Hello Everyone –
I’m wondering if anyone has had any success or has tips about painting melamine. Our kitchen cabinets are stark white melamine, but we actually like the style so were hoping not to have to go down the refacing/replacing route.
Thanks!
Replies
Supposedly the shellac based primers like BIN will stick to Melamine. Others have recommended it but I haven't tried myself. Check the cans of the specialty primers in the stores to be sure.
Only tips are the obvious, make sure they are really clean of kitchen grease and detergent, take the doors down and hardware off.
Edited 3/14/2005 10:19 pm ET by WAYNEL5
Never done it, but I'd go with a deglosser first before trying to paint it.
I don't think that deglossers would work on plastic.
I agree with Waynel5--use BIN first. You may also sand lightly first with 150-220 grit to help the BIN stick.
Thank you all very much. I really appreciate your input!
You are welcome--hope it works for you. I did paint some melamine cabinets for a woman once, sanding lightly and priming with Kilz, but she moved right after that, so I don't know how well the paint lasted. Supposedly you can prime with Kilz (or is it BIN?) and then paint on glass, so....
I built a cabinet wall a few years back out of Melamine plywood. Pain to work with but I had lots of it from an entire 20 sheets of it at action. I bought a primer from Lowe's that specifically said it was for plastics and Formica. I painted it and let it sit for 12hrs if I remember correctly. Then I painted my final colors. I tried scratching it off in several test and it held up. If I was able to scratch it off I was destroying the plywood by ripping the melamine off too. It has held up extremely well.
Zinsser Bulls-Eye 1-2-3 primer is the key to painting on melamine or any other slick surface. It's a bonding primer, and once you've painted on your top coat you can't scratch through it to the original surface. Works great.