Discuss Anyone ever refinish or paint Lilje cabinets? on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. Anyone ever refinish or paint Lilje cabinets? - Sinks, Faucets, Knobs and Pulls - also coordinating kitchen elements. See also: Kitchen Appliances and Backsplash |Splashback.
The Ikea site says that the doors are solid oak and the end panels are oak veneer, so it sounds like refinishing them would be doable. I'm toying with the idea of sanding them, staining them a medium tone then doing a darker glaze over the top.
Or if that doesn't work maybe painting them cream and adding a dark glaze. Either way to make them look like designer cabinets. Just wondering if anyone has tried this and how it turned out. Pictures would be greatly appreciated if you have any! Thanks!
I would venture to guess that sanding into the groove around the raised panel of the Liljestad would be very difficult. There are a few companies that offer custom doors that will fit the IKEA cabinets. Certainly would save a lot of work and may save money in the long run.
Thanks so much for the pictures, Gloria. I noticed Kate said that she might use non-Ikea paint grade cabinet doors if she had it to do again. I'll have to look into that, if only to save the sanding step.
WrenX, the Backebo look like they would be nice painted, too. What color are you doing?
We're planning on Benjamin Moore's Aura paint in Jicama (which is a buttercream yellow) and either a celadon green or sky blue on the panel. We're thinking of doing the blue for the upper cab panels and the green for the bases and drawers.
But we'll see. We managed to score an extra Backebo door at the As-Is section of the West Sacramento store today, so we'll be testing the two-color idea. I'm thinking we may wind up with solid Jicama.
I saw Kate's post about painting the Tidaholm, but I won't be going to that many steps. I practiced on an As-Is Fagerland door, and when I used a BIN primer, I didn't have any trouble getting the sample colors from BM to adhere well. The person and the paint store felt that the Aura would be even more durable than the Satin Impervo, so I have high hopes. So far, I'm hoping to hit them with a feather-sand from my palm sander, then the BIN primer and two coats of the Aura. I think it will stick.
Those colors sound like they will go really well together, nice and calming. Looking at the cabinets it weems like the sanding should be pretty straight forward, since they don't seem to have a lot of nooks and crannies. I have heard of something called liquid sander that you could use if it does end up a pain, though. It probably wouldn't work if you wanted to stain them, but it should rough them up enough so that the paint will stick. Good luck.
Last edited by mandolynn100; Aug 6th, 07 at 10:54 pm.
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Looking at the cabinets it weems like the sanding should be pretty straight forward, since they don't seem to have a lot of nooks and crannies. I have heard of something called liquid sander that you could use if it does end up a pain, though. It probably wouldn't work if you wanted to stain them, but it should rough them up enough so that the paint will stick. Good luck.
