Painting laminate cabinets.

What type of laminate? it's next to impossible to get any type of paint coating to adhere long term to formica.

All i know is it’s like from the 60’s. It might be melamine I’m not sure. If heard it’s actually got wax in it explaining its huge resistance to adhesives. But i have to wonder how does the wax not eventually dissipate. Seems like a great surface however for what it’s purposes for. In fact I’ll probably find a paint finish to be inferior but i just don’t want to throw away perfectly good functioning doors just because paint won’t stick.

I would think the first two steps would be a thorough cleaning and degreasing followed by a scuff sand. If there is wax, it has to be removed.

Not a painter nor ever tried painting laminate. What I saw before would scratch off with finger nail.

Maybe? Self etching primers. Epoxy primers. Search for those and see what the reviews are. Search further about painting laminates. A belt sander with #60 can scratch up the laminates quickly. Sand then clean with lacquer thinner or such to get the laminate pristine. Also 2 part can spray paints may give you hard enough finish. They are used for cars.

I’m sorry what I meant was someone said once that the actual laminate has wax impregnated into it

Carpdad thank you for your input. I usually have my belt sander loaded with 60 grit. Such a handy machine for many situations. It’ll be useful for removing the failed coating from the faces of all the cab doors. The edges are fine since i routered them and exposed the “meat” of the door. After removing the failed finish, I’ll have to smooth it with 120 on an orbital i think. Good cabinet grade, self-leveling finish needs a 120 grit finish or smoother or you’ll see tiny scratch marks in my experience.

I’m encouraged by the 2 part epoxy idea as well as the etching primer. It would be nice to know for sure what sticks without buying more product but at least i have some ideas. I still think I’ll try oil based extreme bond from sherwin Williams since this is where i typically go anyway and it’ll be nice to know if this is a solution as well.

I'm not sure if you've already started this project, but I had great success painting over some very ugly laminate kitchen cabinets circa 1980's. Unfortunately, this was at a second home and I am not there right now to check exactly what I used. But that primer stuck like glue to the surface (in fact I had a tough time getting some splatters off the laminate flooring!) and a semigloss latex enamel adhered very nicely. I believe it was a BIN primer that the paint department at Home Depot recommended. From what I recall, the can stated that it was for that type of surface. I will be up there soon so let me know if you'd like me to check.