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How To Fix a Chip in a Formica Door

February 28th, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments

Do you have a blemish or problem with a cabinet that’s made out of plastic laminate that you would like to fix? Repairing a chip on a Formica door may be easier than you think, especially if your laminate is discontinued. The suggestions that I am going to make will require that you hire a cabinet maker unless you are very skilled with your hands and have a little experience in working with mica. You will find all of the information that you need on our website to accomplish the tasks at hand.


Where is the chipped Formica door that needs to be fixed? If it is in the kitchen, then your options will be broader than if the mica door is on a vanity cabinet. Here’s why, there really is no magical filler or putty that will repair a chipped plastic laminate door. You will have to replace the entire face unless there is some room to  spare and the door can be completely cut off.  If your work is in the kitchen you can take laminate form places that people really never see.

Fixing a Chipped Formica Door

The first thing that I always look for, when fixing this problem, is to see if it’s possible to just cut the chipped Formica area completely off the door. This of course always depends upon the design of the cabinetry, how many other doors there are that may need to be cut off and how the change would affect the design of the kitchen, bath or laundry room area. Oftentimes repairing the flaw is just that simple; you cut the door off . When exploring your options of how to fix a damaged mica cabinet door, there really isn’t  a set way that woks in every situation. This may just be a repair where you will have to get creative and look at all the possibilities that you can think of for a solution.

Next if you cannot just cut the damaged area off, then I’d begin to look for a replacement piece of mica. There are several places that I look  in a kitchen or bathroom for a replacement piece. If the door is in the kitchen, I will look for a piece of plastic laminate that I can peel off of an area that is not really ever seen but has the same color or pattern that I need. These areas are next to the stove, beside the refrigerator, or underneath the upper cabinets bottoms. If you locate a piece, you should study our article on How to Remove Formica From Cabinets. The proper way to do this is to remove the finished piece off of the door too. After you remove the laminate from a cabinet area, such as next to the refrigerator, you can  recover the cabinet side with any color because it never really gets seen.

If there is no place in the kitchen or bath area to remove the Formica from then you will have to go on a search to find the exact color that you need. I would suggest that you begin with a local cabinet shop.

Do you have wood grain laminate cabinetry? If so, you can make a seam with a small strip of  mica if a little strip is all that you can find. You cannot seam a piece on a  solid color mica door though.  There is no way for it to disappear.  The reason it works with wood grain is because the lines in the pattern will help hide the area where you butt the two pieces of Formica together. If you make a seam you must get it as tight as possible. Obviously you will have to peel the mica from the door so you can cut the chip off. After you have glued the laminate back on the door,  colored caulking can be used in the seam to finish things off nicely.

Once again let me remind you that there is no putty or filler that will help you fix a chipped Formica door. The chip will always be apparent. Make sure that you check out these other sections which lists the tools needed to put Formica on a cabinet. This one about what kind of glue should be used on mica will educate you as well.

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