- Your cabinets need all the hardware off, and free of all grime or gloss for your oak laminate veneer to stick. Remove the doors and drawers, take out the hinges and take out any removable shelves. Clean the surface thoroughly with a degreasing cleanser. Make sure it's dry. Then use a detail palm sander with 80-grit sandpaper to sand and buff all surfaces that are going to be veneered. Generally, you'll just put the oak laminate over the thin spans that make up the face of the cabinet, around the doors and drawers. Get all the dust thoroughly cleaned up.
- Oak laminate veneer is cut by setting it on a flat surface, setting a straight-edge over the front of it, running a razor knife alongside it and then snapping it. Before you pull the pieces apart, turn it all over and slice through the wax paper backing along the snapped line, so the paper stays on the cut piece until you're ready to take it off. Measure out the spans where you'll need the laminate, and cut your strips to be a little larger all around, so there will be overhang when you apply it to the surface. Don't cut all your pieces at once, but start with the first one, install it, then measure and cut for your next one.
- The trick to installing the laminate is to press it to the face of the cabinets as soon as the adhesive is exposed. Peel down a little of the wax paper backing at one end of one strip, and press it in place on the cabinet, remembering to keep your overhang all around. Peel down the rest of the paper as you press the laminate to the surface. Press a wood block or small laminate roller along the span to squeeze out any air pockets. Use your razor knife to carefully trim off the overhanging parts, running the blade along the edges of the cabinet at a steep angle. Repeat the process of each of the other spans.
