How can I clean old wooden kitchen cabinets and preserve the finish?

Wash them! Murphy's Oil Soap, Scotts Liquid Gold, Old English products are all great.

It is a good possibility that the grime has dulled the surface on your wood cabinets and once you clean them off with a good quality wood cleaner, they should be okay again. If they are still dull after cleaning, there is a wipe on product which, with regular use, will prevent the wood from drying and bring back the lustre.

Try Murphy's Oil Soap. Works great on old wood. Or there is Liquid Gold which cleans & shines.

Start with Murphy's oil soap, to clean the grease and grime off. Follow the directions on the bottle. Next, finish with Wilbert's lemon oil for preserving the wood. Good Luck!

Murphy's oil soap

We had cabinets like this in our home in Connecticut. I used a mixture that was one part plain water and one part plain ammonia. Use it to clean the cabinets...use a sponge and even a scrubbie pad if neccessary. Afterwards, wipe the cabinets with a sponge and clean water to remove any remaining residue. This will remove years of build up, grease, etc and leave the cabinets with a clean, fresh look.

For real grime you may need something stronger than Murphy's. But you can get them clean with elbow grease. Your name caught my eye. (Seaman's) has any family member with that name done any genealogical research? There was a captain John Seamon who came to America in 1650 and left many descendants. You can google him.