I plan on buying replacement doors for my kitchen cabinets. Any recommendations as to the best product to use to strip the two or more layers of paint a previous owner applied to the cabinet sides and underneath? The paint on the doors themselves isn't an issue since they'll be discarded.
A sander. You don't need to take it all off, just get it nice and smooth for the next coat.
Are you staining or repainting? If staining and you need to remove the paint the Zip Strip works well. If you are repainting then just use a deglosser and/or sand it smooth.
I should have added that I want to get all the paint off and stain the cabinets' natural wood and new unfinished doors together.
What is Zip Strip.....some kind of liquid or jelly paint stripper product?
Yes.
A marine strip is quickest, maybe Methelyene Chloride. If its crappy latex maybe alcohol will work. Grease and hand oils imbedd into cabinets, sanding often is not enough to ever get a real bond, oil paint can fisheye and eventualy peel. If kitchen was cooked in alot, is over 7-10 years, and wasnt cleaned weekly by the maid then stripping might be the only way. Under the cabinets I would never do as your work postion will be bad. I would just clean and repaint to match or be similar. Nobody looks under cabinets, nor will you.
I've used water wash stripper once, and hate it. I have used methylene chloride for many furniture and one kitchen cabinet projects. Semi-paste, solvent clean (some stuff available now allows both). Methylene chloride will strip any kind of paint or varnish I have encountered. It will damage plastic and vinyl, and eats through rubber gloves. Need lots of protection for floor, etc. I use plastic sandwich bags to handle steel wool and scraper, as it keeps it off skin and dispose of easily. Probably would need two applications if there are mult. layers of paint - put it on thick and allow time for it to work. You will see surface of paint wrinkle almost immediately, but allow at least 20-30 min. Scrape. Apply again. Scrub with steel wool, scrape off stripper, clean more with steel wool, then final clean-up with fine steel wool and mineral spirits. Wipe that with paper towel to get ms and fine bits of steel wool. Let dry. Apply new finish. Stripper stings rather intensely when I get it on my skin, but it has never left any redness or blisters. Goggles a good idea, good vent.
EXCELLENT! Thanks for all your advice.
I checked the ingredients in Zip Strip on line....it's methylene chloride so that's what I plan on using. Once I get the old layers of paint off I'll see what the wood looks like underneath. If it's in decent shape I can order some unfinished doors that will look like they belong with the cabinets after everything is sanded and stained. Some of the cabinet bottoms I'll HAVE to do, because they're high above the sink and very visable.
This should be quite a bit cheaper than installing all new cabinets.
Are you doing all of the work yourself? You might want to consider putting laminate on the bottoms of the wall cabinets - long term, nice and easy to clean and it would be a nasty job to strip that part, it seems.
We got new doors, drawers and refaced our cabinets (contractor) because the old cabinets were sound......plywood, built in place. We used all of the old door/drawer pulls, as they were brushed nickel and pretty much up to date. Painted inside of cabinets, two coats of alkyd semi.
I'd suggest getting the doors first, THEN match the remainder to the doors. You may not find prefinished doors to match the new stain.
I've looked at three different replacement door suppliers online. They each sell only unfinished doors & drawer faces. I can choose from several different woods, but they come unfinished. So I'll probably stain the doors and cabinet sides together.
Putting laminate on the cabinet bottoms as suggested earlier might be a good idea. I suppose I'd have to stain the cabinets & doors to match the laminate shade.
I would do them together. If the cabinets were originally stained with a dark stain, some of that color probably would remain after stripping. Stripping takes out most stain, and it is evident when the stain is allowed to work. If you are purchasing doors in a very light wood, like maple, it might be a problem trying to match. If you are going with darker wood, like oak or cherry, then probably easier to match ..... darker woods might not need any stain at all. Can always start with a dilute stain (ask at the PAINT STORE) and one wood might take more applications than the other.
Or same color as wall? Do face frames extend beyond the bottom of the cab? If not, then applying laminate might leave a line at the edge where the paint coat shows. Can always touch that up; just something to consider.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.