Shelf liner used as covering for cabinet fronts
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I'm just starting to refinish our kitchen cabinets and checked to see how hard it would be to strip our cabinet fronts of the many layers of previous paint. Much to my surprise, and delight, the paint began peeling off in large sections. I thought that was kind of weird even for a semi gloss, until I realized that the previous owner had used a plain, off-white shelf liner instead of paint! Has anyone seen this done or had experience taking it off? This is the whole cabinet door, not an insert. She matched it so well with the paint on the base areas, that I didn't figure this out til now :) Thanks for any replies!
6 answers
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IN the world of DIY, nothing surprises me with how creative people can get. From shelf paper for finishes, to paper bags for floors. Was this really a paper product? or perhaps a failed manufacture plastic finish. Many older lower end cabinets were done with a plastic shell finish of sorts. They were short lived as they failed quite quickly. In any case you need to repair this. And how depends upon what is reveled below the peeled off surface. If its a plywood cabinet your best method of repair would be to purchase a cabinet refinishing system. Here is a site that may shed some light on how to do this yourself. Although I do not endorse this site or any others this one has the most detail on how to go about it. http://www.refacedepot.com/ The other way to do this is to paint. This is much more successful if the cabinets are solid wood. Plywood grains tend to show up with paint. While the solid wood surfaces tend to look more professional once properly applied. In any case if you paint, regardless of type of wood you have. The trick to kitchens is grease removal. Cooking grease gets into everything. And like wax, grease will prevent proper adhesion and finishing of any paint applied. Be sure to De-grease everything you plan to paint, before you do any sanding or other prep work. If not any sanding will cause the grease to be worked into the wood surface, making the final paint results look unprofessional and not last very long. As far as removal of the existing finish. Try a hair dryer on high to warm up the materials and soften any glues. A heat gun will also work, but you need to be careful with that as you can burn the wood surface as well as yourself.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Aug 10, 2014
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Turns out it was indeed shelf liner. A friend told me to use a heat gun, carefully. It worked! Not only did it take off the plastic liner and its light glue backing but the harvest gold layer and the red layer below. Time consuming and messy, but it worked. A couple of the cabinets were indeed painted (the color was so exactly the same that's why I was surprised at two different finishes) and I'm having a little issue with that, it gets soft but smears instead of bubbles. I may have to use paint remover on it. Its acting like an oil base paint. So far so good! Got several doors done today, will finish the rest, then sand and repaint. Thanks for responding!
Catherine Westergaard
on Aug 10, 2014
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Try goof off. IT will remove a lot of that glue pretty fast. Most big box stores sell it or something much like it.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Aug 10, 2014
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I saw this done on a home remodeling show. They used bead board wallpaper, placed it on the cabinet door and painted over it. It was gorgeous. Did a whole kitchen remodel for less than $1400 dollars.
Ione Humann
on Aug 12, 2014
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That's very cool! Never thought of that! Not the look we're going for, but something to keep in mind for the future. I knew it would be a good idea to come to Hometalk, everyone is so helpful and comes up with ideas that you don't think of...like having a coffee chat with new friends :) Next time I'll bake something to share, lol!
Catherine Westergaard
on Aug 13, 2014
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I'll keep that in mind :) have a nice day everybody and thanks for the helpful tips! I'll be sure to post photos when I'm done.
Catherine Westergaard
on Aug 13, 2014
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