01
What melamine is
Melamine is a resin-soaked paper layer fused onto particleboard, with a plastic edge band glued along the edges. It is hard, slick and non-porous: that is why it lasts, and also why paint has nothing to grip.
Many builder-grade and flat-slab kitchens are melamine, often white, almond or a printed wood grain.
02
Which melamine kitchens can be refinished
What decides it is the particleboard under the surface. It swells when water gets in, and once swollen it stays soft and crumbly: no coating can hold on it.
Good candidates: flat doors, tight edge banding, no swelling at the sink base or around the dishwasher. Poor candidates: swollen door bottoms, edge banding coming off, chipped corners showing raw particleboard over a large area.
03
How I check
Chipped edges and swollen particleboard are the deal-breakers. Send close-up photos of a door edge and of the cabinet under the sink, where water damage shows first. From those I can usually tell whether the kitchen is worth refinishing.
04
Prep built for adhesion
On melamine the prep matters more than anywhere else. Every surface is degreased, because cooking grease on a slick surface blocks adhesion. Then the whole face is sanded until no gloss is left, and the dust is removed.
Next come two coats of BIN shellac-based primer, which bonds to hard, slick surfaces, and after that the two sprayed coats of Renner Italia 2K with hardener.
05
Common problems and what I do
- Grease film around the stove and handles: degreased before sanding.
- Glossy surface: sanded all over so the primer has grip.
- Chipped corners: small chips are filled and sanded; a large area of bare particleboard usually means a replacement door.
- Swollen sink cabinet: swollen particleboard cannot be refinished.
06
A straight answer first
The kitchens filmed on this site are wood, MDF and thermofoil. With melamine I decide from your photos before anything else, and if the board is not sound, I will tell you so and point you toward refacing or replacement.
From a client
“He was attentive to our requests and questions and he put in the extra attention to details that were important to us.”