After re-staining all the bathroom cabinets while remodeling the vanities, the cabinets looked good and the wife wanted her kitchen and all remaining cabinets done…. Yes Mem…Starting out with the old, mismatched colors and worn out cabinets (29 years old?)
Preparation… This is the most important part of staining cabinets. It’s tedious, tiresome, that’s why the pros charge lots of money to do it. If the glossy old stain is still there, the new stain won’t stick and if it’s not done evenly, the… The results will be very spotty because some parts will stick and some won’t. We use Jasco, and brush to apply, and remove with plastic scrapers, small one for small areas. We bought sander all types and steel wool pads with various sizes at home depot or lowes. After removed the old stain with Jasco, use steel wool pads to remove all the residue and make a very smooth surface before staining. Jasco is really bad for the skin, make sure you wear gloves to do the job, it it gets to your skin, wash with water right away, it’s extremely itchy and bad burn feels.
Yes, it does take time and patient, yes, it’s easier to just replace with new ones- We like to do it ourselves.
Remove all doors, rub them with steel wool #1 to strip all the grease and the glossy material.We used Minwax 1 step polyurethane Bombay Mahogany Gloss to stain our cabinets.
Pour stain into a small bowl and use the 1″ brush from Harbor Freight Tools (36 for $6.00), change them often and throw them away. Keep the stain in the can so it doesn’t dry out until the next bowl is needed. Don’t fill up the bowl also, a little at a time because when the stain is drying up, the color get darker. It does take time and time is the essence also. Do one section at a time and smooth the surface out with final long and light stroke, it’s all in the wrist and the arm. My brushing arm does get tired after a few doors but it did come out OK.
The color of the bottom cabinets is lighter than the top, we will have to do 2 coats to match the darkness of the top ones. It did take a good 20 hours to stain them. 10 hours to strip them and beat up wrists and hands.