Can You Paint Over Plastic Laminate Cabinets

Some mdf cabinets have a plastic coating and removing a plastic coating from kitchen cabinets is usually easier than removing a wood laminate.

Can you paint over plastic laminate cabinets. We did a tone of research on primers and this is the primer that we eventually used and are really happy with. What is laminate you ask. However both are doable with patience and a steady supply of heat. Don t paint over damaged laminate if laminate is cracked warped or peeling that damage can interfere with the bonding of paint to the cabinet.

The key is to degloss and roughen the plastic surface of laminate and melamine and to use the right paint or coating products. It can basically be any type of furniture cabinets or wood like product that is made by attaching a thin layer of printed plastic sometimes called melamine or thermofoil to a substrate of plywood or particle board. Improperly applied paint will peel off of laminate and melamine creating a bigger mess than you started out with. The best way to do it is to use a heat gun to soften the adhesive and pull the laminate off in sections starting with the edging.

Ensure that the laminate is in good condition by. If you have real wood cabinets and you sand them a little to create a rough surface for the paint to stick to you might be able to get away without using primer. Others can be used without primer. Then lightly sand the cabinets and prime them.

To be able to paint the super smooth laminate you ll need a primer with adhesion promoting properties. Once the primer stays put even if you scratch at it with your fingernail you can paint over the top of it. So you can see why primer is very important when trying to paint over the film which is practically plastic. Some paints call for apply for a primer coat before applying the paint.