Painting MDF facades: selection of paint and features of the procedure

Each of us at least once in our lives is faced with the need to eliminate defects in the kitchen. This is either a planned cosmetic or major renovation, or a desire to make small changes. Typically, apartment residents choose from three options:

• stick new wallpaper;
• buy a panel;
• change the kitchen set.

You can choose and order kitchen cabinets in the store, and sometimes it is enough to update only a few details. In this article you will learn how to paint the kitchen facade with your own hands and transform the room.

Necessary tools for painting

Before making repairs, you need to think through and prepare in advance all the tools and equipment that will be needed when performing repainting work. Experts also recommend making a sketch or some sketch of the project you are aiming for. This will help avoid problems both before and after the repair begins. The drawing will help with the following:

• calculate the material;
• create a visual representation of the final look;
• see and correct shortcomings;
• choose a color scheme.

If it’s difficult for you to decide on a sketch on your own, then you can always consult with your loved ones or trust a specialist.

Tools are an important component. You will need:

• machine for grinding work;
• coloring composition;
• priming;
• sandpaper;
• brush;
• paint container;
• rollers;
• masking tape;
• spray gun;
• screwdriver;
• film (on the floor);
• Screwdriver Set;
• construction hair dryer;
• gloves.

If desired, some things can be excluded. If you are sure that only a brush is enough for the job, then rollers or sprayers are not purchased.

In the case where additional decoration is planned, other items may be useful:

• stencils;
• decorative elements (wooden blanks, crystals, etc.);
• glisal.

The list can be expanded. It depends on the wishes for the appearance of the headset. For some, simply updating the color is enough, while others will want to make changes to the stylistic design of the furniture.

Materials and tools

In the process of updating and painting old kitchen furniture, you should first prepare everything you need:

• a screwdriver and hammer drill will be useful during the dismantling of facades, fittings, as well as their subsequent assembly;
• coarse and fine-grained sandpaper or a grinding machine will become an indispensable tool at the initial stage of grinding the surface of the product;
• the solvent is necessary to degrease the surface;
• the primer will help make the surface smoother so that painting occurs successfully and is evenly distributed over the surface of the product;
• A paint brush with soft and hard bristles is needed in the process of painting the product. Sometimes it can be replaced with a roller with an additional paint container.
• gloves, goggles and a respirator are necessary for personal protection from harmful substances entering the body when painting and consumables on the body.

In some cases, you may need masking tape to stick to areas that do not need painting. To paint a kitchen with chipboard facades, you will need to first get rid of the film. In this case, a hair dryer will come in handy.

Do-it-yourself painting of kitchen facades is carried out using the following materials.

1. Acrylic paint. Today, the range of this material is impressive: a wide color palette, different textures. The substance does not have a pungent odor, so you can repaint the kitchen even in a living room. You can choose acrylic in aerosols or in liquid form - this does not affect the quality of painting in any way. However, acrylic has significant disadvantages: it is not moisture resistant and can hardly withstand temperature changes. In a place where a lot of cooking is done, a kitchen set with such a coating will not last long and will quickly become unusable.
2. Auto enamel. This option is recommended by experienced specialists for kitchen furniture. The substance is not afraid of steam, moisture, high temperature, and direct sunlight. Auto enamel perfectly strengthens the base, painting makes it more impact-resistant. This product is resistant to mechanical damage, so it is not so easy to accidentally scratch it. In addition, manufacturers offer a wide range of different colors and shades, which can also be mixed and experimented with the appearance of kitchen facades.

Paint in an aerosol can is the best choice for those who do not have a spray gun and the desire to work with a brush

Choosing paint composition for kitchen furniture

To begin with, it is worth understanding what requirements there are for coating paints and varnishes that are used in the kitchen. The surface, in addition to its aesthetic function, must have the following properties:

• resistance to abrasion, chips, scratches and moisture;
• ease of cleaning;
• good tolerance to high temperatures.

All this must be taken into account when purchasing dyes.

There are paints on the market that create a very durable surface. But in order to correctly understand the term “resistance to external influences”, it is necessary to take into account both the scope of application and the human factor. For example, the top layer will withstand a moderate impact from a dropped appliance, and not intentional pressure or sudden movements with a fork or other sharp objects.

Not every paint is suitable for repainting kitchen doors. Here you choose from:

• acrylic coatings;
• enamels for car repainting.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW! It is necessary to distinguish between film facades and those made of pure acrylic; they are also called acrylic glass or even plastic. They differ significantly both in the production process and in their wear resistance characteristics. At home, you can only use a film-type acrylic substance (that is, cover a specially prepared surface with acrylic paint).

Renewing a furniture set with acrylic paint and varnish is usually cheaper. This coating lasts longer than PVC films that are applied to chipboard and looks more presentable. No need to use edges. The process itself is quite simple: the paintwork is simply applied and dries quickly.

Automotive paint provides the greatest durability. Visually it looks smoother. It tolerates heat and temperature changes very well. In very rare cases, chips occur.

Why paint the kitchen furniture

During the process of renovating the kitchen, the question arises regarding updating the furniture. And immediately a dilemma arises - is it possible to paint the kitchen set and how to do it so as not to spoil the surface? This practice of furniture restoration occurs quite often and not only at the time of repair.

Kitchen repainting may be necessary in several cases:

• If the surface of the headset is too worn and there is a lot of damage and chips on the old coating.
• When you need to change the color of the furniture so that it fits into the overall interior design of the room.
• If you want to at least somehow change the overall appearance of the kitchen, but there is no money for repairs.
• When necessary, cover up dirty stains or more serious damage that cannot be washed or cleaned.

There may be other reasons such as moving or purchasing a new piece of furniture in the wrong color.

When is repainting necessary?

Facade paint: how to paint an MDF kitchen at home

And there is nothing complicated here, because any paintwork (paint and varnish coating) can be applied to such a set. They come in different price categories, so when choosing paintwork, many are based on cost.

It is worth noting that parts made from MDF boards are often decorated with different types of milling. These are framed, curved and straight doors. It is believed that it is better to use auto enamel on straight elements; it will look richer and more impressive due to its greater smoothness and strong refraction of light.

Interesting to know. Some framed swing doors (in addition to painting) are further transformed by replacing the inside with glass. Thanks to this, a stylistic update is achieved.

Kitchen painting

You can paint MDF facades with everything, with the exception of options with an acrylic panel. This kind of repair requires great care and some experience. Especially if you need to paint a complex surface - milled or radius.

The renovation consists of three stages: choosing paint, preparing and painting.

Selection of paints and varnishes

To paint MDF boards, ordinary acrylic or oil paints can be used. Alkyd compounds are better in quality and more durable. The ideal option for the kitchen are polyurethane paints and our own polyurethane primer.

1. Water-based polyurethane primer is absorbed by the top layer of the material, shrinks the loose surface, imparting sufficient strength and smoothness. This coating is easy to sand and significantly reduces the consumption of paint and varnish.

If fairly old kitchen facades are being repaired, it is highly recommended to apply a second layer of filler primer.

2. Polyurethane enamels are distinguished by a rich range of colors and provide varying degrees of gloss. The following paints are produced:

• matte – with a minimal degree of light reflection;
• semi-matte;
• semi-gloss – this coating is recommended for pastel colors;
• glossy - the most popular;
• high-gloss – suitable for very pure and bright colors, as they provide an almost mirror-like shine. The white gloss will be simply dazzling.

3. Varnish. Acrylic and polyurethane varnishes are used. The former are transparent and do not turn yellow over time, but are inferior in mechanical strength to polyurethane ones.

Preparation of material

If the facades are really old, the surface includes not only peeling of film and paint, but also chips and cracks.

If the dimensions of the sash have changed, for example due to constant dampness, then it is advisable to abandon the restoration. It will be much faster and cheaper to completely renovate the kitchen.

If you decide to radically change the design of the kitchen, then do-it-yourself renovation is quite possible.

1. The hinges and handles are removed from the sash.
2. Get rid of the film coating. Since PVC film and melamine film are not resistant to heat, the facades are simply heated with a hairdryer and the film is removed. This cannot be done with an acrylic panel.
3. The old layer of enamel is removed with a solvent.
4. The surface is polished using sanding sponges, brushes or a sander. The treatment removes glue and paint residues, minor scratches and chips. Grinding is carried out in three stages using abrasive materials with coarse grains - P180, medium and fine.
5. Then the part is cleaned of dust and primed. This is best done with a spray, but you can use a roller or even a brush. The primer dries in about 8–10 hours.
6. After drying, the surface must be cleaned again with the finest grain abrasive.

The process of preparing the material is covered in detail in the video.

Painting material

You can paint kitchens with a roller or a brush, but it is still better to use a sprayer. This significantly reduces work time and allows you to obtain uniform painting on any surface - flat, milled or radius.

You need to paint in two layers, the second is applied after the first has completely dried. If you use paint and varnish material of the same shade, you can get a uniform matte or glossy surface. However, with the help of enamel you can create more interesting effects.

After the paint and varnish coating has dried, install the fittings and hang the doors on the hinges.

In the video you can see how to properly paint MDF panels.

Repairing an MDF kitchen, if the material itself is reliable and durable, can completely change the design of the furniture. With sufficiently developed artistic skills, you can even draw on smooth facades. No industrial design can provide such a degree of uniqueness.

Paint for chipboard facades

The most economical option is furniture made entirely from chipboard. Here all the parts are made of the same material; no cutters or roundings can be made, so these are always straight parts. Due to the simplicity of the entire design, preference is often given to a cheaper type of paintwork. The selection of material is often carried out according to the desired tone. The peculiarity of updating such interior items is that attention should be paid not only to painting, but also to transforming the edges.

Solid wood facade paint

Solid wood always has a beautiful appearance and good wear-resistant properties. Old products were often made from pine wood. Paint and varnish coatings are selected based on:

• the size of the wooden furniture set (sometimes painting can be very expensive);
• style and execution of facial elements. It is better to apply auto enamel to straight parts.

This coating is optimal because it will better protect the wood from drying out, temperature changes, and humidity, and it will also help decorate the kitchen set.

Instructions for repainting kitchen facades with your own hands

Today it is quite easy to update your kitchen set. For such an update, we will not need to buy new parts, but simply paint the kitchen facades, after which your cabinets will find a new life and will once again be able to delight you with their wonderful appearance.

Over time, the panels tend to fade, fade in the sun, or become completely tired. Then paint and a brush come to the rescue. This way you can save a decent amount, because if we change the wallpaper every couple of years, and the curtains at least every month, then we buy furniture for many years.

Over time, we begin to get bored with our kitchen set, and we want to somehow update the interior, for which it is not at all necessary to purchase a new set, just repaint and update the appearance of the old one. To do this, all you have to do is buy new enamel in the color you need and paint the kitchen facades. Moreover, you can do this with your own hands.

Color palette

The colors are varied. Ready-made tones are available for sale, which when mixed give a huge number of shades.

In addition, there are compositions with impurities that create various visual special effects, for example:

• dullness. Usually they do all the cabinets. It is permissible to combine several tones;
• chameleon. It is better to apply it to the entire set of cabinets and not combine it with anything, since it creates a rather complex effect with a tone replacement. It’s good when one of the shades is present in the room. For example, gray and green go well in a room where there is some accent in the same colors. It could be curtains, a carpet, a corner, a tablecloth;
• glossy (in various combinations);
• pearl. Designers recommend making it the main focus;
• glow (will set the style of the room);
• shimmering.

Nowadays they can easily find everything they need to implement any color idea in the kitchen on their own. The main thing to remember is that the final result is greatly influenced by the density of application and the observance of drying time. All recommendations are in the instructions for use on dye jars.

Surface preparation and painting algorithm

Before you start work, you need to prepare the room. You need to do everything sequentially:

1. Rearrange, separating the area for repair.
2. Cover the floor with film or newspapers where spraying will occur.

Then they dismantle those elements that, according to the plan, need to be repainted. These can be not only facade parts, but also visible sidewalls, cornices, plinths, etc.

Grinding

It is needed to ensure evenness. Step by step process:

1. PVC films are removed from the chipboard and sanded.
2. Old coatings (varnishes, enamels, paints) are removed from MDF and solid wood. Grinding machines, sandpaper, and spatulas are used.
3. Removes all dirt and dust. To avoid clogging the dirt, use a brush.

At the end, it is necessary to degrease all surfaces.

Preparatory stage

To make your work more convenient, you should dismantle the facades. Then you should remove from them all additional parts in the form of handles and inserts, which are presented in the form of stained glass, mirrors or glass. We may not remove the loops, but then they should be sealed with tape.

If the facades of your kitchen are made of chipboard, then you need to clean them of PVC films, which can act as an obstacle to the application of paint. For this purpose, we heat the front part with a hair dryer, after which we begin to gradually remove the unnecessary layer of film. This work must be approached with great care, since no pieces of film should remain on the facade.

After this, we should wipe the surface and remove dust from it. Then we move on to sanding the façade. Either fine-grit sandpaper or a sander will help you here. Using this method, we can also remove a layer of paint from painted MDF facades. In addition, you can use special liquids for removing varnish and paint.

After you have finished work, you should thoroughly wipe the panels from dust. It is best to do this with a brush, since you can push some of the dust into the surface with a rag or sponge. Then you should degrease the surface to get maximum quality from the new paint job.

To prevent dust from getting inside the surface, sweep it away with a brush.

The final preparation step is priming the surface. This is how we use a primer for wood, but if there are plastic parts on the facade of the kitchen, then they should be primed with a solution intended for plastic. Now we need to let the primer harden. We recommend waiting about a day and then starting painting.

Primer

For products made from MDF and solid wood, priming is carried out in two stages. First, use an insulating primer, let it dry and sand it. Then white polyurethane is applied. Dry and polish. Chipboard is subjected to regular priming and smoothing out irregularities.

Important! When it is planned to change color on both sides, then all stages of preparation are also carried out on both sides, starting with the inner one.

Color solution

Despite the truly large selection of paint colors, to say that you can completely repaint solid wood furniture in the opposite color with your own hands is a slight exaggeration. If you don’t know the basic rules of painting, mixing shades and don’t follow the recommendations of experts, you can get the exact opposite result to what you need.

For example, when painting a dark facade, you should prepare for the fact that it will be very difficult to preserve the structure of the wood, especially if changes occur in lighter shades.

Initially, light shades are more malleable, and if you apply stain or varnish correctly, you can achieve a darker and more saturated color while completely preserving the primary structure of solid wood.

Coloring

In the case when it is necessary to paint the façade of the furniture, you need to secure the clean surface with tape. This is also done to protect against smudging. Then coloring is performed:

1. The paint is applied in one direction.
2. Avoid leaks as much as possible.
3. The composition is applied in layers, allowing each to dry.
4. Try to paint in an even layer. If necessary, use sandpaper or sanding paper.

This achieves increased color density and a perfectly even coating.

Worth remembering! If you use complex formulations with different special effects, then you need to ensure that the substance does not stagnate. This usually happens when using guns and other sprayers. It is important to regularly shake the paintwork with the container.

What paint should you paint furniture with?

The choice of paints for secondary finishing of kitchen surfaces is not very large. And if you also start from the surface characteristics of the material of the furniture itself, then even more restrictions arise.

Suitable paint for kitchen facades could be:

Paint type	Positive characteristics	Negative characteristics	Relevance
Oily	It lays down in an even layer, perfectly masks defects, and is resistant to moisture and high temperatures.	It has an unpleasant odor, takes a long time to dry, and due to its viscous consistency, problems may arise with the painting process.	Used extremely rarely.
Acrylic	They do not have an unpleasant odor, are easy to apply to the surface, and are environmentally friendly.	It can quickly lose color and texture, does not tolerate excess moisture and high temperatures, and requires special care.	It's your prerogative if you need a temporary update.
Alkyd enamels	Safe, easy and evenly applied to the surface, resistant to temperatures, moisture, steam, and do not wash off.	Difficulties may arise during the application process, so it is necessary to purchase special equipment for the job.	The most popular because they have a lot of advantages.

In some cases, you can combine several paint options to paint certain parts of the headset. Different textures can be an excellent design solution.

Finish coating

It is used to add depth to color and provide protection from mechanical damage. The varnish protects the shades from fading in sunlight. It is also applied in stages, leaving time for drying.

Attention! During painting and applying varnish, it is strongly recommended not to allow the entry of fine dirt or dust. If this happens, the particles must be removed using tweezers.

Benefits of DIY painting

Painting the kitchen as a method of updating the front part of the set has a number of positive aspects :

• no significant financial investment in the material is required;
• minimal experience working with dyes;
• rapidity.

The choice of a material such as paint will be a big plus among the variety of means for restoring furniture facades.

The benefits of coloring include:

• wide choice of colors;
• a variety of types of paint and varnish materials, differing in their characteristics - polyester, polyurethane, acrylic and others;
• durability of the coating;
• resistance to mechanical damage, temperature changes, and chemical elements;
• environmental friendliness and safety.

Decorative treatment of kitchen facades

Repainted façade parts can be easily decorated. The decor is applied to the dried paintwork and then fixed with a finishing coat. Various options are popular for independent execution:

• imitation of antiquity, decorative aging - all this refers to patina. They purchase a coating for patination and use it to accentuate certain places on the facade: most often they paint it on the frame, plinth, and surfaces with cutters. Paint with a sponge or brush followed by sanding. Achieve evenness along any line;
• The decoupage technique is widespread. Operate according to instructions. Decoupage is often used in Provence interior style;
• To create patterns, they resort to stencils. They are made with their own hands, and they are bought ready-made. Sometimes simple masking tape is enough;
• Decorative irregularities in the form of chaotic lines and strokes, dents, and bubbles attract the eye. This simple technology transforms the kitchen interior. You can apply glisal and, by pressing or making certain movements, create fancy embossing. They are also obtained using sponges, rags, brushes, seals, etc. Using glaze, you can also simulate the aging of furniture;
• Color schemes give an extraordinary look. Finding them is easy: just look at pictures on the Internet or draw them yourself. Most often, the inner sides are painted in a different shade, the top and bottom are painted in similar colors of the same tonality or, conversely, in contrast;
• decoration is created by gluing rhinestones, crystals, stones, chains, etc. Sometimes they serve as decor on handles and other small parts.

Painting the facades of kitchen units significantly changes the appearance of the room. To transform furniture, you won’t need a large investment, because all you need to do is buy paint. Carrying out minor repair work is not a difficult task, which is completely within the capabilities of a beginner.

Types of coatings

Painting kitchen facades cannot be done efficiently if the type of surface of the furniture is not initially determined. Manufacturers mainly offer the following options:

• MDF;
• chipboard;
• tree;
• plastic.

Before deciding to restore the base by painting, you should carefully examine the entire surface of the headset.

Often there are also combined options, which often also contain additions in the form of metal and glass. Depending on the base material, the possibility and principle of coloring is determined.