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Cabinets

doteroo
16 years ago

Our cabinets are starting to look bad in our mobile home. It's about 7 years old. There are worn looking places around the handles and in other places it's starting to look like the finish is coming off in sheets. Of course it looks like particle board underneath. Has anyone else had this problem and figured out a way to make the cupboards look good again? Can you refinish these things?

Comments (6)

  • n2cookin
    16 years ago

    What about priming and painting them?

  • piedpiper
    16 years ago

    We redid the cabinets in my mother-inlaws mobile home. The doors were plastic and extremely beat up.I carefully measured the size of the existing doors. I had a cabinetmaker cut me paint grade birch ply to size. ( you could do that yourself if you are good with a tablesaw.)After seeing the birch, I decided that they looked too nice to paint and I ended up staining them and using rub on polyurethane. Before doing this I used Bandit iron on birch veneer for the edges. I painted the cabinets and added the new birch doors with new hardware. The whole thing averaged out to $10 per door but they look like a million bucks.

  • ccoombs1
    15 years ago

    you could consider replacing them with cabinets from IKEA. IKEA cabinets are nice and not expensive.

  • trailerparkbirds
    15 years ago

    In addition to piedpiper, If you put a 45 degree on the edge it doesn't look to bad, and makes them easy to open without hardware. My dad built the house in the early 60's. he was a carpenter for many years and built several houses, I'm sure he built many houses with the same cabinetry.

  • claudia_sandgrower
    15 years ago

    I renovated the same type of cabinet doors you're talking about in a moble home. Here's how I did it:

    Remove the doors, making sure that you mark them in some way so you'll know exactly which door goes where when you replace them (otherwise the screw holes won't match up). Clean the doors WELL with a de-greasing cleaner. Follow by wiping down with white vinegar. Let the doors dry thoroughly. Sand them lightly to rough up the finish (this helps the primer stick) and prime with a high-adhesion primer (Kilz works very well; go to the web site to look at the different types.) If you have really rough areas, such as corners or areas of water damage, do a little extra sanding. Follow with as many coats of paint as you need to get the look you want. Oil-based paint is tougher overall than water-based and generally will last longer. I used an oil-based enamel because kitchen cabinets can get quite dirty and require a lot of cleaning. The oil-based enamel holds up well to that.

    If it's in your budget, replace the old hardware (hinges and knobs or pulls). Take one of each of your old pieces when you go shopping so you'll be sure that the new ones will fit. (For example, if you have a drawer pull that's mounted with two screws that are three inches apart, you should buy one of the same width.)

    When you're reinstalling your beautiful refinished doors (!), you may run into a problem with stripped screw holes and screws that won't tighten. You can fix that problem with wood or white glue and round wooden toothpicks. Dip the toothpicks into the glue and pack them into the hole. Let dry (usually overnight), then saw or clip off the excess. The screws will then fasten securely.

    Don't be afraid to get creative! Wooden mouldings and decorative elements can be added to your doors for extra interest. Approach it like a craft project... do an internet search on "refinishing cabinet doors" and you'll get more ideas than you can process!

    Good luck and happy renovating! Just remember one rule of thumb I learned the hard way: any project will take at least twice as long as you expect, will be twice as labor-intensive, and, if you don't plan well, be twice as expensive!!

  • libra2
    15 years ago

    just started yesterday tring to update cupboards in my dinning room a little! Like yours they started looking really bad my is ALOT older"73"HollyPark

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