Painting kitchen units, with peeled of laminate fronts...!

[theemmadilemma]

So my kitchen is looking dated and old. I'm possibly thinking of trying to sell again later this year. Last time I tried the kitchen was probably part of the issue. Although it looks ok at first sight, it is clearly the 14 years old it is.

It's an Optiplan kitchen (if that helps) and the cabinets etc are still in good order. The problem is that the laminate fronts are though heat and age peeling away, splitting, cracking.

The front of the fridge fucked up even more the other day, but I can see that the base cabinet behind is in good order.

Would I be crazy to peel off the laminate front and paint them? Has anyone tried this with any success, and can they recommend paints? I'm guessing I'd have to varnish after?

I'm thinking a light green or blue?

Any suggestions much appreciated!

I guess I would have to sand the sides etc. and with the right base coat it could work?

Or am I being stupid?

A decorator can probably paint direct onto that if they use the right primer. We had varnished oak units and our decorator did 2 good job painting them. I'll take a pic later if I remember.

look up you tube! they have good ideas & tutorials about all sorts of things

We used the Wilko furniture paint over Zinisser BIN primer over IKEA laminate bookcases. Looks pretty good but scratches relatively easily, so wouldn't have just that in a kitchen. We didn't varnish though. The BIN primer seems to be the one everyone recommends. Also B&Q have just released a new range of furniture paint with a better colour range than mos, but I've yet to try it.

One thing to note, it's really hard to not get small imperfections and runs in the paint. If you were considering getting a decorator, you might just be better getting replacement doors and fitting them?

Excuse the dog in the picture, but here's the wilko paint job we did over Ikea Birch effect.