Bathroom cabinet refacing

[MikeSattan]

I somewhat recently tried my hand at stripping paint off some cabinets in my bathroom, and I did not do such a good job. My wife is not very happy with my half-assed attempt at making the cabinets look better. What I was thinking I could do was take the face off the cabinets and rebuild a whole new face and set of doors. What I need to know, is this possible without ruining the framework of the cabinet? Do you think I would be able to pry off the face? Or am I better off trying to do a better job stripping these cabinets...or calling in a professional for a full set of cabinets?

[Charlie Groh]

What part of your operation went wrong? Did you just not get all the paint off? First and foremost is to get the old off, fill all the various holes and whatever, and sand it to maybe 220 for the new paint to look good...of course, you have to *apply* the new paint in a reasonably professional manner. It's easy to get a faceframe off, just tap it from behind (on the inside of the cabinet)...of course remove the doors and drawers first...but that's not necessary if you strip and sand and paint well. I'd do it again, be careful not to ding the surface too badly when scraping...use 80 grit sand paper, then 100 or 120 and move up another grit or two, prime and paint. Doors and drawer fronts get the same, here though you maybe will have to deal with an edge detail, moulding, or whatever, and you maybe even want to consider new doors and drawer fronts (that makes finishing MUCH easier, heh...and you/she gets a new look besides. To a homeowner/hobbyist these jobs look simple to begin with, but can be a pain.

cg

[clare]

Take your time stripping/sanding and the face-frame should be salvageable. Same with the doors - but you could quite easily make replacement doors (or buy them)

The face frame would not be hard to make - but getting it off the sawdust core ends without destroying them - and then refastening them

- might prove to be more work than it is worth. If you gouged the face frame, a bit of filler and more sanding will make a repair that will dissapea under a good coat of paint.

I did both the bathroom vanity in the house and the one at the cotage over the last year and they turned out looking like brand new.

Used super latex at the house and melamine paint at the cottage.