Metal Kitchen Cabinet Resto Gone Wrong

[Silver Heels]

Hello,

Just trying to figure out what to do, and thought you guys might offer some suggestions. I have (or had) a set of vintage 1950's metal kitchen cabinets with a couple layers of paint on them. I took the doors and drawers into a company that specializes in sandblasting and coating. I removed the frames and have been slowly sandblasting them myself. When I spoke to the rep, he stated that being they were built of a thinner gauge material, they would use walnut shells, then lightly sandblast to give the new paint something to bite to. Because this was a delicate process, he was going to put his best guy on it. He calls me up yesterday, and tells me that another blaster that works for him got ahold of them, then went to town on the doors and drawers with sand. Now everything is warped. He was very apologetic, and said he would work with me to get new stuff fabbed up, or compensate me otherwise for the damage. What should I do? Since all the doors are damaged, I don't see how it would be feasable to have new doors made up (they have rounded edges, etc.) Should I price out some box cabinets and ask that he reimburse me full replacement value? I am not out to profit from their mistake, but don't want to be out money either. Thanks for your help.

 

[Big-Foot]

You might want to consider having a body shop take a look at them. There are ways to shrink the metal and remove the warpage, but not without a lot of work and $$$.

Placing a value on the cabinets might be difficult unless you had them appraised. I would probably ask for the money I spent on the cabinets plus a small percentage for my trouble and call it a day.

 

[Silver Heels]

What if I did not buy the cabinets, they were already in my house, and my kitchen/countertops were already set up around their dimensions?

 

[1948]

i would have had them acid dipped.

 

[z28snksknr]

give it to a body man that can do metalwork and they'll get fixed easily.

 

[wnstwolf]

I did that to a 72 Monte Carlo. Thought I would be a body man at age 16 and took what looked like a jug you put at the end of a garden hose to feed the plants (but it goes on Air line) and went to work on the family car that was now passed on to me. In about 8 hours time and a lot of Play Sand yes I am doomed to die a horrible death, I all but destroyed the car. Aside from huge safety risk a sand blaster in the hands of the unexperienced is a terrible thing..

Randy The auto shop we took it to back in 82 just laughed when asked if they could save it.. 2 months later I had the time of my life at the Seekonk Speedway Demo Derby.. Whoha love when a plan comes together!

 

[carhunter]

Are they valuable enough to make it worth consulting an attorney?

One one hand its easy to write them off as old used cabinets, than again, try to find identical replacements.

 

[The Frisco Kid]

Don't be a ***** and lawyer up right out of the gate. Assess a value to the cabinets and see what your guy comes back with. If you two can work something out, do that. If his compromise is not acceptable, then consider your other options.

 

[70redbee]

Why does everyone have to speak of getting an attorney when ever we don't have things go perfect? This is part of the problem in our country.

Just work it out with the blaster guy and go home happy. If they were basically free, no real value or real loss on your end, let him split the cost of new cabinets with you.
Caigslist has metal cabinets all the time listed, either free or very cheap.

There is always an alternative to lawyers, they are the only ones who make out in the end. Save it for when you really need one.

Good luck on your cabinets and I am sure you will end up with something nice.

 

[stormin]

70 REDBEE you sound like a very reasonable person. i wish others thought similar. there would be less leeches oops i mean lawyers crawling about

 

[The Frisco Kid]

70 REDBEE you sound like a very reasonable person. i wish others thought similar. there would be less leeches oops i mean lawyers crawling about

Well, if the sandblaster guy tells him to pound sand - then there might be a need for some litigation... but lots of people might jump to the L word waaaaay too fast, thus eliminating the opportunity for someone to do the "right" thing without assuming fault.

 

[bobemmerich]

See what the guy has in mind. Maybe he knows a body guy who can work on them??

 

[rsanter]

You have two options in my opinion

If you were going to powder coat them then you need a metal worker not a body man. They can shrink and work the metal to perfection. You can refer to metal meet.com to help find one.

If you were going to paint them then you can send them to a good body man who will work them a little and then use a quality epoxy type filler in place of the standard bondo junk. Then get them painted as you would have

Bob

 

[ZRX61]

Friend of mine will shortly be going through the same deal. Some guy has convinced her that there is absolutely no danger in sandblasting all the sheet metal on her Harley.... & he's doing it for free because he wants to get in her drawers..

 

[oilslick]

Are they valuable enough to make it worth consulting an attorney?

One one hand its easy to write them off as old used cabinets, than again, try to find identical replacements.

WTF you gotta be shittin me

 

[6768rogues]

I would work with the sandblaster to get something that is fair. What the heck, although they were cool, you didn't have a big investment in them and many similar cabinets have gone to the scrap pile. Get a few bucks, take them to the scrap yard and get a few more bucks, then move on with your life. Making him bleed will not bring them back and serves little purpose. He should have soda blasted them.

 

[Super Sport]

If I understand correctly, these are in your kitchen? That means it would be very expensive to replace since all of the metal cabinets would now need replacing.

I would try to see if you can't get them repaired as others have stated. If not, new cabinets are in order at the shop's expense IMO.

From what I have seen, vintage metal kitchen cabinets are hard to find for reasonable prices. Not to mention you would be looking for something specific for your kitchen.

 

[Silver Heels]

Hey guys, this afternoon, I visited the sandblaster, and I told him that a NEW set of box cabinets would run about 2 grand (I priced them out) Because they were old cabinets, I told him I would certainly compromise and he cut me a check for 1200. Not too shabby, and I wish everyone would do business like this. We all make mistakes from time to time and he made it right.

 

[Derrickwade]

Good to hear hear you came out alright on it.

 

[Big-Foot]

Hey guys, this afternoon, I visited the sandblaster, and I told him that a NEW set of box cabinets would run about 2 grand (I priced them out) Because they were old cabinets, I told him I would certainly compromise and he cut me a check for 1200. Not too shabby, and I wish everyone would do business like this. We all make mistakes from time to time and he made it right.

Doggoned good of him...

Now if I were you, I would give him a chance to earn some of that back in the future - either through work you bring him or customers you recommend to him.. Sounds like a real stand-up guy and there aren't a lot of those left these days...

 

[darkk]

There are plenty of companies out there that reclaim and resell vintage items like this. Finding the right size may be a little fun though...

 

[JimVonBaden]

Damned good of him to be a stand up business man.

I don't know about others, but I would like it if you outed him. Let's see if we can give him a little business.

Jim

 

[Thruxton]

Damned good of him to be a stand up business man.

I don't know about others, but I would like it if you outed him. Let's see if we can give him a little business.

Jim

I agree- this guy is worth sending business to.

 

[Silver Heels]

OK Guys, for those of you in or around Green Bay, WI, the company is "Quality Sandblasting"

 

[JimVonBaden]

This one?:

Quality Sandblasting1144 Ashwaubenon Street,
Green Bay, WI 54304

Tel: 920-337-2010

Or this one?

Contact Info:
Quality Sandblasting & Coatings LLC
216 Klaus Lake Road
P.O. Box 559
Gillett, WI 54124 Office: 920-855-6033
Toll Free: 877-436-0721
Fax: 920-855-1552
Cell: 920-373-4866 [email protected]

Jim

 

[Silver Heels]

The company in the city of Green Bay on Ashwaubenon Rd. is the correct company

 

[carhunter]

Why does everyone have to speak of getting an attorney when ever we don't have things go perfect? This is part of the problem in our country.

There is always an alternative to lawyers, they are the only ones who make out in the end. Save it for when you really need one.

.

70 REDBEE you sound like a very reasonable person. i wish others thought similar. there would be less leeches oops i mean lawyers crawling about

So you guys never seek professional advice huh? It only takes a phone call to ask "hey, do you think I'm getting a fair deal?" Or, "what's my exposure?"

Its just another tool in the toolbox. Fortunately this time around it wasn't something irreplaceable.





In all seriousness, glad this worked out for the OP. Now post some pics of the new cabinets

 

[JimVonBaden]

So you guys never seek professional advice huh? It only takes a phone call to ask "hey, do you think I'm getting a fair deal?" Or, "what's my exposure?"

I suppose if you have a lawyer on retainer you could do that, but most of us prefer to handle it like men until forced to call in the dogs.

Jim

 

[Zeke]

Back to the "shrinking" ideas. Won't work very well on large, flat surfaces. I know, I do this kind of work as a hobby and have for many years. One of the worst types of damage done to flat metal panels is done by sandblasting with the wrong medium. It's a terrible thing to do not to mention the work hardening that has happened.

One thing that occurred to me was to take the doors and run beads in them. The beading process will draw the metal back tight if done right. Could look kinda cool, but not original. I can think of lots of designs that might look great.

 

[willymakeit]

Back to the "shrinking" ideas. Won't work very well on large, flat surfaces. I know, I do this kind of work as a hobby and have for many years. One of the worst types of damage done to flat metal panels is done by sandblasting with the wrong medium. It's a terrible thing to do not to mention the work hardening that has happened.

One thing that occurred to me was to take the doors and run beads in them. The beading process will draw the metal back tight if done right. Could look kinda cool, but not original. I can think of lots of designs that might look great.

Now thats something I need to try on my garage cabinets. Thanks for posting.

 

[pain]

Real stand up buiseness owner. He was honest about what really happened and he helped you out with the purchase of the new cabinets. I would deffinatly use him again, maybe on something a little cheaper though.