"There was no way we could wait for a new cabinet to be factory painted"

I don't understand this statement, to be honest. I would've wanted a new cabinet, factory painted.

That's what I would still want. That's what I'd insist on. Tell them you need that cabinet, asap, and hurry up about it.

It may take 6-8 weeks, or even 12 weeks, or longer, but that time will pass anyway. At least that's how I look at it.

Yes, I hear what you are saying, but in this crazy world right now time wasn't an option. I had a trusted cabinet installer who took a weeks vacation to install my kitchen, so I would of lost that opportunity. Any other cabinet installers were 6-10 months out. I could of waited for tiling other then the tiler had already started his work. I was totally happy with the panel idea. (until they started to crack) I must add we live in a remote town of 2000 people (Nearest city is 2.5 hrs away) I want the new cabinet too, just scared it could make a bigger mess and then I totally regret my decision. I also then must make sure the guy taking out old and putting in new is TOP NOTCH. Thank you

I experienced the same fear of collateral damage, exacerbated by the long lead times and the improbability of getting the A-team trades to return for a repair. In my case, a window replacement resulted in damage to the wallpapered hallway leading to the room with the window. I waited ages for the wallpaper hanger to squeeze me in for the repair.

My recommendation: get the new factory painted cabinet. Wait as long as you have to, request an experienced accomplished installer (offer to pay more). Take precautions to protect adjacent spaces (counters, base cabinets, flooring). I purchased supplies from surfaceprotection.com. Sometimes overkill, but worth the expense and time to me.

Thankyou. That is generally what I am thinking… they will pay for all work to make it right(they are good that way) it is just my responsibilty to find the right contractor to take the cabinets off and reinstall new corner cabinet along side with the righthand side existing cabinet and then reinstall crown moldings and light valance. i have total faith in my tiler. there will be a bit of gap from corner cabinet and tile(1/4”) but maybe just a thicker line of grout, or flat piece of trim. just nerve wracking…..

What adhesive did the cabinet factory recommend for adhering the panels and what adhesive was used please? How thick were the panels and what is their composition?

Carpenters glue, composition wood, looks like both sides are veneered, 1/8” thick thick.

Some comments...

Typically veneers use wood, paper, or cloth backing so the glue can be dissolved. Assuming your veneer is wood, paper, or cloth backed you need to sand off the finish (this can be a rough sanding) then press a damp cloth to the veneer and let the moisture soak through the veneer to the glue and dissolve it. I have found the easiest way to do this on a flat vertical surface is attach a small towel to a piece of scrap plywood and press it against the veneer. You then apply pressure with weights or clamps. Dampen the towel with a spray bottle occasionally and wait.

If it is an animal based glue you will need a vinegar/water mixture in order to dissolve it. You are not going for wet, just damp, as you don't want to start delaminating the plywood. When you can take a putty knife and remove chunks of the veneer it is ready.

In my opinion, the cabinet should have been sprayed before installation. Spraying is not going to produce a different texture unless the person spraying doesn't know what they are doing. It would have been easy to transport this cabinet to a finish shop and have the sides sprayed before installation. Colors are annoying to match, sheen is pretty difficult to match, but matching the factory texture is easy. That would not be a perfect solution unless the factory actually told you the exact product they use, but as your sides are on a different plane and partially hidden it would not have been noticeable even without a perfect sheen match.

You can still have it sprayed and match the texture but it is a lot more expensive now that the painter has to come to you. Still, I am not sure I would skin the cabinets with full doors because that is going to be clunky looking in my opinion.

Good luck.

Is removing the right side cabinet and removing the existing corner cabinet and installing new corner cabinet something that should be able to be done? Like I said company is paying for all of this so just want to know best way to approach this. Like I said I was willing to accept the "skins" but now they themselves have a defect.

Removing the cabinets is going to be a pain, but if installed properly the installer should be able to remove them and reinstall them with minimal damage. Really, only the installer knows how much trouble it is going to be to remove them, so I would talk to them.

This is the renderings they have given me to visualize for the decor doors.

They say the decor doors are usually 3/4” to match existing cabinets, they say they can make thinner with mdf, flat or a raised panel to match existing. Thoughts ?

Dumb question from an amateur.

Isn't 'factory painted' just sprayed with a paint gun? Could that be done in place after sanding and filling the cracks then masking off the surroundings?

Or would that be a problem with matching paint colors?

They are a baked on finish, so i belive the spray technique will look different.

I have a ”third panel” i requested in case there was a mistake. may get a proffesional painter to sand down, fill cracks with wood filler, sand smooth and try the custom bm paint Aura sprayed on. see what the result looks like.

The spray techniques will not look any different if the person spraying the paint is remotely competent. Baking a finish doesn't change the texture at all, nor does it add any additional strength, it just speeds up the flat pack time. Manufacturers will bake on finishes mostly to eliminate or reduce the space dedicated to drying/curing.

Unless you know the exact product, sheens are pretty hard to match, but in change of plane like this it probably wouldn't matter that much. However, you would probably want to remove the veneer anyway as it is checking.

@bry911 so you don't think filling in cracks with wood filler will do the trick? I could try it on the "third" panel. See what happens.

@Cindi Sullivan - There are too many unknowns to comment on that. Is your third panel uninstalled and is it checking also?

Veneer checking is caused by the veneer and substrate moving at different rates. It usually happens when the moisture in the veneer and substrate are at different levels when installed. However, it can happen when the wood and substrate are significantly different materials.

If your problem was caused by the former and the veneer and substrate are now at equilibrium then filling the wood and painting might work, but if the problem is the latter then there is a high chance of is just checking again. If panelizing the sides with doors is acceptable to you, that is a solution with much less risk. You might ask for the doors just in case and attempt to sand them and refinish them, but again... it is going to be expensive to get someone in to spray just this little bit. They still have to order, and tint the product, tape off the area, clean their equipment, and make the trip.

Yes third panel is not installed , I was thinking along the same lines as you. Maybe experiment third panel if successful hire a company to do the spraying, but also request the panels just in case... The company will be footing the whole bill in it's entirety. They had a chance to make the original mistake corrected and failed with the solution. Thanks for your advice. I feel it is the former.

I WOULD just go with factory finished panels to be installed over the existing 1/8". To go through all the trouble/hassle of removing cabinets/crown moulding etc there is also the possibility of damage or things not going back together as they are now. The new panels they suggest will look intentional and wonderful. Keep it simple.

What about my idea of getting a professional painter to sand them, fill in and spray the cabinets and insist the panels be made as a back up , in case the paint job ends up being a fail?

What would you think if I carried the tile over to the panels?? Yes? No?

No no no. I think that might look super weird.

I think it looks great as is and especially once you put some oil bottles or utensil crock, etc., in those two corners.

I cannot tell in the photo if they fixed all the crackled paint. Did they? What happened as far as adding the finished end panels on the sides? So you have them just as backup in case the paint cracks again?

Yes so have not received the cad drawings of panels yet. one was going to be the real wood 3/4” thick and a 1/4” mdf panel. I just dont want to add more layers!.,just trying to look at all options…. other option is having the wood sanded, i think you could put a wood filler in and then spray laquer paint (by a professional, who lives 2.5 hrs away!) i feel i shouldn’t have to compromise for their 2nd mistake on this cabinet.