How To Delaminate/de-foil MDF Cabinets
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- Do you have those plastic covered cabinets in your kitchen that you just can't stand looking at anymore? Have you wondered if you could refinish them? Maybe you have seen the cost to replace your cabinetry and found out how expensive it can be. Instead of replacing them, paint them. in this tutorial I will teach you how to remove or de-foil your MDF laminated cabinets so that you can then paint or refinish them. Once the laminate is removed, you can have perfectly beautiful cabinets for your kitchen for just a fraction of the cost to replace the whole set.
How A Professional Painter Refinishes Cabinets
• How To Paint CABINETS ...
TOOLS USED
Dewalt 18v drill
Wagner Heat Gun
Mechanics Gloves
Pocket Razor Blade
VIDEO SET-UP
Nikon D750
Sigma 20mm f1.4
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Video shot and edited by: Artists Touch Photography
www.artiststouchpaint.com
www.artiststouchphotography.net
Like and follow us: @artists_touch_painting & @artists_touch_photography
Also go check out Meraki Home @merakihomestacey on Instagram
Music
The Travelling Symphony by Savfk | / savfkmusic
Music promoted by www.free-stock...
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommon...
Jesse Kelly
Artists Touch Painting
1000 Virginia Ave
Langhorne, PA 19047
267 227 6190
Artiststouchsales@gmail.com 
Хобби
![Painting MDF Doors [video 407]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZIwNJGlVtwc/mqdefault.jpg)
![Painting MDF Doors [video 407]](/img/tr.png)
![KAYTRANADA - Witchy (feat. Childish Gambino) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jGK3YVmGZ3Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Those videos are awesome. I'm so proud of that grandson of mine. He has become quite a man a husband and a father and he's good at it.
Thank you soo much! ❤❤
I was raised with a paintbrush in my hand. I've been trying to explain this process to a girl from Ukraine while I was in Sweden. I wasn't having much luck. This video was a lot of help THANKS!
Loved this video, it was 'real' and highlighted the potential problems you may encounter unlike many others where everything goes smoothly which is never the case for novices like me so this was great. Gave me confidence to get going. I need to see how you paint them now!! Thank you
Check the links in the description. There are a few videos on my processes there. More in depth ones comming soon. I try to be as honest an real as possible in my videos while still bringing value and quality production. Getting better each time.
Now I know what that crap is that is pealing off our cabnets. I'll get it off this summer and repaint. Thanks for the tips !
Absolutely do it. If you have issues or need help after that feel free to DM me on Instagram.
This is exactly what I needed to know. I pressure can on a gas stove and I know the heat will eventually cause the surrounding cabinets to peel. I've seen ways to paint them, but this is the only video I've seen that said you can remove that layer.
I'm glad I could help. Therws a few ways to get your heat on them to remove the laminate. Once its off you can seal sand and paint.
Great Video! Love the Humor, too! That made It a Fun Watch as well as Being Informative. 👍😊
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
I have wanted to do my cabinets another color but so scared to try this. You made it seem so simple. GREAT JOB SIR.
My goal is not to make it seem simple, because for most professional refinishers, it is at minimum a weeks worth of cleaning, masking, sanding, and finally spraying. I do thank you for your comment but I would prefer people hire a professional over doing it them selves.
Hi Sherry - did you try to paint them? How did they turn out?
No we’re hiring a painter in January.
So helpful! I have these cabinets in my bedroom that I want to refinish
My only word of advice is that refinishing all laminated mdf doors are not equal. Some, like the one in this video have a glue and wax combination making it extremely difficult to clean and prepare a proper substrate to refinish. It is possible to finish over the laminate, but you will open yourself to failure of the coatings. Very tough to ensure longevity over plastic and vinyl. Sand really heavy, high bond oil primer, 2 coats top coat. Sand between everything to promote adhesion. There are also options to purchase new hdf doors, and just paint the boxes. Check out NuDoors
Lol @ the background music. I thought the drill was going to start passionately kissing the heat gun with all the dramatic romance building up 😂. Great diy video tho great tips!
Haha I'm happy you like the music, I hope you learned something too?
Love the bloopers and the bubble comments.
Haha yea, I am going to add more bloopers in the end of other videos. The bubble comments will for sure continue to help keep you guys interested and to mention things I forgot during recording.
My laminate was so old and brittle I could peel it off in chunks without a heat gun.. It took no time at all. Now to paint. Thank you.
I wish I was always as that easy 😅 you got lucky
same
This is such a helpful video! I’m redoing cabinets exactly like this. Thank you
Your welcome! How did the project come out?
Thanks for making this video is exactly what I was looking for!
Your welcome. Thanks for watching! Subscribe for more content. Please let me know if there's any other topics you would like covered. Ps I would not defoil on a cold day.
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I could tell you were from Philly from your accent! :)
Your very welcome. Thanks for watching and enduring the apparently noticeable accent 🤣
Hi. First I want to say, you should be very proud of yourself.
Also, after watching this I felt I just had to share a tip with you, hopefully to make your job easier.
The use of the heat gun is unnecessary. I see people do this all the time!
Think about this like the video you made, unmasking the glass door. It was not hot outside as far as I could tell. It’s the same with cabinet doors. Leave them in the cold, overnight mist them with water on the edges if you want. Use a scraper of sorts where the front meets the back (laying with the back of the door facing up) running the small scraper in the seam around the entire perimeter. Flip it over. Use your hands to lift just like on the glass window. Should come off in one piece 90% of the time. I did 22 doors today in less than 90 min.
Let me know how it goes.
Awesome. Thank you for the tip, I have found that you are correct in the use of heat being unnecessary, especially in this type of laminate. Thick plastic with the glue and wax behind it. BUT I will say that higher quality foiled mdf is extremely easier with a heat gun and the doors still on the boxes in the house. 1 run through over the thinner material with heat, and the whole sheet comes off. Next time I have this type of cabinet I will be sure to try your way and let you know how it goes. Thank you for watching and comment, there is always room to learn and improve. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I wish that I had looked for a video such as this several years ago when I refinished the thermofoil cabinets in my kitchen. I did not remove the thermofoil, but sanded everything down with 100 grit, primed with 2 coats of oil primer/sealer, sanding between coats, then 2 coats of good quality oil paint. I don't have any experience with a sprayer, so used a small foam roller to paint the flat surfaces and a small foam brush to paint the indents. The result was a nice looking kitchen, but a few spots had to be touched up on occasion, as the thermofoil beneath the paint layers didn't always allow it to stay put.
I have moved and now face the same situation. In this case, unlike the first, some of the thermofoil is already peeling, so removal is necessary. I will still use foam rollers and brushes, but will look into possibly using shellac primer, rather than the oil-based. I believe that my winter calendar will now be full.
I appreciated both this video and the one on painting. When the results look like that, it's worth paying attention.
Thank you so much for your comment and sharing your experience 🙏🏻🙏🏻 the very first cabinet job I did when I started my business was thermofoil that I did with brush and roller. Never plan to do it in that manner again. Also, I don't believe you will have any more luck with a shellac over oil as your base primer. Depending on the wax or glue situation behind the foil you will run into glue removal issues. Your best bet is Sherwin Williams Extreme Bond oil primer or STIX primer from Benjamin Moore. Also I would suggest a 3/16 nap mohair roller over a foam roller and back roll everything in the direction that lays the follicles flat for the smoothest finish. Please check back in when you take on the next project and let us know how it went.
@@artists_touch_painting Thanks for the advice. When the task has been undertaken I'll be sure to file a report.
@@mikemonks6369 I would highly recommend you don't do this to your thermafoil doors. You'll have one hell of a time if you undertake this. The amount of time and effort is just not worth it whatsoever. Could you do it? Sure. Will it be extremely more difficult than you can imagine? Yes! Very much yes! Lol. Not only will the removal be an absolute pain but those doors will look like garbage once painted unless give many coats of primer to fill in now the extremely pitted substrate. You will be literally ripping out the new face of your mdf doors along with the foil. Just look on the back side of it after you've removed a peice. If you still decide to do this. Which I'll say again I highly suggest you don't lol. Your best bet is to fill the entire surface with a skim of bondo or spackle. I'd paint them like you did your last ones. If interested, I can tell you how to make those last.
OMG the bloopers at the end😂😂
Gosh I needed this! Thank you so much 🥰
Your welcome. Thank you for watching 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you so much!
Thanks for watching 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank u , but that is a mess , my home is about 30 years old now and all these years of me cooking the laminate on all my cabinets are just popping off like press on nails ! I HV them Scotch taped from the back of doors around the edge to keep them on for some time now I'm looking into painting the now and u HV helped so much
I'm so glad I could help. I would like to mention that in most cases this is much easier than I made it look 🤦🏼♂️ I would suggest doing it indoors or during summer outside. The cold cooled the adhesive to fast and made this difficult. Check back and let us know how the project went!
Thank you it's really helped me :-)
Your welcome. I'm glad you could find some value here.
Lol...sorry for crashing your video but thank you for plug 😁
Btw the bloopers are hilarious!!
Thanks for dropping in! I wanted to let people know I make it look easy, but its not lol
Thank you
Your welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great video, thank you for the walk through.
Your welcome and thanks for watching 🙏🏻
Nice job
Thank you! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Fantastic video. New subbie
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
You can also use a hair dryer to get the foil off.
Agree, cold day so I opted for higher heat.
Music is epic! Are we removing plastic laminate from old cabinets or landing on the moon for the 1st time?
Haha thank you! I have a habit of choosing suspenseful music for my videos. Trying to draw you guys into the process.
*Need the soundtrack ASAP!...I kept feeling Rocky moments coming on!*
Thr Traveling Symphony by Savfk
Would a hair blow dryer do the trick as well??? Just wondering so i dont have to go buy that gun.
If you have one that gets hot enough yes, may take a little longer to soften up the glue though. Patience would be key. Good luck 🤞
Loosen the glue inside where it is already warm. Do this project during summer. Not when it is cold outside. Ideally you want three people. One to hold the door, one to peel the melamine off and one to use the heat gun. It should take two minutes per door.
Agreed about the temps and summer. I make note of this in one of the text segments. In the cold the glue cools too quickly. I have done this in better climate successfully alone. Also boiled water works very well for removal like vinyl wrap on a vehicle. Thanks for your comment 🙏🏻🙏🏻
@@artists_touch_painting you absolutely cannot put any kind of water on raw mdf
I did this recently in a fixer upper we bought in south Florida and it took 1 minute per door with heat gun on LOW - because it was Florida. Thermofoil popped off in one solid piece each time.
Or do it indoors, wear a mask, and leave the door in situ. There's no real need to remove the door at all!
That's a big hole in the house siding. Watching to see I could find something other than what I analyzed on two small cabinet doors. The heat gun will cook skin in a second. I am most interested in sealing the MDF before painting and whether sealing with a solvent based will prevent a paint from adhering and reduce peeling or scratches. Only 45 more faces to try. Beginning to wonder if I can make new faces less expensive.
If it isn't wax behind your laminate. The glue can be removed and sealed with oil or a vinyl sealer, possible a 2k poly primer as well. Depending on how much time and experiance your have, refacing just might be the cheaper faster alternative. But given the cost of lumbar, your probably still looking at MDF doors and a proper finish if not laminated again.
I tried using a heat gun but it took forever to warm the paint on my mdf bathroom cabinets. But I still had to use a scraper and that still didn’t work great. By heating it for so long, the wood started to warp. What should I do? Am I doing it wrong? I started the project and now I need to finish it all up.
You shouldn’t be over heating it. You’re really just trying to warm the glue up, not melt the plastic. But some companies use really stubborn glues to adhere the vinyl. Just take your time. A lot of them don’t come off the back either remember
Thanks. I’ll try it slowly.
in addition to the doors and drawers, would you do the same with cabinets base, sides, and moldings? What did you end up doing with the inside of the door that still had laminate? Did you sand it and paint it? thank you
Yes, so the back sides are fused and it doesn't remove, as well as most boxes. In that case you don't need to worry as much about your coatings failing. Good cleaning, sanding, high bonding primer sets you up for success
😊nice !!!
I peeled vinyle off but how I can glue off 😢
I believe that somebody in the comments section left a detailed description of the wax and glue removal process.
I am wondering how do you do the rest of the cabinets. The whole box, it can be peeled. Thank you
In most cases you cannot remove the laminate from the boxes or backsides of the mdf/hdf. They are fused
Our cabinets have this crap paper on them to make them look stained. My cats have destroyed them and it looks horrible. I'm hoping to find a way to just paint them.
I am not entirely sure of the situation. Sometimes wood has a veneer on them, which is essentially still wood and that sometimes looks stained and can pretty much be cleaned sanded and painted over. Or some have a plastic or vinyl wrap on them such as whats in this video.
Where can I get a perfecnailr to do my cabinet
I'm sorry, I'm not sure i know what a "perfecnailr" is 🤷🏼♂️😅
I just watched your video on how to take the foil off my cabinters. Can you provide me with the link to paint them?
Unfortunately I have not done the video for post foil painting. But you can check my other cabinet refinishing videos to get an idea. I would say the only difference is ensuring glue/wax is removed and properly sealed prior to any paint application.
I'm curious why u didn't prime them and than just paint ?😊
Usually you can. This video was specific to the removal. Turns out these doors in particular have a wax that's difficult to deal with so I never painted them.
Sand with what grit? Degrease first before sanding? Ty
Degrease, sand with 80-100 grit first yes.
Mine are peeling and chipping away in my kitchen. Is this dangerous to have them exposed like this? Someone told me this glue causes cancer and I wasn’t sure if it’s true?
I can't weigh in on the toxicity of the glues used to create MDF but I can't imagine it is healthy. I'm sure it isn't harmful as it stands. If the foil is removed and the cabinets are again sealed and coated over I assume you would be fine. The only "danger" I can confirm is that leaving the exposed MDF invites swelling from humidity and water will absolutly swell the fibers and could hold moisture growing mold.
If you lick them ! They might
Did you ever make a video on how to paint them?
Comming soon my friend. Slammed with work and have slowed down on recording.
@@artists_touch_painting this is a year later... did you make one for painting? Thank you for all your info! #Value
If you cant take the laminate off can you just paint on top of it? Not for the doors but for the trim and shelves
The laminate does not come off of the back side of the doors, usually not the shelves either. In some cabinet sets it does in fact come off of the cases. If it doesn't release with heat it most likely will not come off. In this instance, you can scuff the items up with around 100 grit paper just to get a decent profile, and then apply a sturdy oil based primer. Extreme bond primer from sherwin williams would be my suggestion. This way the surface has some tooth to grab onto, and your top coating can adhere to the primer giving you longevity of your paint job. Thank you for you comment/question 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I want to paint cabinets in a mobile home. They are mdf cabinets, but have a glossy glue-on paper over them. There a just a couple spots where this paper has been worn off from water getting on them. The mdf has not swelled in those areas, thankfully. What would you recommend for painting these? And can they be painted? Thank you for the video!
I am assuming this set is the thinner laminate rather than the thick vinyl layer on newer cabinet sets. With something such as this, I would give everything a good roughing up with maybe and 80 grit paper. Next would be to use a good adhesion promoting oil base primer. Give that a light scuff sand and coat with an enamel. On the swollen areas I would try to sand down and the oil primer will seal it out and help it live a bit longer. Maybe patching with a solid wood filler to harden it prior to priming. If you take on this task please reach back out to let us know how its going 🙏🏻
Hi, can the thermofoil be removed without unhinging the doors and drawers. It seems very difficult to peel the film at the same time you are trying to hold the door and the heat gun.
certainly you can do it that way. in most cases that would be easier. The way I did it here looked very hard because I was out in the cold, it normally is not that difficult. If you were to do this while everything is still attached, I would recommend getting all the edges loose and peeled to the front, then heat and peel your way down from the top. more leverage this way.
How much does something like that cost if I were to hire a contractor to do this for me? I have 10 doors. Just curious.
10 doors should only take a few minutes to defoil so they shouldn't charge more than a day rate. The full finishing project of the cabinets should be roughly $75-150
@@artists_touch_painting thanks so much for responding!
Can I use a hairdryer for this?
You can, it really depends on what adhesive was used behind the foil. Best bet would be to do them outside when it's already warm (wich I did not in this video)
@@artists_touch_painting thanks
I wish i saw this before i paint my 😩🙈
Thank you for watching anyway 🙏🏻🙏🏻 Do you mind sharing what happened and what you would do differently now?
@@artists_touch_painting sure. I went to the home depot and ask the associate for help. I just want to change my vanity color. He told me to buy marquee paint,and i did.
I paint the vanity with the paint he suggested and guess what? Is peeling of.
He did not even mention to get cabinet paint.
So annoying. People dont know how to help there. Thank you for the advice. I bought cabinet oil paint and came out fine. Not peeling or ugly. I like your video,but for me it is a lot work. I just peel the paint and repainted with that paint. Thank you
First mistake was going to home depot. Second mistake was not using an oil primer or shellac. Other mistakes are application and sanding between coats. All play a massive part in adhesion. Final and most highly affective mistake was not hiring a professional who loves that specific type of work. But congrats for fixing it and having a finished product you are happy with.
Ok, so what's next?
Next would be removal of glue/wax, sand, prime to seal, sand some more as mdf likes to fuzz up and holds alot of impurities. Possible second undercoat, sand flat and spray top coat twice sanding between. One day I'll get around to recording that process, stay tuned.
Any issues with putting the hardware and hinges back on? I heard MDF has a tendency to not hold on to hardware, you think especially after it being removed and put back? You experience this before?
Also the cabinet boxes, it doesn't seem like they have the same removable foil ( more like the back of the doors) is that paint able?
I haven't had any issues putting hardware back. And yes, in most cases the backs of doors and cabinet boxes have a different coating. But with proper sanding, and a good bonding primer, you can paint over.
But you didn't paint the cabinets.
Correct. The specific door in this video was actually not a good product to paint. The adhesive used incorporated wax making it very difficult to clean and sand for a proper finish substrate. I do intend on making a video again addressing this issue and having a finished product.
You can't paint directly over it ??? How long does it take to do a whole kitchen??? .
You can go directly over it, but it's tough to ensure the longevity of a bond to laminate. Deffinately not as well as primer to wood/MDF/HDF
It was just a suggestion. I wanted to listen but the music was making it hard to hear what you were saying
I got you, I'll make not of that next time. I do try and lower the music or cut it out during the talking areas in some of my other videos.
Gosh ! Seems like a lot of work ... I can't just paint over it?
Yes you can, but if the laminate fails the entire thing fails. It's tough to guarantee proper adhesion over some laminates that tend to be vinyl or plastic.
Why do they put that plastic on those doors???
So mdf is a cheap alternative to produce solid wood doors. The wood is mixed with glues wax and resins in large sheets wich can then the cut and shaped how ever you please, the bevels and pattern can be milled with a cnc machine and it all keeps a door as 1 solid piece. The issue with it is sealing it. Keeping cost low again means to shrink wrap the parts in a laminate plastic foil. Now the mdf is protected from heat and moisture making it last. Also depending on the plastic type, it actually holds up to quite a bit of punishment and chemicals. Now days even a cabinet builder, custom hired, uses mdf panels in the center of doors, and laminated panels for the boxes and the only real wood is the face frames and the frames around the door panels, also to keep cost low and production high.
Imagine actually painting cabinets in a video titled "How To Paint MDF Cabinets". Otherwise good instruction on de-foil.
Yes, kind of mis informing huh? Sorry. I'm going to change the title
How To Paint MDF Cabinets ?
It's comming. There has been a few hiccups in business, but for the better, and now more time can be afforded to creating all the videos I have on my list. Please stay tuned so you won't miss it 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Does anyone know what is that machine called ?
What machine are you referring to?
@@artists_touch_painting i want to paint my kitchen cabinet it’s not mdf but it’s cheap wood so I’ve been told i can’t paint it so i will have to do exactly like the vido then paint it so I’m looking for a machine like this
Your best bet is to hire a professional, but if that's not the move you want to take and your a glutton for the punishment, you can rent a sprayer or buy a cheap spray gun and compressor from harbor freight. Good luck. Let me know if you need any help along the way.
The reason your having such problems your out in the cold , the doors are cold the process goes very easily your making this wag to hard.
Never pry off without heating or you will damage the mdf part an you cannot sand the glue you have to use the a thinner or denatured alcohol to wipe only the hard part avoiding the sensitive ndf parts.
Yes, the entire process is extraordinarily easyer inside or in the warm weather, but I had the doors and thought, what the hell why not. This wasn't for a job.
@@artists_touch_painting unfortunately I'm working on a set now. Lol
@@doravinogradov2426 just sand scuff the vinyl and paint over it. this is maybe useful for really bad condition vinyl.
“How to Paint MDF cabinets”. Well first of all these are doors and draw-fronts, and secondly the whole video was you struggling to get the frigging foil off.
Are doors and drawers not an essential part of cabinetry? And yes I struggled to get the foil off. At least its an honest showing of how it could go. Not everything is easy, not everything goes right. Hopefully someone will realize they don't want to do it themselves and will hire a professional. If you don't have anything productive or helpful to say, don't say it. Nobody cares to hear someone wine they didn't get what they wanted.
@@artists_touch_painting I watched your video because I wanted some tips about painting MDF, not because I wanted to watch someone struggle with some foil. You need to change the title pal.... or make some videos of fluffy kittens. And as an ex kitchen fitter, doors and draw fronts are only part of the cabinetry to thise people who don't know what they're talking about!
Good luck painting them.... If you ever get round to prepping them. Shan't tune in though, I'll be busy tidying up. Meow!
To paint them you need to remove any glue and wax residue. Sand then with 180 grit, prime them 2 coats with a high build 2k poly primer, sand between coats FLAT with 220 and top coat twice with a 2k polyurethane. Preferably all sprayed with an air assisted set up in a proper spray booth pulling 1300 plus SCFM. Primers are sprayed at about 1100 fluid psi and 15 air psi, top coats are sprayed with about 800 fluid psi and 10-12 air psi. Primer tip size anywhere between 210 and 412 depending on product line your using. I hope that helps. Check out my Instagram for more up to date videos and processes. This video was old and on the fly. Even with your attitude I am still happy to help. Your welcome 🙄
The best product to prime mdf would be envirolak 170 TB. Its high solid high build sands like powder, holds really well to mdf and hdf especially when catalyzed at 10%
@@artists_touch_painting thank you for your advice. Much appreciated. Friends again?
Could do without the music
Could do without the negativity 🤷🏼♂️ There is mute and CC available
The background music is very distracting and unnecessary.
To some, this is how I freely express myself creatively. Mute and turn on CC
Decent video, terrible title. You should've called it how to remove laminate from MDF cabinets. Most people paint them because they have already peeled. And I would suggest different background music, way too dramatic for what you're doing.
You are correct! Wrong title, ended up being accidental click bait. I apologize, it was not intentional. This was originally going to be part 1 of a multi series, but this specific project ended up being scrapped and gone a different route. But, I will be doing the series soon. Stay tuned!
I tried his but turns out my MDF is covered in wax :/
I am sorry to hear that, you could try removing the wax somehow, sanding it down a bit a priming over. There are successful routes to take to finish over mdf rather than peeling the laminate
ya, taking it off if in decent shape is not something i'd recommend. scuff it up with some 220 or 320, I like a rotarty sander for large flat panels, and this is all you need. Then either 2-3 coats, or primer and a couple coats. Many pros use a vinyl sealer, then paint.
This is such a helpful video! I’m redoing cabinets exactly like this. Thank you
Your welcome! How did the project come out?