lifts when steam from the dishwasher or heat from the range softens the glue, and once it has bubbled or peeled at a corner it keeps going. The two honest fixes are stripping the vinyl off with heat and painting the bare MDF underneath, or replacing that door outright with a new one sprayed to match. Both are priced on the quote. Cabinet refacing and door replacement covers single-door replacement.
Thermofoil that is fully intact takes cabinet painting well over the bonding primer. Every door gets checked on the visit, and it is normal for a kitchen to have thirty sound doors and two peeling ones beside the dishwasher.
Most of the condos through the downtown core and around Fairview, and most student rentals in Glenridge and Thorold, have melamine kitchens from the 1980s or 1990s that are dated but structurally fine. Melamine cabinet painting brings a unit back to rentable or sellable condition for far less than new cabinets, and because the doors are sprayed away from the unit, it stays in use. Condo kitchen cabinet painting covers the building logistics.
The extra primer, the longer adhesion time and the edge repair add roughly $150 to $400 to a kitchen against a wood or MDF job, and the quote shows it as its own line. Replacing a peeling thermofoil door adds the cost of that door. Those figures come from the market, and the quote in writing is what counts.
One photo of the most damaged door beside the dishwasher tells us most of what we need before the visit. Book the visit or call +1 (905) 367-8017 and we will confirm which doors can be painted. The St. Catharines Cabinet Painting home page covers all the cabinet painting we do, wood and MDF kitchens included.
Melamine and laminate doors take cabinet painting well when the bonding primer is right, and the honest answer about a peeling thermofoil door comes with the free visit.
Identical prep, primer and sprayed coats go onto all the other cabinets around the house.
Kitchen cabinet painting removes every door and drawer front, degreases and sands the lot, primes for the substrate and sprays thin coats of a hard enamel so an existing kitchen looks new without replacing a single box.
See Kitchen Cabinets
Oak cabinet painting locks the tannins in golden oak under a shellac primer, deals with the open grain by filling it or keeping it, and lays a hard sprayed enamel over 1980s and 1990s doors that are solid, well built and simply the wrong colour.
See Oak Cabinets
Post-war bungalow kitchen cabinet painting restores the original birch and plywood slab doors of 1950s to 1970s kitchens, or the 1980s oak that replaced them, in the small galley layouts those houses were built with.
See Post-War Bungalows
Cabinet spray painting means doors finished in a filtered spray booth, boxes finished behind sealed containment in the kitchen, and thin, even coats of enamel or 2K polyurethane that cure hard with no brush marks, which is cabinet painting done the factory way.
See Spray Painting
Bathroom vanity painting is the smallest job on the list, usually six to ten pieces finished inside one or two days, with a primer and topcoat chosen to stand up to the steam and splashes of a bathroom.
See Bathroom Vanities
Cabinet refinishing keeps the wood. Stripping or sanding takes the old finish off, new stain goes on, and a clear coat seals it, so solid walnut, cherry or white oak doors look new without paint covering the grain.
See Refinishing
A two-tone kitchen puts a painted perimeter beside a darker or wood-toned island, and where the perimeter is already fine, just the island gets sprayed in navy, green or charcoal as a job of its own.
See Two-Tone and Islands
Refacing fits fresh doors and drawer fronts onto boxes that are still sound, and door replacement swaps out a single damaged or delaminated door and sprays it to match, for a fraction of what a full kitchen replacement costs.
See Refacing and New Doors
Condo kitchen cabinet painting deals with a small galley, the building's rules, the elevator and the parking, and because the doors are sprayed away from the building, the unit stays livable while its boxes get sprayed inside two days.
See Condo Kitchens
With the doors already down, the old handle holes are filled and hidden under paint, a template guides fresh drilling, and worn hinges are exchanged for soft-close units sized to the same cup.
See Hardware and Hinges
Cabinet painting for pantries, laundry and mudroom cabinets, built-in wall units, bookcases, window seats and fireplace mantels covers the cabinets that are not in the kitchen, and most of these pieces get finished on site.
See Pantries and Built-Ins
A colour consultation pins down colour and sheen before any spraying starts, with a sample door finished in the real colour and checked in the kitchen's own light against the counters, the floor and the backsplash.
See Colour ConsultationWe arrive, count the doors and put the quote in writing. The visit costs nothing and there is no pressure to go ahead.
Describe the kitchen as fully as suits you. We phone back to book the visit. Two things send the form: who you are and how to reach you. If you would sooner talk, the number is +1 (905) 367-8017.
