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How to Redo a Formica Plastic Laminate Cabinet Door Using Existing Mica

This video demonstrates an effective way that you can redo a damaged Formica cabinet door. You can use the existing plastic laminate from the toe base area and replace the section of the plastic that has a chip in it. This method is generally used whenever the existing cabinet laminate is discontinued.

This method is only recommended if you are working with wood grain plastic laminate.

If the toe area is a different color, then look for another area where you can get a piece of plastic off of the existing cabinets.



Youtube Video Description:
How to fix a wood grain plastic laminate cabinet door that has a chip in it. To do the repair, peel the Formica laminate off the toe base, cut damaged area from cabinet door, glue strip of Formica on to door, file and clean with lacquer thinner. If you have wood floors DO NOT get lacquer thinner on the wood. It will ruin the finish. This is a great way to repair a chipped kitchen or bathroom cupboard door. The technique is not limited to just fixing a small area of laminate that is damaged. You can expand the idea of peeling Formica plastic from other areas of cupboards when your laminate is discontinued.

Possibly Places to Get Existing Formica From Cabinets

-From the cabinet side
-The toe-kick area
-Face of the cupboard
-Under the upper cabinet (bottom)

Read these two articles:
1) How to Peel Formica From Cabinets
-In this section I will explain how to remove (or, “strip”) Formica (or “plastic laminate”) from an existing cabinet or counter top. If you are planning to save the piece of laminate that you are trying to take off of the cabinet or counter, please remain patient throughout the process. Peeling plastic off of particleboard is going to be easier than removing it from plywood. How easy or hard the laminate comes off is going to be determined by many factors. (click link at beginning to read entire article)

2) How to Fix Chipped Formica Cabinet Doors– 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.(click link at beginning to read entire article)

Following the Video Steps

1) Remove the existing toe base laminate using a putty knife combined with lacquer thinner. Do Not use lacquer thinner if you have wood floors. Only use it on tile or laminate flooring.

2) Cut the damaged plastic lamiante area off of the cupboard door using a table saw. Do not cut the door; only cut the Formica laminate off of the door. Do this by setting the saw blade just deep enough to cut through the laminate. The strip you cut off should be just big enough to remove the area that you need to redo. In most cases this size ranges from an inch to an inch and a half.

3) Glue the strip on the door that you took off of the toe base area using cabinet contact glue.

4) Either paint the toe area black or find a Formica color that is close to the discontinued color and buy a sheet. Sometimes cabinet shops will sell you a small replacement piece of laminate.

Once the new/existing strip is laminated on the door use a router to cut the excess off. File the plastic flush, clean with lacquer thinner and your cupboard door will look a lot better than it did.

There are two areas I did not mention where you can get existing laminate from. You can take laminate to redo damaged areas from next to the refrigerator or on top of the upper cabinets if they are the same color.

  1. Dan
    July 17th, 2010 at 07:33 | #1

    This seems like more than I want to tackle. I think I’ll hire a professional s you have suggested.

    I was hoping that there would be some sort of paint filler that I could purchase to repair the damage on my mica bathroom door.

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