The facade for the kitchen – how to choose and change yourself

Recommendation points

• Facade selection
• Particleboard facade
• Facade from MDF
• Sizing of facades
• Milling doors for hinges
• Installing handles on facades
• Glass installation
• Hanging facades

Quite often, kitchen owners have a problem: the furniture body is still in good condition, and the facades are worthless. This problem can be solved by contacting a specialized firm with ads that are packed with newspapers. And you can not be afraid and replace the facades yourself.

Such work begins directly with the determination of the material from which the facades of your future kitchen can be made. With all the variety of choice, there are only five main types of facades for kitchens:

Facade selection

Particleboard facade

Regular laminated chipboard with a knurled edge around the perimeter. The most inexpensive option, can be any size, relatively resistant to mechanical damage.

If you stop at such facades, the thickness of the rolled edge must be 2 mm (ideally, the abbreviation “ABS” should be present in the name of the edge). When evaluating the quality of gluing, pay attention to the adhesion of the edge to the chipboard, the absence of visible traces of glue and trimming the ends.

Please note that chipboard facades are the only facades that were not originally intended for inserting glass into them..

Facade from MDF

A little about the MDF material itself – the name of the material comes from the abbreviated English Medium Density Fiberboard, and denotes a material made of dried wood fibers bonded together using special adhesives. This material is very easy to process, environmentally friendly, tolerates moisture and hot steam well. Therefore, MDF is very actively used in the manufacture of furniture facades..

Facades from MDF covered with foil

The most inexpensive option for MDF facades, the quality directly depends on the quality of the film that was used in the manufacture, and the accuracy of rolling this film onto the facade. The weakest points of such facades are the junction of the film and directly the MDF surface itself..

The shape of film facades (as well as any MDF facades) can be any

I would like to emphasize that the film applied to the facade has nothing to do with self-adhesive decorative films, not in quality (it is much more durable), not in the gluing method.

Types of films

Painted MDF facades

Without going into the details of applying paint on the same facades, I would like to emphasize that the closest analogue to such a coating will be ordinary car paint.

That is, the glossy finish of the painted MDF facade behaves in the same way as the coating of the hood of your car. Scratches, is afraid of fingerprints, requires serious maintenance.

True, these facades look very gorgeous. The cost of facades made of painted MDF is quite high, especially if they are made matte.

Facades from MDF profile

In other words, these facades are also called frame facades. And, however, they represent a frame made of MDF profile, into which the filling is inserted from 8mm MDF, or from 10mm chipboard (depending on the type of profile). This design allows you to combine two colors in one facade at once. When ordering such facades, special attention should be paid to the assembly of the frames themselves. Usually they are either glued on two-component adhesives, or assembled on a joint – a butterfly. Butterfly assembly allows you to disassemble the facade, if necessary, but it is less durable and neat than glue.

At cost, such facades occupy an intermediate position between the film and painted facades..

Plastic MDF facades

Quite expensive, but strong and beautiful facades, when choosing which, the main attention should also be paid to the ends. In plastic facades, an ABS edge can be rolled onto the end or an aluminum edging is fixed. Of all the above facades, a plastic facade with an aluminum edging is perhaps the most resistant to various mechanical damage.

Types of facades	Price per square meter
Chipboard
MDF film	50-75 $
MDF paint	100-150 $
MDF frame	65-85 $
MDF plastic	$ 100-130

Depending on the regions, prices can vary quite a lot, but the ratio of price and type of facade is quite constant.

Of course, there are also facades made of solid natural wood, but given their cost, using them for the restoration of an old kitchen is clearly inappropriate..

Based on the above data and your own financial capabilities, you choose the most suitable facade option for you.

Sizing of facades

After you have decided on the type of facade, you need to determine its dimensions.

Of course, the easiest option would be to measure your old facades. If this is not possible, the height of the facade is taken equal to the height of the cabinet minus 3mm. Front width – the width of the cabinet divided by the number of fronts minus 4 mm for each front.

For example: with the overall dimensions of the wall cabinet: 716mm height and 600mm width, the dimensions of the facades for it will be: 713 * 296 – 2 pcs. (It is undesirable to use a single-piece facade with its size over 500mm).

If there is a need to install several facades in a row in height, the dimensions of the facades are taken equal: the width of the facade is equal to the width of the cabinet minus 4 mm, the height of the facade is the height of the cabinet, divided by the number of facades minus 3 mm for each facade.

So for the bottom cabinet with a height of 716 mm and a width of 400 mm with five drawers vertically, the size of the facade of one drawer will be: 140mm height and 396 mm width.

When ordering facades, be sure to keep in mind that each manufacturer has standard sizes (for which the price price is usually indicated), and non-standard ones – about 10% more expensive.

Facades can be ordered both at companies that manufacture custom-made furniture, and directly from facade manufacturers. In the latter case, the cost is usually lower.

You should also take into account that ready-made facades of your size and color may not be available, so it is advisable to order them in advance.

Milling doors for hinges

Some manufacturers may offer you to do this job for an additional fee. Perhaps this would be the ideal option. If not, you will need a router and a 26 mm hinge cutter (it is called that). Of course, you can try to replace the milling cutter with a drill, but then the use of a special bed will be mandatory.

The most dangerous moment of milling is the ability to mill the facade through and through, so you first need to practice on a piece of wood or chipboard of the same thickness, as well as be sure to use stops.

Installing handles on facades

Most handles that are installed in the kitchen have a center distance of 96, 128, 160, 192, 224 mm. Based on these dimensions, the facades are marked and drilled with a 4.2 mm drill. If the screws supplied with the handles do not fit, they will have to be replaced.

Glass installation

In addition to the so-called blind facades, there are also showcases (that is, facades into which glass is inserted). The type of glass, of course, everyone chooses for himself, and its insertion depends on the type of facade:

• Particleboard – practically not inserted.
• MDF film, paint, – the glass is cut 20 mm more than the opening in the facade (both in length and in width) Then it is pressed with any holder.
• MDF profile – inserted into the groove when assembling the facade (the size depends on the width of the profile).

Hanging facades

To hinge the facades, we need a drill or screwdriver, as well as a Phillips screwdriver to adjust the facades.

First of all, in accordance with the layout of the facade, the so-called hinge legs are attached to the cabinet wall. (Sold with the loop itself).

The front is hung on this foot, after which it is aligned horizontally and vertically with the help of adjusting screws..

As you can see, self-replacement of facades in the kitchen is quite an affordable business for a person who has at least an initial idea of ​​working with a drill, tape measure and screwdriver. You may be wondering: “What can be saved in this way?”

I’ll try to answer: the cost of replacing facades with a kitchen is about 40-60% of the cost of the facades themselves, that is, if you change 3 squares of film facades, the savings will be about $ 100. This is not a lot, but the replacement work will take you a day or two. This is, firstly, and secondly – not all firms undertake such work. Therefore, instead of looking for free newspaper ads to replace the facades of craftsmen, try to become such a craftsman yourself. Success!