Kitchen door repainting advice / recommendation sought

[Ian down london way]

About 10 years ago (wild guess) we replaced our old style solid oak (I did salvage all the doors) kitchen, and had a bespoke designed kitchen fitted. Got a lot more space, with taller units, and also kitted out a utility room. Probably double the storage, and no regrets there.

The material used was MDF (or maybe some harder DF), and was painted in something which I was told was a two part paint (they left some for touching up).

Anyway, the paint cover has started to wear, mostly under handles, but also other places. Well, after 10 years, I guess that's not so bad. Its a little weird as where it has worn, the undercoat which is white, is hard (to a finger nail) whereas the top coat feels quite soft, and is easily dented with a finger nail.

Anyway, rather than start again, I thought I would consider repainting the doors. The sundry other visible parts are in good condition, its really just the doors which need retrieving.

So, my question is two fold: Should I even consider trying to paint them myself (spray?)?
Does anyone have any experience with any commercial organisation who will do a quality job of repainting (considering the soft nature of some of the existing paint, and the underlying MDF).

Cheers!

 

[Geoff_S]

It sounds like the topcoat has never properly bonded with the primer/undercoat.

Astonishing that it is still soft after 10 years!

My gut reaction would be to remove one smaller door and strip it back. See how that goes, then if OK just strip and repaint them. Just too dodgy to paint over an existing apparently unstable surface.

Another thought. If it is 2 part paint perhaps there wasn't enough hardener added so although the top coat has dried, it has never actually cured.

I think strip it and start again.

 

[tomatwark]

If the current top coat is still soft after 10 years, I think you are going to struggle.

I would not like to try to strip MDF doors, and I would suspect that over painting will not work long term.

Also if you are only painting the doors to get them to match will be difficult as paint darkens over time and if it was dodgy to begin with it may be even harder.

I think you will need to bite the bullet and replace the doors.

But before doing this have a play with the existing ones and see what happens.

 

[Distinterior]

I can recommend this company if you decide you want to have them professionally re finished.

https://www.recurostyling.co.uk/

 

[will1983]

Maybe approach a local car bodywork sprayer, they use 2 part paint all the time and can mix it into just about any colour imaginable.

 

[Ian down london way]

Keep them coming

Just to clarify I think the paint has gone soft (to the finger nail) relatively recently. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like that to start with. But not properly curing is my thought too. Maybe they didn't use the right proportions in the first place. Maybe its more that the top layer of the pain has worn, and somehow that has softened it - although I'm not sure that makes a great deal of sense.