I want to brighten up old kitchen doors (rather than replace them) they seem to be odd sizes so would be hard to replace.
Some of the doors are made of wood with a dark finish.
Other (most) doors are white-ish made of the usual stuff that cheap kitchen doors are made of. There is also a bit of a pattern in them.

I would like to clean them up and repaint them (and make it look semi professional rather than a poor effort).

So i'm wondering if anyone knows of a good quality paint I should use for the non-wood doors and the best way to apply the paint.
(brush strokes might not be that great)

There is some kind of varnish on the wood doors so should I just sand them as best I an and apply new dark coloured varnish to them?

I don't have alot of money or time to throw at it but would be very grateful for any guidance.

I've uploaded pics if it helps.

thanks

i did my daughters cupboardd doors which were the cheap laminated wood doors.
the laminate (which was white) was peeling on 2 doors so i used a hot air gun to remove all the laminate then sanded all the doors till smooth.
washed in white spirit to remove all grease dust and any glue residue.
then used a primer, i used a spray primer for cars etc. then lightly sanded again. i gave bout 3 coats of primer, sanded each time, then normal gloss paint, grey for main colour and red for the rebated pattern.
it took 2 coats of each colour, sanded between each coat. i will post pics when daughter home from work

Why can't I edit a post but I can delete it ... anyhow here is another attempt.

It is difficult to "brighten" your kitchen with what you have and what you seem to suggest to do. I am not sure there is much point in varnishing the wood darker ... or just painting it black. Is the white stuff on picture 2 melamine or painted wood?

Have you considered painting the cabinets some colour of your choice and doing away with the very dark wood and the white something or other. Sorry, I don't mean to be offensive but the two samples don't do it for me so I find it very hard to offer solutions.

What is it you would like in your kitchen? Aim for that rather than trying to maintain what is there already.

Hi Moris20
I find it difficult to visualise the kitchen (might just be me)
It would seem quite a hap hazard array of doors,

If some doors are melamine then I haven’t a clue, Any property I buy that has a kitchen with dated melamine fittings get binned and replaced. I don’t know if they can be painted with any success or not but this web site has the info.
http://www.home-improvement-and-financi ... binet.html

The wooden ones could/should with elbow grease and the right chemical products something like “Colron furniture stripper”.
Get those wooden doors back to the bare wood with a light 120 then fine 180 sanding down . Sanding alone would do it I guess, but it would take a while and a fair bit of different grade sandpapers from a 60 to get the worst off, up to a 180 to smooth it of before priming and painting.

Alternatively a heat gun might help get a lot of the lacquer of first (not sure though, never done it on a lacquer finish, could be bad advice) I like this one for the price
Erbauer ERB096HTG 2000W Heat Gun 230V (screw fix)
Its not the professionals choice but good for the occasional user

As for any doors that are MDF coated in a plastic type laminate finish as described by in2media
(he says wood with laminate finish, and his might have been) my experience is MDF coated in plastic laminate, but lets call it laminate doors for arguments sake,
That coating will fall off with the heat gun suggested above. The laminate coating easily bubbles up of the MDF/wood below, you can, with work gloves just peal it off by hand.
(I just did this a few weeks ago, pity I didn’t video it to show how easy it is)

Then sand, prime and paint as required, I used screw fix primer and B&Q trade liquid gloss.
I got a good finish (2 coats primer with a light 180 sanding between coats and 2 coats gloss over 72 hours)

Hope that helps

Cheers
James

Thanks for all your help.
The white stuff is melamine (or certainly not wood)
From what you have all said, I think I'll take one of the (mdf) doors off, clean it (try the heat gun) then rub it down with a light sandpaper, wash in white spirit and apply a coating or two of primer then gloss. I'm assuming I should use an oil based primer.

As for the wooden doors, use the sandpaper to get back to the wood. I might try the heat gun on a hidden bit first to see if it works. then paint with primer and then gloss.

I'm on a budget so new doors will probably cost me about £200 (which is a no no) and the cupboard doors are unusually tall and I''l probably find it hard to get all the right sizes. Also, there are the curved doors (as pictured) which I defo won't be able to replace.

Once done, i'll stick the photo's back here and you can all tell me what a wonderful job i've done (ha ha)

thanks again.

R u sure the melamine is on MDF and not on chipboard? Not sure if you will like bare chipboard with paint stuck on it but ... Start by considering what you want the end product to be. Then check the ends of the doors (the narrow sides). Do they have glued tape on or are they wrapped vinyl (or whatever it is called).

There are primers you can use on melamine (or any difficult surface for this matter).

Preparation is the key here..wash them down and degrease them with some detergent then meths, especially around the hand grips..

Rub all the surfaces down with fine wet and dry (400+ grade) then prime with Bullseye 123 Dulux super grip or another problem solving primer..using a foam roller (dont put too much on) then finish with water based eggshell..oil might be risky for a kitchen..

One thing though...those hand/finger grips...I would put know types handles there...no amount of preparation will protect them from scratching and digs from nails/rings etc..

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