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mdf kitchen cupboard doors... need help!!!?

my kitchen cupboard doors made of mdf, they were made by my brother some years ago, i waxed them when i had them and they looked really good.... but now they look like they need a lift! i want to give them a make over... has anyone got any suggestions as to what type of paint to use or any ideas for my tired old kitchen doors?

Public Comments

1. try white washing them it gives a nice clean old look
2. give them a good rub down and you can use any paint on them or use nitromorse that will take it back to the wood but make sure you wash it off before you paint i hope this is some help to you .
3. nip down to your loacal magnet trade centre and see what they can do for you. All you need is to know someone with a trade like plastering to get them for you at trade prices
4. Hi we did up our kitchen doors last year and we used like a sticky back plastic (fablon?) that looks like wood and put on new handles and now they look great
5. You will need to well sand the MDF to remove the wax first, then an oil based primer, followed by a quality oil based undercoat, a semi gloss satin finish should give a reasonably hard wearing surface. You could try using a small 100mm sponge roller for a more even finish. Don't rush it and you should acheive a good finish. good luck
6. You have a few options depending on what you want to do with them. Firstly, there is a product you can buy called 'ESP' or 'Easy Surface Primer'. It's really expensive, about £17 for half a litre, but once you coat your doors with it, you can paint over it with pretty much anything you like. If this is your option then you would probably be best painting them with a gloss paint so that they are easy to clean in future and might not get 'tired' so quickly. However, there is a second option that I kind of need more information for. You said the doors were made from MDF and you WAXED them? Does this mean that you have had cupboard doors that look like waxed MDF? Seems a bit bizarre to me but each to their own. Anyway, if this is the case, you could always sand them down (till they look new) and then give them another wax coating. Be aware though, this could be very time consuming, hard work and throws all kinds of health and safety issues into the mix. You would need a decent respirator to sand them down because of the chemicals in MDF and your kitchen would need one hell of a good clean afterwards. The other thing is that MDF goes funny when you sand it (kind of furry) so you might not get as good a finish this way. The final option open to you is a product called Ronseal Paint & Grain. Don't be put off by this if you are not very good at DIY etc, it sounds complicated but is incredibly easy to use. It comes in a variety of colours and basically gives a woodgrain effect on your MDF. If you use this, top coat it with a good hardwearing varnish to make cleaning easier as Paint & Grain has a matt finish. Before using any of the above, make sure the old wax has had the 'edge' taken off it with a little light sanding. Wax can be awkward to go over because of it's properties so this is the best option to make sure you get a decent first coat (of whatever you chose) on top of it.
7. Go on ...... treat yourself.......... Take off the old doors, throw them away and replace them with some white high gloss finish new doors. You can find the suppliers on the internet, and fix them yourself.