How to prevent delamination on kitchen cabinets, and what causes this…
Peeling and Delamination can happen to cabinets that are stained, painted, and most commonly on cabinets coated with thermofoil. There are a plethora of causes for this type of failure. More often than not the culprit is heat and moisture related. However, cheap materials or not using enough glue to properly hold a piece of veneer onto the substrate are other common factors. Who knew that plywood and cheaply made stickers would be a bad combination of building materials? There is plenty of information out there about thermofoil door failure/cabinet door failure in general. For this blog, I intend to focus on issues we come across with the higher-end cabinets we work on regularly. Delamination of end pieces is the most common problem we encounter on a day to day basis.
Cabinet delamination specific to cabinet refinishing and cabinet painting
If there is not a piece of plywood on the end piece of your kitchen cabinets then consider yourself lucky. Otherwise high-end cabinets in the Mechanicsburg area tend to have a cheaper piece of plywood on the ends. Most customers do not notice this until we point it out since the stickers blend in with the wood so well. Heck, I didn’t give it much though either until we had a few cabinet refinishing jobs where the sticker was bubbling before painting. And then there were a couple of jobs that failed on us despite following all guidelines for perfect surface preparation. Why am I writing about our own failures? Because most companies avoid such topics, but it comes up enough that it deserves some attention. Why wait until something breaks when you can prevent it from breaking in the first place?
What does cabinet delamination look like?
Sometimes a photo is worth 1,000 words. Here we follow the life cycle of painted kitchen cabinet delamination in Mechanicsburg…
Birth Of Kitchen Cabinet Delamination: In this early stage, a small crack has appeared along the bottom of a painted cabinet end. This is most likely caused by a weak adhesive reacting to moisture and/or heat.
Adolescent Stage Of Kitchen Cabinet Delamination. In this photo, what started as a small crack has grown into a gaping separation of the substrate and veneer. Customers usually think this is peeling paint, but it is actually the cabinet coming apart due to cheap materials. In this case, particle board and a thin veneer/sticker.
Adult Stage Of Kitchen Cabinet Delamination: In this photo, we got in and scraped off anything that was loose. We just did this to show the all areas where the glue from the manufacturer was failing.
Pile Of Kitchen Cabinet Failure Caused By Delamination. This is what we were able to scrape off the side of the cabinets. As you can see, the front side was painted, and the back side peeled off the entire piece of veneer.
Rebirth Of Repaired Kitchen Cabinet That Will Not Fail. The fix was to install a new end piece where the issue occurred. This involved cleaning up the failing area, gluing and pin nailing the new piece to the side of the cabinet, installing trim to cover up the new seams, and re-spraying the side panel, which involved masking off the bulk the kitchen again. A small area can grow into a much larger project with all the above steps listed. This is why addressing side panels that are at risk for delamination BEFORE we paint is preferred.
How To Prevent Painted Kitchen Cabinet Delamination:
We prefer to be safe than sorry, and believe most people feel the same way (or at least they should). If the above mess looks terrible to you, we suggest the following steps BEFORE cabinet painting begins. Yes it costs money, yes is way less expensive than fixing it after the fact. This is our recommended fix for preventing cabinet delamination before it happens.
Step 1: We pull off any of the trim surrounding the panel, measure, and cut a new panel to size.
Step 2: A heavy duty construction adhesive (in this case Liquid Nails) is applied to the affected area. From there, the heaviest person in the room leans on this panel for roughly 10 minutes, while the rest of the crew makes fun of that person.
Step 3: A pin nailer is also used to make sure the panel does not shift over time. The adhesive alone would probably be sufficient, but we like this quickly added step for good measure.
Step 4: The seams are covered by old and in some cases new trim. Depending on the space, the added panel can add 1/2″ to the length or width of the panel. This requires adding new new trim to the equation. Some areas may also require caulking or patching.
Step 5: Paint the newly installed surface without the worry of potential delamination in the future. And of course, enjoy peace of mind with a full warranty (we cannot warranty end pieces that are not solid wood).
In Summation:
While painted cabinet delamination is not “the norm”, it is a complete mess when it does occur. Professional contractors, including ourselves, would much rather prevent this than deal with it after it happens. It is a time consuming repair. Masking a kitchen off takes a lot of time, and is disruptive to daily life. We would much rather not come back to visit (unless it is for a social visit or additional projects, which we are all for). When comparing estimates, make sure to ask about cabinet delamination. If your contactor has not heard of this unfortunate phenomena, you may want to keep looking. Heat and moisture are the most common causes of delamination, along with low grade building materials. Central Pennsylvania (Mechanicsburg, Harrisburg, Carlisle, Camp Hill) has massive weather shifts from season to season which can exacerbate the problem.
We hope you have enjoyed this blog about painted cabinet delamination and its fixes. Curtis Tankersley is the owner/operator of Just Add Paint, LLC, a residential house and cabinet painting company located in Mechanicsburg, PA. Just Add Paint is an accredited member of the National PCA, and maintains a 5-STAR review among all major ratings platforms. Matt Schmohl (“Ducky” to those of us who know him best) is our in-house technician/problem solver/carpenter/furniture maker, and provided the photos while doing the repairs on these projects. At this point in time we have refinished roughly 300 sets of kitchen cabinets in the Mechanicsburg area, and look forward to continuing to serve our community.
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