Painting Melamine Cabinets

So, after the decision was made to paint, the question became about paints that will be good for covering melamine.  I heard wind of something called Cabinet Coat.  Couldn’t find it anywhere.  Then I heard Home Depot has some kind of cabinet paint that would cover melamine perfectly, the paint team at Homer had no clue about this product when I asked.  

FINALLY.  I found Cabinet Coat at Ace Hardware.  Only they didn’t stock it at the one I first checked at – but they could special order.  The kicker was, it wasn’t really tintable to the degree I wanted for “garage grey.”  Then, wonder of wonders, I find that Ace makes a cabinet and door paint that IS tintable with a Deep Base. Huzzah!   

We had to call around to some of the larger Ace franchises to find one that had Ace Cabinet, Door & Trim Paint in the Deep Base (Sku 1320654).  Happily, a location nearby had it on the shelf.  And thus we were off to the cabinet building races.

Ace Cabinet, Door & Trim Paint

My only real regret was that I failed to follow good painting technique and blew off sanding and priming.  I suspect I would have gotten a tougher finish that was more resistant to scratching, but I just wasn’t willing to go that level of prep for garage cabinets.    

I also made the mistake of following advice on the internet to use a foam roller.  This = big mistake.  The foam left all sorts of bubbles in the paint.   

Horrendous idea.   

Had to sand the cabinet doors back down and repaint them.  The correct roller is a traditional roller designed for ultra-smooth surfaces.  A paint team member at Lowe’s suggested a 6” roller for adhesives as a good choice.  This roller delivered a much better finish.  Grey over white needed two coats. Almost all the pieces needed a little touch up after cabinet assembly and installation.  I’ll post back over time with reports of how the paint holds up over long term use. 

**11/28/13**
I have a favorable report on how the paint holds up. It's been 3 years and the cabinets still look great.

Funny story...I decided to add another cabinet in the garage and as I was about to start painting I found myself blank as to what I'd done on the first cabinets. Did I sand? Did I prime?

So, I went looking for one of the blog posts that I had used as a resource three years ago on painting melamine. Didn't find that blog post, but I did find THIS one (you're reading right now) where I specified what I had done. I just had to laugh.
I answered my own question by documenting the project on my blog....