CABINET REFACING TIPS

With our products, your Cabinet Refacing project will be a breeze and turn out
like a new set of cabinets. We will supply you with Cabinet Doors, plain or finished,
veneer, stain, and free advise on doing your kitchen. With our system, you use
thin veneer for the cabinet boxes with no need for saws or mess, our veneer is real
wood that cuts with a scissors or razor knife. We now also offer 1/8" veneer end panels
that can be pre-finished, cut to your sizes, and can be contact cemented on. Your outside
corners of your cabinets will look real, not with a piece if scribe trim that
looks out of place. Others also use plywood and nail through the face,
have you ever seen new cabinets with nails in the face frames???
Look through our Standard Moldings & Choose scribe moldings, Crowns
& much more also offered in Pre-Finished.
Many more un-finished molding offered here: Wood Molding

First determine if you would like to purchase new doors or veneer your old ones.
You will only be able to veneer flat-front doors. For a quote on new doors, please
use one of our forms.

FIGURING AMOUNT OF VENEER NEEDED:
Our Peel & Stick veneer only comes in 2' x 8'. Our wood backer veneer comes in 4' x 8'.
Measure the width and height of the area and divide it by 144. This will give you the sq. ft.
needed for each piece. Each 2' x 8' sheet has 16sq. ft and 4 x 8' are 32 sq. ft. Figure at
least one extra sheet for waste. You can sketch out a lay-out drawing to help you figure
out the yield per sheet for your sizes needed. For strips of veneer for doing face frames,
simply figure how many 8' long strips you can yield from a sheet accordingly.

If you are using standard, exposed self-closing hinges, the actual door size should be
1/2" larger than the opening (1/4" overlay).

HINGE BORE FOR CONCEALED HINGES:
Our standard program is for Compact 33 concealed hinges is a 1/2" overlay.
This means that you size your doors at 1" larger than the openings. With our standard
program, we will drill the doors and supply you with our 1/2" hinge mounting plates.
Width and height of your doors may be changed to your preference.
If your cabinets have a face frame, you can change the overlay. For other brands
of hinges, frameless or inset doors, you must supply us with the hinge bore specs.
We can have your doors pre-drilled for concealed hinges.
We also supply Blum brand Concealed Hinges.
You can also purchase a drill bit and drill the doors yourself if your doors have many
different overlays and you want to fit the doors as you install them. Click Here.
The Blum Compact 33 Hinges use a 35mm hole
NOTE: Face frame cabinets will have apprx. 2" framing material behind the doors.
Framless cabinets have 3/4" wide up-right dividing panels behind the doors.
Inset doors are flush mounted inside the face frame openings.

FINISHING TO MATCH:
If you order Pre-Finished Doors, you may need to finish items for your project that are only available in un-finished. You can order extra stain or paint but we do not sell our clear finishes. Many Clear Finished out there will match our finish. A Semi-Gloss sheen finish matches our standard finish best. Varnish, Lacquer or Polyurethane finishes will all work. It is best to bring a sample to a local paint store for advice and testing. Spraying on the finish is the best but brushing can be done also using Polyurethane. Small Spray Cans can be used also but they apply the finishes very thin and many coats would be needed.

DOVETAIL DRAWER BOXES:
For new dovetail drawer boxes, the width is 1"smaller than the opening
and the height is 3/4" smaller. Depth will be the same as your old
drawers or about 4" less than the cabinet depth.
This will allow you to use easy glide Full Extension Drawer Guides.
Measure your cabinet depth and choose the size for the drawer guides
exact, or to the next smaller size. These mount to the side of the cabinet
and blocking is required inside the cabinet to mount these guides to. This
blocking should be installed flush with the edge of the face frame and span
from the face frame to the back wall of the cabinet box.

Dave Daus from Tape-Ease has done kitchen cabinet refacing for over 20 years.
Please review all the information on this page.
Or you can call Dave, he will make sure your job turns out right the first time!!!
1-888-443-3461

STEP BY STEP:

Take all items out of cabinets.
Take doors and drawers off of cabinets and remove hardware. Determine
if you need new doors or if your old doors can be veneered, the old doors
must be flat to be able to veneer them. Order new Doors ahead of time and you
can start veneering the cabinet boxes.
Remove all wood trim from cabinets. See our trim section for unfinished or
Pre-finished Moldings. Order ahead.
At this time you should repair any loose or damaged parts. Fill in any voids
wood putty, sand smooth, then seal with a Varnish or Polyurethane.
For paper-backed, wood-backed veneer or 1/8”veneer, rough up existing
surfaces with 80 grit sandpaper or sander to prep for contact cementing.
If the existing surface has a thick finish or is a sound plastic
laminate or paint, you can use Peel & Stick veneer,
do not rough up surface for this procedure, but you must clean and
wipe surface with to remove and grease or dirt. Peel off backing and heat
peel & stick prior to placement with an hair dryer. If you use Peel & Stick
for the rails & stiles, you must still use paper or wood backed veneer and
contact cement for the end panels because the peel & stick only comes in 2' widths.
Metal cabinets can also be covered. Always follow Manufacturer
instructions when using their above mentioned products.
Cabinet door edges and end panels should be done first, then do
cabinet rails and stiles. Inside rail edges and backs of doors do not
have to be done unless preferred. If your cabinets have protruding
face frames at end panels, you can use a flush-cut router bit to
trim them down. If your cabinets have rounded corners, you can
veneer the end panel, cut flush, then use a wood filler to fill in
the rounded area. Then sand down, seal and veneer over the top.
Doors, drawers and cabinet ends should be done using
veneer sheet material. Raw wood or warn rails and stiles can be done
using iron-on, pre-glued or Wood Backed strips of veneer
from veneer sheets. The VIRUTEX Laminate slitter works great
for cutting down strips of veneer or plastic laminates, and the
VIRUTEX Miter cutter makes perfect end cuts on these
materials also. If you choose to use iron-on veneer, you must
stain & finish your veneer after it is installed. With peel & stick,
paper-backed or wood backer you may stain and finish
before installation. The tools mentioned above will not damage
pre-finished veneer when cutting your strips.
Cut pieces oversize ahead of time so you can do 4 or 5 doors
or drawers at a time. Leave edges hang over and trim later.
Be sure to fit all pieces prior to gluing, it also helps to make
reference marks to use to line up when contacting.
Using contact adhesive, brush on or roll on glue to both surfaces.
If you are gluing raw wood, 2 coats of glue will be required. Any brand of contact cement we have found to be good. We do recommend solvent-based contact and that you follow the instructions from the MFG on the can.
After glue is set, approx. 12 minutes, apply veneer to surface.
Thin wood lattes placed in-between veneer and surface will help
to line up your veneer before contacting.
Trim veneer edges with VIRUTEX Double Edge Trimmer, and End Cutter.
A utility knife works well for cutting long end grains.
Your veneered door and drawer front edges can be cut square or cut on
45deg. angle then veneered depending on your design and preferences.
When using this method, veneer faces first then
cut substrate and veneer at the same time. Some door edges
might turn out nice by just sanding and staining them.
Lightly sand veneer edges and stain and finish as desired.
Always make sample pieces that you can experiment with
along the way. Use color putty on cracks and file all edges of veneer,
protruding edges will cause delimitation problems...

*Always follow manufacturer directions and safety instructions before using any above mentioned products.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PROJECT!!!