Painting Old Kitchen Cabinets - Part 4

Is it all worth it?

Almost all modern kitchens are mass-produced items which are designed to be thrown away at the end of their life rather like electrical goods. Filling land-fill up with chipboard is not ideal, but if your doors have worn out then a closer inspection of your cabinets may decide whether you need to replace the whole kitchen or not. Chances are the work top needs replacing too.

If your cabinets are ok, then a quick make-over may be in order. As you may have guessed by now, I am not too crazy about painting on top of factory finished cabinets because its either too much hard work and expense, or the result is not durable enough. For sure, everyone knows someone who "slapped a coat of paint on and its looks lovely", but I wouldn't bet my livelihood on it.

There are a wide choice of replacement factory made doors in limited colours available from many outlets. and if you want doors painted in a particular colour, I would advise replacing the existing doors with plain MDF ones which can then be painted any colour you like. Household paints, particularly in an eggshell or matt finish, are not as hard wearing as any factory applied coatings, but at least you can easily re-paint the doors again at any time. If the old doors were looking a bit tired, or the wrong colour, its likely the side panels at the end of a run of cabinets are also in need of refinishing. Not to mention cornice, pelmet, and other bits of infill. These parts are almost certainly foil covered chipboard or MDF and not ideal for painting. For a really durable job I would recommend replacement of the cornice etc. and "veneering" some thin plywood or MDF to the cabinet ends before painting.

It's a lot of work. You may decide to either replace the whole kitchen or, if that blows the budget, just keep your fingers crossed and paint it anyway (taking all of the above into account). With a bit of care and hard work a makeover could certainly be a big improvement, even if not a long lasting one. Only you can decide whether your effort is worth it.