Hi,

I'm going to give my Mum's kitchen a bit of a "lift". The units are
fine, the doors are dated, the worktop is knackered.

I am having the worktops fitted by someone who has done it for me
before and he did it beautifully with great joints.

I am going to have a go at painting the doors. The doors are, say,
20 years old, only one is swelling. The doors have a chipboard /
fibreboard core with a "plastic" laminate coating. My approach is /
might be:

1. Clean doors thoroughly with dissolved Soda Crystals or Sugar Soap
to get rid of the grease.
2. Rub the surfaces gently (with what?) to create a key for the
undercoat.
3. Roller paint the doors with 2(?) coats of undercoat. Will that
"bond" to the door laminate or should I use some other form of
undercoat?
4. Paint the doors with a fine roller. Should I use any "special" top
coat, say, "kitchen" paint? Should I spray the top coat with some kind
of matt polyutherane "varnish" to seal the paint and limit the
penetration of grease and stains into the new paint work?
5. Have a new door cut from moisture resistant MDF and paint as above.
How do I get the holes for the hinges cut? Is there a special drill
bit for this?
6. Then I can finish with more modern handles.

Anything I have missed or will be a lot trickier than I have
thought? The reason for painting the doors is not just cost because
the painting will take time but that the wall cabinet doors are old
and very long and there isn't a modern equivalent of this size.

I think £35 per door from online stores for MDF blanks is criminal
when moisture resistant MDF is about £25 per 8 x 4 and I can have each
door cut for £1. I am not going the MDF replacement route because of
the possible tricky issue of cutting the holes for the hinges.


Thanks

Clive