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Can Your Kitchen Be Restored?
If you have a kitchen that you are thinking of replacing and which dates from the 1970’s onward, think again. Perhaps it could be renovated.
As long as the cabinets are in good condition, it might be possible to restore the appearance of your kitchen to almost new. This can be done by either fitting new doors and panels or by repainting the old ones. Even melamine doors can be lacquered to look better than new.
word of warning though, the work must be carried out by competent specialists. Kitchen doors will have ingrained stains from food and grease, which means that the preparation of the doors and panels has to be meticulous in order to achieve a good and long-lasting finish. The correct paint system for a professional, hard wearing finish is a two-pot acid catalysed lacquer. This is sprayed on, preferably in a filtered-air booth by specialist paint finishers.
Choosing The Paint Finish
You will need to choose the level of gloss finish you prefer for your kitchen. Generally speaking there are three to choose from:
30% Gloss. This might be described as a satin finish; low sheen and soft and smooth to the touch; probably the most common finish in today’s kitchens. This gloss level provides an attractive surface on which grease and finger marks are not so obvious as they would be on full gloss.
50% Gloss. This is more glossy that 30%, does not hide finger marks so well and feels slightly more ‘tacky’ when you run your fingers over it.
90% Gloss. This is the full gloss finish; shiny, shows finger marks and feels slightly ‘tacky’ to the touch. If you do not have young children with sticky fingers and are prepared to wipe down your door fronts regularly, this finish provides a very smart and stylish look, especially with dark or bright colours.
Surface Care
Your lacquer doors will need cleaning every so often. A mild detergent should suffice or one of the non-abrasive proprietary cleaning liquids. Under no circumstances use an abrasive cloth or brush to clean your doors or panels. Be careful with the corners and edges, which are susceptible to damage. Paint chips should be touched up without delay to stop moisture getting under the paint.
For an example of a kitchen renovation project, click here
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