Laminate for the side of a cabinet

[deadboy]

I picked up an old cabinet because it had some cool grafix and a really nice looking glass with the bezel painted on. Unfortunately the cabinet itself was painted poorly and is really rough. I was hoping to sand it down and put a black or oak laminate down. Unfortunately I'm having a devil of a time finding anything that's not like shelf paper (which is only 18" wide so I'd have to try and match up seams 3x).

Any ideas?

[Draco1962]

If it is rough you don't want to put anything akin to shelf or wallpaper on it as it will look like total crap (unless that is the theme you are going for, which I doubt!). Is it made out of wood or mdf? My guess is that you would be best to consider getting a good sander and start with a rough grade grit to get the paint off and finish it of with a fine grade to smooth it and ready for primer and paint.

[deadboy]

Yeah, it's MDF. I intended on getting the air compressor and sander out and getting it as baby but smooth as possible. I think in my mind I had it envisioned with that oak laminate style look. I just couldn't find any of that anywhere. I heard that you could buy it from Happ but I didn't see it on their site.

[Adultery]

Can't you get black or oak laminate from a counter store or a home imporovement store? They hae all kinds of laminates and they're super durable.

[deadboy]

Guess I could check a counter store specifically. I checked Lowes and Home Depot and they couldn't help. I suppose I should rephrase. I want a veneer. I want to use the wood I have in the cabinet already and slap sheets on the side. I don't want anything so thick it's going to stick out past the tmolding.

[Adultery]

No, I know what you mean... I guess I was thinking about the way they press veneer on DIY network. They went and got a sheet of laminate (it was faux granite in this case) from a custom counter top builder and pressed it onto the MDF with a roller and some type of cement adhesive, then cut it. You could sand down the sides the cabinet the 1/16" to make it flush with the t-molding with a belt sander. The roller presses out the air bubbles.

I guess i this case you'll have to be comfortable sanding and cutting.

Option 2 is to get textured spray paint and some flat gloss clear coat, which also comes out nice as long as you apply it evenly.

[deadboy]

I don't watch a lot of DIY. My method is just to sort of wander around the hardware store on my lunch break and get ideas

[Tempest]

http://shop.formwood.com/inventory.asp

[deadboy]

Hmmm, that's an idea. I think I'll just wind up painting this one but I'm def gonna book mark that for my next one.

[rockyrocket]

This is the sort of product that I use a lot...

http://www.formica.com/

Its about the thickness of a credit card though!.

But once its on and you have trimmed it with a router then smoothed the edges it will be a bit above your t-molding.

However if you go around the edge with a black marker pen and as long as the edge is smooth its not that obvious.

Last year I retro laminated a cab just as you are planning with great results.

I am in the uk so cant really help with venders sorry.