Kitchen cabinet refacing, no need to remove old veneer

Plastic T-Molding Edging Use 3/4'' molding for plywood, and 13/16'' molding for laminated sheet goods. 3/4'' wide molding requires a 1/16'' kerf. 13/16'' molding requires a 5/64'' kerf. Wraps around a radius as small as 1 inch.

Question: I've been through the kitchen cabinet refacing pages and am almost convinced I could do it. The thing is, my cabinets have an ugly veneer already on them. How do I get that off to get down to wood that I can work over? Thanks so much, Ben

No need to remove old veneer

There is no need to remove the old veneer from your kitchen cabinets before you reface them with pressure sensitive veneer if the old veneer is in good shape and stuck tight.

It's not even necessary to strip the old finish or old paint from the kitchen cabinets if they are sound, smooth and completely clean.

Completely clean means going beyond cleaning with everyday cleaners as most will generally leave some residue behind. A good Furniture Cleaner will take just about anything off right down to, but not including, the old finish or paint.

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You can remove the old finish

You can remove the old finish if you would like to have a good wood surface to bond to. After you remove the finish give the surface a light sanding and clean up the sanding dust with a tack cloth. There isn't much to surface preparation, but it's one of the most important steps for a good tight bond of the new veneer.

When I talk of veneer I mean good old fashioned solid wood veneer. Current use of the word veneer includes just about everything that makes a thin covering on something else.

Fill chips and missing veneer

If you have chips or areas of missing veneer you can fill the area with wood filler and sand it smooth. Most kitchen cabinets are made with pre-veneered laminated wood (particle board in some cases) and the hardwood veneer is rolled onto the laminated wood with terrifically high pressure and in most cases you would damage the wood underneath trying to remove the veneer.

Pressure sensitive veneer

The Pressure Sensitive Veneer makes kitchen cabinet refacing almost as easy as applying a pre-glued stamp to an envelope. Although you won't be applying the new veneer at the same amount of pressure, the glue used and rolling and tapping will stick the new veneer tight enough to last for a lifetime.

Save hundreds or thousands doing it yourself

Doing the job yourself will cost you a few hundred dollars for same as new cabinets as compared to a couple of thousand to have someone else do it or several thousand for replacement cabinets. The best part is admiring the work you did yourself and showing it to friends.