Finshing kitchen and vanity doors

[pjk]

Hi

I would like to make my own doors for my kitchen and vanity units. The missus just wants plain white doors in a gloss or satin poly-u type finish. What is the best way to achieve this?

Is it to order doors from Polytech/Laminex etc.? Has anyone ordered direct from themPlease could someone give me rough prices for these as every kitchen place I have visited is very non-comittal. I have 25 doors to replace, most of them 300-450mm wide.

Or is it to buy some MDF and route the pencil edge she wants and finish in white? What is the best way to achieve a nice gloss finish? Do I prime and then paint/sand about 2-3 layers of gloss enamel? Or can I paint the doors white and then coat with 2-pack poly-u such as that sold by Wattyl.

All help appreciated,

Regards
PJK

[seriph1]

Hi

My recommendation would be to go to the yellow pages and seek out a "trade" kitchen door maker - not a kitchen company.

The finish you might be seeking is called imperite - basically a mirror finish. If so, it is extremely difficult to achieve without special equipment and paint. I take it youre going for a very modern look - there are some excellent laminates available these days that achieve a great look, and can be roll-formed to achieve a softer leading-edge to the doors, though I dont have any experience with them.

finally, I know how hard ti can be to get assistance when in a regional centre - but Bathurst is a sizeable place and might have a cabinet-door maker. The only other alternative, as you suggested is to make them yourself, though if youre not proficient with the material and spray equipment etc. be prepared to bugger it up the first few tries...... I know I often do!


best success

[Jigsaw]

When I just did my kitchen cupboards the kitchen people gave me two options. They could provide the doors routed but unpainted, or routed and painted.
They use a company in Victoria called Hilustre, located in Thomastown. They don't have a web site, but if you look them up in the (online) yellowpages and follow the link there is a bit of a spiel on the painting process (in their techo terms) for the doors etc. You could look for painters in your region and make the doors yourself. With Hilustre, they don't sand the doors before painting, they left that up to the door maker.
The finished paint job is magic, just like the duco on a new car. The cost for painting was $90 a sq metre for non routed doors and $110 a sq metre for routed doors.