Durable & wipeable paint options for kitchen cabinets

[Dylan T]

Hi all - am currently converting a campervan and planning my cabinets. I really want the finish durable, and was leaning towards formica laminated ply but it's not cheap and was curious if there was a durable paint finish out there. Rustoleum sell a kitchen cabinet paint which has good reviews but it seems to be a consumer product and I was wondering if there was a trade product/trick out there to get kitchen cabinets nice and durable/wipeable. My mother in law paints s & restores furniture for a living and uses a few posh paints but none of them last too long before being marked which I really want to avoid.

Thanks so much!

 

[opps]

I used to specialise in painting MDF cabinets. The bespoke kitchens were either raw MDF/timber or primed with pre-cat. The finish was two coats of Dulux Trade oil based eggshell.

I strongly recommend against using water based finishes in kitchens. Oils, including the oils in your skin, make waterbased paints become so soft that you can scrape them off with your fingernail after a few years. Additionally, they become soft if exposed to meths, acetone and xylene. Oil based paints are fine with each of those.

The most durable finish that I have worked with is 2k paint. They are paints that you apply a hardener to. In the main, they can only be sprayed and they are really, really bad for your lungs. Even if you had a clean air supply for breathing I don't think they would be suitable to use in a confined space like a van because of the overspray.

If you can assemble the units ready to be sprayed. You might be able to convince a local car (accident) repair firm to spray them for you with 2K or polyurethane.

Alternatively, you could apply the formica yourself to MDF or ply. You just need a a small router and some contact adhesive- yeah, it is a bit more involved than that. If you post the question in the woodworking forum you might get better advice, or hope that @JobAndKnock replies to this post- he knows his woodworking onions.

 

[Dylan T]

I used to specialise in painting MDF cabinets. The bespoke kitchens were either raw MDF/timber or primed with pre-cat. The finish was two coats of Dulux Trade oil based eggshell.

I strongly recommend against using water based finishes in kitchens. Oils, including the oils in your skin, make waterbased paints become so soft that you can scrape them off with your fingernail after a few years. Additionally, they become soft if exposed to meths, acetone and xylene. Oil based paints are fine with each of those.

The most durable finish that I have worked with is 2k paint. They are paints that you apply a hardener to. In the main, they can only be sprayed and they are really, really bad for your lungs. Even if you had a clean air supply for breathing I don't think they would be suitable to use in a confined space like a van because of the overspray.

If you can assemble the units ready to be sprayed. You might be able to convince a local car (accident) repair firm to spray them for you with 2K or polyurethane.

Alternatively, you could apply the formica yourself to MDF or ply. You just need a a small router and some contact adhesive- yeah, it is a bit more involved than that. If you post the question in the woodworking forum you might get better advice, or hope that @JobAndKnock replies to this post- he knows his woodworking onions.

Thanks so much for this, very useful to hear from someone in the know like that. Can I ask how durable the dulux option was?
In regards to the 2k option, I really have no experience with any sort of spraying so it's a whole new world for me. I was hoping there was an option to use with standard kind of thinners setup and a basic air gun, but I'm aware of 2k being outlawed here due to links to cancer as far as I know. If the hardness only comes from using that option then I might reassess - could approach a place to do it for me but might add unnecessary complications.

 

[opps]

2k paints are still available and very legal.

I get most of mine from Morrells, but when I need exterior grade 2K I use different firms.

It is lovely to work with. I can, for example, spray a front door and it dries so quickly that I can pick the door up after 30 mins. After about 45 mins I can resand it.

I don't think that the paints are carcinogenic- the bigger issue is that they contain isocyanates. The H&SE have documented cases of people developing asthma shortly after using them for the first time. I used to spray it out doors with a fag in my mouth... I now wear a charcoal AEBK mask when spraying it but that is silly. You should be wearing a full face respirator with clean air supply.

The Dulux option works for all cases other than where areas are subjected to regular hot water. An example that springs to mind is a case where the customer had a small Miele dishwasher that has a vent on the front to exit the machine, that used to leave a trail of water that ran done the front. Being (regular) MDF, the MDF and paint failed.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I'm with @opps about 2k being a far better solution (more durable) for van interior parts than ordinsry gloss paints, and in terms of weight it is also a very good solution being lighter than using faced boards, however, as he points out it requires a proper dry back spray booth to apply and a full face mask with a clean, pressure fed air supply (carbon filter masks are completely ineffective, and dangerous for the mask user) - so not a DIY solution.

From a purely woodworking perspective a practical solution might be to go to widely available 15mm MFC (melamine faced chipboard) for the carcasses. This can be edged with iron on edging tape and any overhang trimmed off, but that will leave sharp corners znd sharpish edges. I feel that sharp corners are probably best dealt with rouding off (radiusing) using a routercand a template jig and that rather than a square edge with edging tape a better solution is to rout a groove in the edges and apply PVC T-profile (it knocks in with a plastic head hammer). This material imposes some constraints on design as it won't handle square corners at all (it tends to creep away from them in service), so all corners need to be radiused. As said above this will require a home made (or bought in) radius jig, plus a router and a bearing guided trim bit (you also need to cut away most of the waste with jigsaw before using the router). The round corners will take the T-profile and it will be a lot safer for users in a confined space (where bumping into a square corner can hurt)

Whilst MFC will provide a serviceable worktop, it won't be the most durable one, so for preparation surfaces you may want to consider laminating the top surfaces with a decorative laminate, such as those from Formica, Wilsonart or Abet Laminati and others. The trick to applying these to one side of the substrate only (to save both money and weight), is to build the cabinet unit(s), complete with the top fixed on, roughen the top surface with P40 or P60 grit sand paper (to provide a mechanical key), then do the bonding (with solvent-based contact adhesive) and trimming of overhangs with a router. T-profile edgings can be applied afterwards.

For assembly I'd recommend using countersunk screws where they will be covered or subsequently hidden (e.g. for fixing the top to the cabinet if you will subsequently be overlaying with decorative laminate) and to use dowels or biscuits elsewhere, although they will require cramping while the glue sets). Because vehicles are subjected to a lot of vibration I'd recommend backing up all joints with small angled stretcher plates and screws on the undersides. Your best bet for screws for these and any hardware/ironmongery is to buy appropriate size HOSPA screws off eBay, but in general don't skimp on the quality of screws (so also use something like Spax or Reisser for the carcasses) and pilot drill and countersink all holes carefully with a good quality drill/countersink (e.g.Trend Snappy SNAP/CS range)

Not painting, I know, but an approach which mimics what is done in ice cream vans, coaches and caravans and side steps paint altogether