Nancy,

The oven door skin itself shouldn't get "that" hot, but of course it's always better to be on the safe side. Powdercoating might be your best option. There are different heat-resistance levels, the lowest 200F, and the next 500F. 500F should be more than enough for the exterior door skin.

A decent shop should be able to replicate any color, and the cost should be reasonable.

EDIT: 200F is more than enough :)

Best of luck!

I like how you're thinking, "THE FRENCH BARN". But where do I head to have these items powdercoated? The auto body shop I spoke with said that they could definitely do some colors -- namely, colors from particular auto makes/models/years -- but that they don't just match paint colors based on RGB values, the way that you might buy paint at a paint store, and therefore couldn't match, say, a particular Benjamin Moore color. But I'm also pretty sure they do paint, not powder coating.

So I should approach a powder coating company -- amazingly, I found a few near me -- or do I have to go all the way to finding a company that will apply porcelain?

Nancy,

A powdercoating company should certainly be able to do it for you. I have had car rims done many years ago as well as range hood extensions more recently (to match one of our Lacanche colors based on an enamel sample), so it shouldn't be a problem.

Patrick

Unfortunately I have hit a dead end trying to find a powdercoating company that says they can handle the mid-range heat rating that you are referring to. Everyone says their products are good up to 200ºF, but for the high heat resistance (up to 1000ºF), the only color is black. So now I think I'm stuck looking for a company that applies porcelain enamel, and that is not such an easy Google search.

Any other ideas?

No company in the US reporcelainizes anything anymore. Environmental regulations have seen to that.

Contact local car restorationists, and hobby car club enthusiasts. Every large city, and plenty of small ones, has a Corvette Club or a P-1800 Club , or a British Car Club. Many of them have engine parts powder coated, not in black, and they will know the ”local” source. That may be up to 300 miles away.

Hmmmm.... back to powder coating, eh? I'll try to be more patient and really "boil the ocean" with the car enthusiasts, perhaps.

FWIW, I found a company in Independence, MO that does apply porcelain enamel to restore old appliances, but that is nowhere near me. (I'm in Northern Virginia.)

Custom Performance Coating (Beltsville, MD)

Nope. They told me they couldn't do it. Their response was that "most of your powder coating can withstand a constant 200 degrees. Anything above that will start causing issues."

According to the article, Surface Temperatures of Electronics Products: Appliances vs. Wearables, "ASTM C1055 (the Standard Guide for Heated System Surface Conditions that Produce Contact Burn Injuries) recommends that surface temperatures remain at or below 140°F. The reason for this is that the average person can touch a 140°F surface for up to five seconds without sustaining irreversible burn damage."

I'd turn on the oven to its maximum, wait, say, 20 minutes and put my hand on the oven door in several place. If it doesn't burn, assume its less than 140 degrees and you're safe to repaint it. (Or use a thermometer to measure the actual temperatures.)

Also, this article says, "Our projects include everything from race car parts to outdoor furniture." Couldn't a race car part exceed 200 degrees?

I'm going off of what the rep. from Lacanche has said, which I'm betting is safe information. I would like to do this once, and do it right, so while I appreciate the creativity of just doing the hand-on-door test, I'm not sure I can trust it. I've gotten such pushback from most car-oriented businesses that I also have to heed what they're telling me, you know? Perhaps the inside of that door skin might heat up, which could cause the coating to bubble....

"Perhaps the inside of that door skin might heat up, which could cause the coating to bubble...."

Isn't the door skin metal? If so, it would have no insulating properties so the temperature on one side of door skin would be no different than the temperature on the other side.

Thank you @wdccruise for bringing up the applicable regulations, I couldn't remember the allowed "outside door" temperature off-hand.

Nancy, based on this, the 200F rating should be enough. I always like to be on the safe side, and in that case it seems to be more than enough. I should have checked earlier ;)

Just a quick search at a favorite supplier has the Hotcoat (250 degrees) powder in dozens of colors. https://www.eastwood.com/search/?q=powder+coat+hotcoat

A search at an 1500 ultra high temp manufacturer for applicators. https://www.cerakote.com/find-applicator?q=22046

Their portfolio. https://www.cerakote.com/project-gallery

A major player in the powder coating industry, who does everything.

https://rickspowdercoating.com/color-chart/

Thanks, @Verbo.... I think the Cerakote product looks like overkill (and as most of the applicators are coating weaponry in more of a matte finish it may not be the right product), but on the other hand the search form you sent helped me find a company that applies both Cerakote and powdercoating, so now at least I can ask the question.

And... after (a) waiting four months for Dacor to, in the end, abandon me despite their assurances that they would provide a new door and (b) getting the door removed and sent to a powder coating company, I'm told that this @)(#*$ oven door can't be powder coated, in the end. The company I found (and thought they could do the job) took a look at the exterior door, which has glass mounted to it that can't be removed with screws, et. al., and called Dacor to see whether there were limitations. Dacor told him that because the glass is mounted on a double-sided industrial tape, that tape will melt and burn during the curing process for powdercoating. Thus the door would be ruined.

Paint? Would automotive paint do it?

Maybe...

• Automotive Acrylic Enamel 2X
• Automotive Metal Coat
• Engine Enamel
• High Heat (not blue)

What about the high temp spray paint used on wood burning stoves? Not sure the colors they come in as we’ve always used a charcoal color. And not sure this will work, but maybe worth a look into??

I guess the question is where to go to get this done? The existing paint is flaking and I'm not confident in my ability to DIY repair and/or strip that paint in order to get the proper smooth, professional finish that an oven front should have. My initial contacts with automotive shops indicated that they were loathe to take on the project. But I'm stubborn enough to go back to them if they're the right place. Also, I can't think of another category of company who does this kind of painting. ;)

Just wanted to provide an update, particularly for all of you who have been so helpful in this ludicrously long repair process. By calling a number of auto body shops with the vulnerability that I couldn't help but hide on the phone ("Hi, I'm really hoping you can help me because I'm still trying to solve a problem after 7 months. I realize this is a weird request for an auto body shop, but stick with me for a bit...") I finally found an auto body shop willing to take me on. (Shout out to Bruce Easton at Auto Body of Vienna, Virginia!) We decided to stick with automotive paint. I recognize that the safest thing to do would have been to have the parts sprayed with more heat protective products. Who knows.... we may end up there in a year or two.

But I don't think we will. With the expert advice (above) of @wdccruise as well as @THE FRENCH BARN - Lacanche Canada, as well as lengthy conversations with the automotive folks at numerous shops, I'm pretty convinced that the front panel of our oven (and definitely the kick plate) should not be getting higher than 140 degrees and that automotive paint is "built" to stand up to that. Time will tell.

Perhaps I'm more confident about this since our oven door -- I understand this much better since it had to be removed -- was built in two parts. There's an interior panel that faces the blazing oven (with glass built in) and then that piece is sandwiched with the exterior panel (also with glass attached at the factory). If you ever try cleaning your oven door and see there are some drips/stains you just can't get to, then you have a similarly constructed oven. Perhaps most of them are built that way; I'm certainly no expert.

In any event, boy did I clean the heck out of all four glass surfaces! So at least for now, my blue range is back in action. Using automotive paint allowed us to choose the exact color we wanted. We chose a tone that was more cobalt than the initial color and my photography isn't professional, but here's the result:

Thanks again to everyone who stuck with me through this and offered your opinions/advice. Perhaps this thread will help someone else who might be looking to add color to the front of their appliance(s) as well. That's what Houzz is all about!