help_ I bought a house with PINK counter tops

[Apkesh]

Hi, I recently purchased a 5 year old home. The original owner did not do any 'upgrade' at all, just had gotten the basic fixtures that come with the house from the builder. I love the house, but I hate 2 parts of the house.

1. The kitchen cabinets are all laminate type. The cabinets look of good quality (ie: the newer types, the one that doesn't scratch or anything) but I just wish the colour matched the rest of the kitchen! What options do I have other than to completely replace the cabinets? Refacing the cabinets with a different color laminate sounds like an option, but it looks like an expensive and tedious job. Any ways to treat it to look a bit darker?

1. The bathroom and kitchen counter tops (these are laminate too) are the most awful of all, the ones in the bathroom are PINK! I'd like to replace the entire counter top, but is there a cheaper alternative?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. apkesh

[Bob S.]

try alt.home.repair

[Greg]

If you have a laminate trimmer or the right bits for a router replacing the mica isn't really that tough. The counter tops are usually just screwed down with a few drywall screws under the counter so they are easy to take outside to work on. The cabinets are a little harder but they are usually just up there with a frightening few number of screws. I have found that if I need to seam the mica I am usually better off matching a factory cut to a factory cut so plan it so all of your cuts are off the trimmed edges and you match up factory cuts. (unless you are better at making straight, smooth, chip free cuts than me).

[Doug Miller]

Sell 'em to Bay Area Dave. I hear he likes pink.

[Eric Ryder]

Straight piece of 1X and a pattern cutting bit makes it right.

[David Babcock]

Refacing the cabinets can be expensive, if you go with the best you can get. But one thing I would look into is having a company do it, most can get it done in one or two days. To me that time frame is worth the expense. In the bathroom, as long as you don't need the little storage that a vanity gives I would go with a pedestal sink. They have many very attractive choices, and then you can do something creative with the storage you might need. Such as a standing closet. Spend the time you save doing the refacing of the cabinets and build something nice for your bathroom.

Dave

[Jon Dough]

I hope you don't mind me butting in and suggesting a better way to cut seams in plastic laminate. A simple jig made of 2 pieces of 1x4 (straight) about 32" long tied together at the ends by a couple of 2" wide pieces about 7 3/4" long. This leaves a long slot about 5/8" wide in the middle. With the 2 end pieces down on the table top lay the pieces you need to seam across the top and clamp them down, lapping one piece over the other, making sure they are set up at least 1/2" too long. Take a bearing trim bit and cut both pieces at once, using the slot as a guide for the bearing. One pass and you have a perfect seam! Works first time every time!

[Jon Dough]

Look underneath the countertops. They may be just screwed on. If they are it is not too hard to cut the caulking around them loose, unscrew them and replace them. If the cabinets are already laminated you could laminate over the existing face frames and buy new doors and drawer fronts. It won't be cheap but if the basic boxes are in good shape and the layout for the kitchen is correct it would be better than complete new cabinets.

[Andy Dingley]

Paint them. Scuff sand the laminate (about 240 grit), then apply a coat of melamine primer. After that you can paint them any colour you like.

I've used two melamine primers. One (from International Paints) worked well, but was hard work to use - lots of trouble with runs. The other (ESP brand) looks like water and is _much_ easier. If you're painting doors like this, take them off and paint them horizontally.

Replacing worktops is generally cheap, but a fair bit of labour - much depends on your layout. The ubiquitous round-edged paper-laminate fake stone particleboard worktops are at give-away prices. Biggest problem is forming corner joints, which need either an ugly plastic filler strip (very cheap and quick though) or hiring an expensive jig, a big router and a big cutter to form the joint. Don't try to just saw a mitre in them - gives a lousy finish.

-- What ? Me ? Evil Dictator of Iraq ? Nah mate, I'm just a Hobbit, honest