VB

"Vic Baron"

15/02/2006 7:02 PM

Laminating kitchen cabinet help

Planning on redoing my kitchen cabinets. Currently they are painted
plywood - really ugly. I do not want to tear them down and completely
rebuild them if I can avoid it. I thought I'd make some oak or ash doors and
face frames. The cabinet sides and possibly bottoms are the issue. I was
thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on those
surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.

Any suggestions, caveats? If I can find thin ( < 1/4" ) oak ply, should I
glue the entire surface or spot glue & nail.

Thanx,

Vic

--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't


This topic has 5 replies

bb

"bf"

in reply to "Vic Baron" on 15/02/2006 7:02 PM

16/02/2006 6:24 AM


Vic Baron wrote:
> Planning on redoing my kitchen cabinets. Currently they are painted
> plywood - really ugly. I do not want to tear them down and completely
> rebuild them if I can avoid it. I thought I'd make some oak or ash doors and
> face frames. The cabinet sides and possibly bottoms are the issue. I was
> thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on those
> surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.
>
> Any suggestions, caveats? If I can find thin ( < 1/4" ) oak ply, should I
> glue the entire surface or spot glue & nail.
>

Please let me know how this works out for you. I have a relative that
is thinking about undertaking something similiar.

I'm not sure how much labor you save though by stripping the cabinents
and gluing 1/4 oak ply to them. Since you are making new face frames
and doors anyway, you might be better off to just buy some 3/4" oak or
birch plywood for the cabinents themselves.
it's not that much more expensive.. at Home Depot, 1/4 oak ply is about
20/sheet, and 3/4 ply is about 40/sheet. I'd be concerned about how it
would look to just slap 1/4 plywood over the existing stuff.. but maybe
there's a good method to do it.

You could build and finish all the new cabinents in the shop and then
just have one day of hell taking the old ones down and putting up the
new ones.. so your kitchen is only disrupted for a day or two.

I've never undertaken a project as you've described before, so I am
interested in how it works out for you. Didn't mean to be a buzz kill,
I was just describing how I'd do it.

Uu

"Upscale"

in reply to "Vic Baron" on 15/02/2006 7:02 PM

15/02/2006 5:47 PM

"Vic Baron" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on
those
> surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.

Are those surfaces finished in any way? If so, then properly gluing to them
might be difficult unless you strip whatever finish is applied.

VB

"Vic Baron"

in reply to "Vic Baron" on 15/02/2006 7:02 PM

16/02/2006 4:13 PM


"bf" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Vic Baron wrote:
>> Planning on redoing my kitchen cabinets. Currently they are painted
>> plywood - really ugly. I do not want to tear them down and completely
>> rebuild them if I can avoid it. I thought I'd make some oak or ash doors
>> and
>> face frames. The cabinet sides and possibly bottoms are the issue. I was
>> thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on
>> those
>> surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.
>>
>> Any suggestions, caveats? If I can find thin ( < 1/4" ) oak ply, should I
>> glue the entire surface or spot glue & nail.
>>
>
> Please let me know how this works out for you. I have a relative that
> is thinking about undertaking something similiar.
>
> I'm not sure how much labor you save though by stripping the cabinents
> and gluing 1/4 oak ply to them. Since you are making new face frames
> and doors anyway, you might be better off to just buy some 3/4" oak or
> birch plywood for the cabinents themselves.
> it's not that much more expensive.. at Home Depot, 1/4 oak ply is about
> 20/sheet, and 3/4 ply is about 40/sheet. I'd be concerned about how it
> would look to just slap 1/4 plywood over the existing stuff.. but maybe
> there's a good method to do it.
>
> You could build and finish all the new cabinents in the shop and then
> just have one day of hell taking the old ones down and putting up the
> new ones.. so your kitchen is only disrupted for a day or two.
>
> I've never undertaken a project as you've described before, so I am
> interested in how it works out for you. Didn't mean to be a buzz kill,
> I was just describing how I'd do it.
>

LOL! Not a buzz kill at all - that was my original plan but being inherently
lazy I thought I'd explore alternate methods. Forgot about the stripping
though - you're right - doing that "in place" is a chore. Not ready to start
quite yet though but I'm leaning back toward the remove and replace original
scenario.

Thanx,

Vic

Rd

Robatoy

in reply to "Vic Baron" on 15/02/2006 7:02 PM

16/02/2006 12:43 PM

In article <[email protected]>,
"Vic Baron" <[email protected]> wrote:

> "Upscale" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > "Vic Baron" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >> thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on
> > those
> >> surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.
> >
> > Are those surfaces finished in any way? If so, then properly gluing to
> > them
> > might be difficult unless you strip whatever finish is applied.
> >
>
> Unfortunately they've been painted - probably will have to strip, I guess.
> :(
>
> Vic

Roughing it up with some 36 grip in a beltsander will work. Then wash it
down with something nasty, like lacquer thinner.
Then use PL 700 (no nails) construction adhesive...annnnnnnnnnnd
a couple of brads till the glue sets.
Make sure the face-frame protrudes enough to cover the 1/4" plywood. (I
use 1/4" ply for that kinda thing.)

VB

"Vic Baron"

in reply to "Vic Baron" on 15/02/2006 7:02 PM

15/02/2006 11:32 PM



"Upscale" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Vic Baron" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> thinking of trying to laminate melamine or possibly thin oak ply(?) on
> those
>> surfaces. I've never worked with laminating melamine before.
>
> Are those surfaces finished in any way? If so, then properly gluing to
> them
> might be difficult unless you strip whatever finish is applied.
>

Unfortunately they've been painted - probably will have to strip, I guess.
:(

Vic


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