Wear and tear on cabinets is a normal occurrence for homeowners who frequently use their space. Touching up your cupboards is inevitable and will need to be done at some point in time. Here are some tips and tricks to help you with cabinetry touch-ups and where to begin.
HIRE A PRO OR DO IT YOURSELF?
It is recommended that you start here. While doing your own DIY cabinet touch-ups can be gratifying, this sometimes doesn’t always provide the best results. Hiring a professional touch-up technician typically produces the best outcome, as this is their specialty. Let’s discuss all options and recommendations.
SUPPLIED TOUCH-UP KIT
If you have purchased new cabinets, for a fee, you may receive a professionally formulated touch-up kit that is specific for your cabinetry finish. While these aren’t always perfect, they are a great item to have on hand when you need to make touch-ups. For example, the specially formulated Superior Cabinets touch-up kits for Wood and MDF include the following:
- Touch-Up Stain or Paint Marker
- Touch-Up Crayon
- Plastic Scraper
- Buffing Pad
- Instructions
Typically, touch-up kits for Superior Cabinets Thermofoil, Laminate, Melamine, or TFL [Thermally Fused Laminate] include everything mentioned above, excluding the Paint Marker. If you aren’t sure if you can purchase a professional touch-up kit with your cabinetry order, just ask your Professional Kitchen Designer to see what options you have before you confirm your order.
Click here for some great how-to videos on how to use a touch-up kit by Finish Repair.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DON’T HAVE A TOUCH-UP KIT
This is a very common occurrence, especially if you have purchased a pre-loved home. If this is the case, here are some tips and tricks you can consider.
Contact The Cabinet Brand
If you can identify the cabinet brand, you can contact them to see if you can order and purchase a touch-up kit. This is typically a longshot, as cabinet companies often change colours, due to discontinuation influenced by low sales performance, trends, supply chain and other factors. For example, Superior Cabinets can only access touch-up kits for current cabinet finishes. All current cabinet finishes are live on the superiorcabinets.ca website. If you don’t see the finish you have here, that means it isn’t available, and you will have to find another method.
You could also ask your local cabinet store if they know of a Professional Furniture Touch-up Technician you can hire directly.
Most cabinet stores do not provide touch-up, repair, or restoration services to their own products.
Most cabinet stores or dealers typically specialize in designing and installing new cabinets and spaces only rather than performing cosmetic repairs, restoration or retrofitting. This is the same in many industries, such as appliances, furniture, cars, etc. The firm from which you purchased the product sometimes uses a completely separate company, or a third-party company, that specializes in providing these after-sales warranty and care services.
Local Paint Store or Big Box Store
One great tip is that some Sherwin-Williams retail paint stores sell pre-formulated touch-up pens or markers off the shelf. Stain markers are perfect for the DIY Homeowner [Do-It-Yourself], as they are inexpensive and easy to obtain. These are formulated in popular wood finish stains and paint colours. We recommend you call and chat with your local Sherwin-Williams paint pro to ensure they have what you need before you make the trip, as not all lactations may retail these.
Big Box Stores are also another great resource for finding furniture touch-up products if you want to tackle doing your own touch-ups. This includes markers, putty pencils, fill products, scratch remover products and more.
Tip: Remove a door or drawer to bring it with you, as you hunt for a touch-up kit.
Local Furniture Store
Sometimes, your local furniture store may also sell off-the-shelf touch-up markers or pens, so don’t forget to check with them if you can’t find what you are looking for. Alternatively, they may also recommend a local professional touch-up technician, whom you can hire, as they sometimes use these repair companies for their showrooms and products that become damaged.
Professional Touch-up Technician
Hiring a professional touch-up repair technician is the best method. Most major cities have people who specialize in providing professional touch-up repairs for furniture and cabinetry. A good touch-up technician is like an artist, as they have the skills to do burn-ins, blending, fills, grain matching, etc. If you want to learn more about some of the required tools, have a peek at the Mohawk Professional Touch-up Kit.
To find a local technician, a simple Google search for “Cabinet Repair”, “Cabinet Touch up”, “Furniture Repair”, “Furniture Touch up”, “Cabinet Finishing” or Cabinet Refinishing”. Be sure to include the city you live in for a more localized search and better results. Checking out some reviews and making some telephone calls, will help you identify if you can hire a professional repair person to come to your home to get the job done.
Tip: Take pictures of the damaged area, as the Touch-up Repair firm will want you to email them the photos.
This work can sometimes be completed on-site, and other times, the items needing to be repaired will be taken out of the home to be professionally colour-matched and finished in a factory setting.
Always Test First
If you are going to attempt a DIY [Do-It-Yourself] cabinetry touch-up or hire a professional furniture touch-up technician, it is recommended that you test in an inconspicuous area or test on a separate sample piece of material first. This way, you can test the outcome before moving ahead. You should consider testing in a low visibility area such as the toe kick area or inside of a cabinet door if it is the same colour.
SUMMARY
Like a car, touch-ups are unavoidable with normal use of your cupboards. Water, Heat, Steam, Jewelry and Fingernails are the most common culprits of cabinet damage. Knowing what tools you need ahead of time or who you can contact to hire will help you refresh your cabinetry.
LOOKING FOR MORE?
Here are some additional helpful articles to check out:
CABINET CLEANING AND CARE
ADJUSTING HINGES
ADJUSTING DRAWER GLIDES
COUNTERTOP CARE AND MAINTENANCE
THE IMPACT OF HEAT AND STEAM ON KITCHEN CABINETS
ADDING TO EXISTING CABINETS
2024 KITCHEN TRENDS UPDATE
