I need some advise regarding re-using some old kitchen cabinets in a lower end rental. I have read some great posts regarding painting old cabinets and replacing doors. In my situation the cabinets have old partical board in the bottom of them that look old and in some cases I think need replacing. I was wondering if you guys have every tried replacing the bottom panel below the sink as well as some of the other cabinet bottoms? I was even considering trying to find some kind of formica sheet that I could cut to fit and glue down. Have you guys tried this and is this a good idea? Is there a quick fix that also adds a little strength? My budget is really tight and I don’t want to even consider new cabinets.
If its a lower end rental you could just cut a board to fit over top of the old particle board. Paint it or stain it to match your cabinets. Put a couple nails in it or liquid nails it. Simple cheap way to fix the bottom.
It depends on the amount of damage.
Here are some things that I have done:
Light damage
Buy those 12”x12” linoleum tiles at a hardware store, the kind that you just cut to fit with a pair of scissors, pull the paper off of the back, then stick them down.
If you paint the particle board with Kilz or Zinsser, that should make it look okay and seal it up so it will not flake chips of sawdust off.
Medium damage
If the particle board is warped, believe it or not, I have used Bondo, sanded it, then painted it. I always keep Bondo for holes in interior doors and other projects that require strength, adhesion and fill that is too large for wood putty. Also Bondo dries in 20 minutes.
FUBB
I have just cut the particle board out from under a sink, put a piece of plywood on a platform made from 2x4 strips, fastened the new bottom with L brackets, sealed it with polyurethane construction adhesive, then painted it. This takes a while, but you can make a very messed up cabinet basically better than new.
I am planning on putting new plywood over the old partical board and using liquid nails to glue down some cut to fit laminate over the top of the new plywood. That way it will have a real smooth finish. I will also add the water proof backboard which would have helped prevent the damage in the first place. Once that is done I will replace a couple of drawer boxes and make sure everthing works properly. Then I will remove the counter top and spray paint everything white. Lastely I will install a new laminate counter that I plan on buying at Lowes or HD. Hopefully it will look good when completed. This will be my first time fixing up a kitchen so I hope it turns out well.
This is a great site. If it wasn’t for all the great ideas here I would probably be replacing everything.