Refinishing Your Kitchen Cabinets

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you want to update your kitchen for a relatively low price, you should consider refinishing your kitchen cabinets. The steps to refinish your cabinets are fairly easy and with a little time and patience anyone can do it. The main cost you will have is getting the tools to do the job, and then the time you spend doing the work. The first thing you must do, is remove your doors and any hardware that is on them.

You will have to decide if you want to use a chemical stripper or sand off your old stain. If you use a stripper, you will want to pick one that is environmentally safe, because you will be using this inside of your house. One such paint stripper is soygel. If you choose to sand instead of using a chemical, use a soft sanding block with medium grit to remove the urethane and stain.

Once you have that removed, sand it gently with a fine sandpaper and finish with a very fine steel wool. Make sure to wipe down your cabinets with a lint free cloth to remove any left over wood dust. Now you can have fun and start applying the stain. I like to use an old rag and apply the stain, however some prefer to use a brush. This is up to personal preference so it is up to you. You will have to choose if you prefer a water based stain or an oil based stain. Both of them have advantages and disadvantages.

The final step is applying either a urethane or polyurethane to seal and protect your newly finished woodwork. Make sure you allow the urethane time to dry between applications. A great resource if you want more information about this process is Understanding Wood Finishing.