Slick factory faces reject ordinary paint, so cabinet painting on these doors lives or dies on a true bonding primer. Intact film takes colour well. Film that has already lifted beside the dishwasher cannot be stuck back down with a coating.
Builder kitchens across Victoria Square, later Cornell, Box Grove and the condo towers at Downtown Markham are largely thermofoil over MDF, melamine over particleboard or laminate. All three are everywhere in the city and each sets its own cabinet painting rules.
Bonding Primer Is The Whole Difference On A Glossy Surface
A standard wall primer finds nothing to grip on a melamine door, which is why a weekend repaint of one peels off in sheets within a year. A waterborne bonding primer is formulated to key into glazed, glossy and non-porous surfaces, and it is the only sensible starting point for cabinet painting on this material.
The surface still has to be degreased and scuff sanded first, because a bonding primer grips a clean dull surface and skids on a greasy shiny one. Bonding primer also wants a further three or four days for its adhesion to finish, so the schedule respects that rather than stacking coats on top of it. Cabinet painting that is rushed at this stage fails at the door edges first.
What Can Be Painted And What Honestly Cannot
Thermofoil still tight to the MDF underneath can be painted, and so can melamine and laminate in sound condition with chipped edges filled. Cabinet painting is also fine over doors with a few dings, since filler and sanding handle those.
Thermofoil that has bubbled, curled or peeled cannot. Steam and heat off the range and the dishwasher keep lifting that vinyl, and no coating re-bonds it. Such a door is either heat-stripped down to bare MDF and then painted, or swapped for a new front sprayed to suit. Particleboard swollen by a leak below the sink is ruled out altogether, because cabinet painting cannot repair a substrate that has already broken down. Replacement fronts are covered on the cabinet refacing and door replacement page.
Condos And Rental Suites Make Up Most Of This Work
Condo kitchens in Markham are melamine almost without exception, as are a great many registered second suites and most basement kitchens. Those rooms are small, which holds the cabinet painting price at the lower end of the range, and every door is sprayed off site so the neighbours are undisturbed.
Landlords tend to ask about durability rather than colour. A 2K polyurethane topcoat over bonding primer is the harder-wearing answer, and it is what we suggest where a suite turns over often. Condo logistics get their own treatment on the condo kitchen cabinet painting page.
Price Sits Slightly Above A Comparable Wood Kitchen
Bonding primer costs more than standard primer and adds a step, which typically adds a few hundred dollars across a kitchen. A small melamine galley still lands near the bottom of the Ontario range at around $1,500 to $2,500, while a full builder kitchen in thermofoil follows the usual $2,500 to $5,500 band. Replacement doors, where any are needed, are listed separately so the cabinet painting cost and the carpentry cost stay apart. Ranges again, and your quote is the real number.
Find Out If These Doors Will Take Paint
A photo of the door corner nearest the dishwasher answers most of the question. Send it through the form or call +1 (289) 201-7026, and the visit will confirm what is paintable and what needs replacing before any cabinet painting is quoted. The rest of what we cover in Markham, Milliken Mills and Cornell begins on the Markham Cabinet Painting home page.
Thermofoil, Melamine and Laminate Cabinet Painting Questions
Can thermofoil be painted?
Thermofoil still tight to the MDF underneath takes paint over a bonding primer. Film that has bubbled, curled or peeled cannot be re-bonded by any coating, so that door is stripped to bare MDF or replaced with a new front.
Why does melamine peel when painted at home?
A wall primer has nothing to grip on a glossy melamine face, so the film peels in sheets within a year. A waterborne bonding primer keys into non-porous surfaces, but only over a door that has been degreased and scuff sanded.
Is 2K polyurethane worth it on a rental suite?
Landlords ask about durability more than colour. A 2K polyurethane topcoat over bonding primer is the harder-wearing choice and is what we suggest where a suite turns over often. It resists cleaners and daily wear better than a standard enamel.