Material on kitchen cabinets

My kitchen cabinets have a material on them and I want to possibly put the oak stain on it. Is there anyone who has done this? Or should I paint the material white and use the oak as a trim? Need input, thank you. I painted the kitchen a pale yellow and now need to work on cabinets. In the photos they are covered in tissue paper as not to get the ceiling paint on them. I took the tissue off yesterday, and with the new paint on the walls, they look so old.
Close up of cabinet with oak trim.
  6 answers
  • Suzanne Lawson Suzanne Lawson on Aug 08, 2014
    t's hard to tell exactly what is on the cabinet door and drawer fronts, but judging from the style, I suspect that it's laminate, thermofoil or melamine --all plastic materials that are simply not going to take stain. The edges may be real oak or an oak patterned laminate. In any case, getting the door and drawer fronts to look like oak is going to be an extremely labor-intensive project.. If you are set on the oak finish, you'd be better off to simply replace the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. It's not an inexpensive project, because doors/drawer fronts are one of the more expensive components of cabinetry, but it's going to give you the most satisfactory results. I know that many people have an absolute horror of painting over wood but it's not always such a bad thing. Painted and painted-look cabinets continue to grow in popularity, with many cabinet manufacturers drastically reducing their oak lines, Whites, off-whites, soft yellows, willow greens, light blues and blue-grays are big this year..I think whites would really pop against yellow walls, but I can also see the pale gray blues working well. With new door and drawer pulls, I think you would be pleasantly surprised at how how much this would freshen and update your kitchen,
  • Shirley Kalinosky Shirley Kalinosky on Aug 08, 2014
    Thanks, Suzanne. I have decided to paint them white and I like the suggestion on changing the handles. Don't know if that is affordable right now, but good idea. I will post update when they are finished.
  • Lori Jackson Lori Jackson on Aug 09, 2014
    Maybe you could try a metalic finish spray paint on the knobs/handles. What have you got to lose?
  • Shirley Kalinosky Shirley Kalinosky on Aug 13, 2014
    I bought some of that Amish wood cleaning product and am going to try and 'wash' the handles. They are oak and match the cabinet wood. Some of them are really sticky and need cleaned. I will post pics when I have this all finished. I put on the 2nd coat of paint on cabinet today or tomorrow.
  • Shirley Kalinosky Shirley Kalinosky on Jan 23, 2015
    I had forgotten to post finished cabinets. Here they are.