By laminate - do you mean Thermofoil? I just found out I have these kind of cabinets and my contractor told me they cannot be painted. But who knows - maybe he's wrong!

Ask on the paint forum! I know there are primers that stick to just about anything! One of them is called BIN by Zinsser. Great stuff! Highly toxic and dangerous though.

:-)

francy

I did it with an old vanity and countertop. I had found a thread on this or some forum that explicitly outlined how to do it. I'll search to see if I can find the specific information but I do remember cleaning first with TPC(?), and using BIN as a primer. Then I believe I just painted. For the Formica countertop. I did a base coat, blended in several colors, and just kept playing with color until I had a look that resembled granite. Didn't come out half bad actually for a first attempt.

TSP not TPC... anyway... I googled and found an article for you. Hope it's helpful

Here is a link that might be useful: painting laminate

I am sorry that I can't recall the poster's name but i KNOW someone here will have it to show you a kitchen that had white thermafoil cabinets and she showed how hers just came off in easy strips. She gave great details on the products she used , etc.

A long time ago, in my first house, I had hideous formica-like cabinets. I used BIN and then semi gloss over that. I also used picrure framing material as molding on the doors.

If you're still interested, it was bamaspice's awesome kitchen. I'll post the link to the FKB and she explains how she did it. FWIW, I'm attempting this with my old cabs that we removed, trying to make a portable craft station with a couple of old base cabs on casters. Mine weren't super smooth once I peeled the laminate off though. I'm wondering if they can be skim coated or something to smooth the texture. But because they are just going to be in my basement I didn't worry about it and just primed with Kilz and spray painted black. I've only done one door and one drawer so far, haven't figured out what to do about the sides and back of the cabs yet.

Good luck!
Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: bamaspice's amazing kitchen transformation!