Refinish old cabinets or replace with new?

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 1/15/2005 6:30 PM

I hate to throw away my old Brave's cabinets, but don't see any way to remove the wood skin over the frame.  Assuming I could use new cabinets from Lowe's, Home Depot etc.? Any thoughts?

John

[denisondc]

Sent: 1/15/2005 7:46 PM

I always wondered what held up the overhead cabinets in my winny. Now I know; it isnt much, just screws into the roof structure and into the walls. The cabinets in the Winny are of fairly lightweight construction. Anything made for a household application might be a lot heavier.

[Jlogue88]

Sent: 1/15/2005 9:35 PM

   I referbished my old cabinets using real wood.  I made new doors out of solid oak and did the face of the cabinets with 1/4" oak plywood.
It looks great and it's simple to do all, you need is a table saw,  a router, and some brad nails!

[bboat101]

Sent: 1/15/2005 9:38 PM

I have removed the skin from my kitchen base cabinet. It wasn't the easiest thing to do but I did it. I just took my time and used a flat wide bladed mini-crow bar and separated it from the frame.....and all the time thinking how much money I was saving over buying new cabinets!!

Denison is right about the Home Depot cabinets being much heavier.
brian

[70winnie]

Sent: 1/16/2005 2:40 AM

When I remodeled, I thought about refinishing the existing cabinets or buying new inexpensive cabinets.

Like others have said, the original cabinets were of very lightweight construction (1/8" luan over 1x1 framing).  They were held in place with lots and lots of small,  lightweight screws, which only went as deep as the 1/8" innermost layer of the thermopanel wall in most places.  The many screws allowed the weight to be distributed over lots of pressure points, so they wouldn't rip the panel.

New pre-made cabinets, not designed for motor homes, would undoubtedly be a lot heavier -- if they'd even fit.  Personally, if I'm going to add weight to my Winnie, I want it to be for something more practical than heavier-than-necessary cabinets.  Especially overhead and with little structural support to screw into!

I decided against building new overhead cabinets, opting instead for simple, open shelves with cargo nets.  But I'm the kind of guy who prefers that things be easily visible and accessible -- to me, closets and cabinets are places for mice to hide, water to collect, forgotten food to rot, and other nastiness to take place.

I did build two lower cabinets into my remodel, one under (and behind) the kitchen sink and another under the bathroom sink.  For these, I used the same 1/8" paneling I used on my walls, over sparse framing of mostly 1x2s.  For doors, I just used the same paneling, which makes them a bit flimsy when open but they suit my needs just fine.  I wasn't out to make the WinnieBurnGo feel luxurious, just functional and easy to wipe down.  As far as I'm concerned, a cramped 1970 box is never going to feel like the Doubletree Suites, so why bother trying?

Temporarily removing the cabinets shouldn't be terribly difficult, but very time consuming.  There's a heck of a lot of screws, and most of them are either invisible or very difficult to reach, especially with a cordless drill!

[bboat101]

Sent: 1/16/2005 12:56 PM

If you want to take down a cabinet, you must not only remove the screws you can see, but remove the "false bottom" from inside the cabinet, and get the rest of them. I found this out when removing one in the junkyard. The screws tend to hold better than you think!

Brian

[Slantsixness]

Sent: 1/17/2005 9:45 AM

John,
I'm "refinishing mine. The trick is, don't remove all of the old wood paneling. (I left it on for support and ease of removal)

Take a razor knife, or a router or one of those new rotozips and cut out the bulk of the cabinet's paneling. Then cover with new paneling or even melamine, if you want white, then glue, don't nail, them to the faces. Drawer fronts and doors can be done in a similar fashion, but they're not as hollow, so for that you would just reface. Use laminate adhesive (or formica adhesive). This leaves the cabinets lighter than home cabinet replacements, and saves money. Ater paneling the cabinets, you could make new doors, or refinish the doors you have, with real wood, but solid wood is heavy. consider the "framing method" use an outer hardwood frame with either paneling or even glass or plastic centers. That's what I'm doing. I have a table router, so I can make the outer frames in bulk, then cut to fit. I'm also making all new cabinetry for mine out of 1"x1" pine and paneling, even including the false bottom, which is there for wiring, and mounting light fixtures, plus anything else you might need that 1/2" gap for. As soon as it's warmer and I start up the cabinet fqctory, I'll post more specific gory details of the cabinets.

They are all mounted to the cieling panels, the walls and other cabinets, even screwed to the floor. If you have the original thermopanel cieling, be extra careful not to use screws that are too long. Mine has a wood ribbing/plywood/insulation/aluminum skin roof so, my cabinets are mounted to the cieling ribs on the top, then the walls and other cabinets.

Suffice to say, you need a lot of glue, screws, staples and patience, and it'll come out great.

Regards,

Tom   

[54PrairieSchooner]

Sent: 1/18/2005 10:43 PM

Thanks to all of you..some great ideas...!  I did remember to remove the false bottom out of the overhead cabinet...I didn't on the first one I removed a few months back, and I ripped out the framing in the cabinet. Ugh!

John