How do I repair laminate damage on a kitchen cabinet?

Question

We have a kitchen cabinet that we accidentally attached a calendar to using tape. When removing the tape the surface came right off with it. My question is how to best repair this damage? It appears this material is paper backed. Will we need to remove the rest of the wood looking sticker?

Answer 1

One idea to consider is to re-cover the whole side with an adhesive contact paper. With careful selection you may find this to look better than the way it does now. If you do elect to go this route I would recommend a step to even out the surface where the existing laminate was torn away. You may be able to sand the edges of the ripped area so it is a smooth transition as opposed to an abrupt transition. Another approach may be to try filling the torn out areas with spackle or dry wall compound using a six inch wide blade. This leveling is needed because any surface irregularity will show through contact paper.

Contact paper is available in wood print simulated coloring such as this example from Amazon:

Amazon Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Honey-Adhesive-Contact-Paper/dp/B000KKIR0A

Answer 2

Another idea would be to find a way to cover that area with a useful adaptation. Here are several ideas:

Magnetic message board -

Cork sheet glued on to create a bulletin board -

Letter board -

Answer 3

The surface cannot be repaired. It needs to be covered in some way. Removal of the remainder will do no good since the surface underneath is some type of particle board.

You can add

• adhesive papers in various patterns, including wood grain (but not likely to match rest of cabinets)
• thin plywood - glue on and stain to resemble the existing cabinet
• a sheet of laminate in in a complementary color or pattern - glue on
• paint in a complementary color - lightly sand the surface first
• magnetic paint - use it as a magnetic bulletin board
• chalkboard paint (variety of colors) - use it for notes

.

Answer 4

There's really no way to fix that unfortunately. You'd have to remove the entire later and put on a new laminate layer, and in order for it to look right you'd have to find an exact match to the other cabinets. Not likely you'll be able to do any of that.

The best you're going to be able to do is cover it up. Get a bigger calendar or use the area to showcase children's artwork, that sort of thing.

Answer 5

You could also cover it with white board cut to fit.