What is the best product to refinish kitchen cabinets? We have 17 year

Rebecca Humes
by Rebecca Humes
old cabinets that are oak and would like to change the color.
  3 answers
  • Jan Posey Comer-Shipman Jan Posey Comer-Shipman on Dec 03, 2013
    Whatever color you choose, you will need to remove the doors and hardware, and clean well and allow to dry. If you want to paint, a spray paint would probably give a smoother finish. If you want to stain another color, you will need to sand down the doors as well as the frames. Do NOT skimp on the kind of paint or stain that you use buy good, will make finish better. Also be sure that you mark the doors so that they are returned to the original position. Reinstall the doors, add new hardware and you have a NEW KITCHEN!!
    • Speedbird2 Speedbird2 on Apr 28, 2016
      @Jan Posey Comer-Shipman I have a cabinet that I want to paint glossy white white. what is the best plain t and method, The cabinet already has one coat of a white paint. Thanks, speedbird2@comcast.net
  • Cyndi Moore Tippett Cyndi Moore Tippett on Dec 03, 2013
    My husband and I bought a distressed house last year and the oak kitchen cabinets were 35 years old with that much grease and grime on them. I sprayed full strength degreaser on them and clean them well. Took off the door and hardware and sanded, oil based primer and then painted with a latex semi gloss paint. I also put a coat of latex polyurethane. They turned out very pretty. You could also restain them instead of paint. If you sand through the varnish or polyurethane, you could stain them darker. You could also just sand the top coat off and then put a light stain and top coat and they would be beautiful. It boils down to what look you want. My final advice would be to make sure you do the prep work so whatever finish you chose it will be great. Good Luck.
  • B. Enne B. Enne on May 10, 2015
    I darkened my recycled dirty and old, orange-toned oak cabinets with dark brown gel stain. I only removed the knobs, not the doors or hinges. I applied liquid sandpaper lightly with steel wool, wiped them down with a damp rag and let them dry. I then rubbed on the stain with an old sock. (I put a baggie on my hand inside the sock). I tried brushes and rolers first. I did not need to sand off the varnish. I had a sink cupboard that was quite bad, and it looks just as good as the rest. I bought a top coat but never applied it. The finish has held up well. Gel stain sits on top, it is not a penetrating stain, so you don't need to worry about conditioners or blotchiness. The dark finish does cover up some of the grain.