How do I reface my laminate kitchen cabinets?

Are you thinking of painting or something else? I painted laminate cabinets in a rental property and then covered them with a water based polycrylic. I didn't pull off the laminate. They've held up great and look nice too.

Removing laminate off cabinets is almost impossible. Just paint them. If the cabinets are Thermofoil it can be removed but still they would need to be painted.

paint cabinets

https://www.hometalk.com/search/posts?filter=paint%20cabinets

Thermofoil

https://www.hometalk.com/diy/kitchen-dining/kitchen-dining-furniture/redoing-my-kitchen-peeling-cabinets-one-at-a-time-28925627

Get a price from a cabinet resurfacing co to see how much. Sometimes doing it yourself cost more to do, due to the cost of the material and all the trial and errors. Redoing laminate isn't that easy and you have to be really good with a router. Sheets of laminate usually come in 5' x 10' sheets. Lots of cutting.

Real plastic laminate cabinets are 1/16”+ thick.

Thermafoil or Melamine are paper thin.

Real PL should not wear out on a vertical face, for at about 60 years. Unless they were custom made, it’s unlikely they’re real PL.

if they are, buy a router & a laminate trim bit and I can teach you how to re-laminate them. It’s not difficult, but is a challenging beginners’ project- so let me know if you have real PL.

Foil & Melamine have to be carefully prepped for paint, as sanding though the paper means exposing the particle board underneath. The particle board will Mushroom when exposed to paint. Then it’s a huge mess- so I’d read up on that.

The term re-facing means purchasing new cabinet doors, removing the old doors, then installing the new cabinet doors on the old cabinet shells.

Re-facing does not mean re-laminating.

Hi Kathleen, I think you can easily chalk paint them without removing the laminate, hope this video helps you out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktBXOi9_vXo