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Re: Restaining kitchen cabinets

Excellent forum!

From: Aporce
Category:
Email: DotScoub@raf.com
Remote Name: 75.62.210.23
Date: 30 Jul 2007
Time: 07:05 AM

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From: info@builderswebsource.com
Category: Cabinetry
Date: 27 Nov 1999
Time: 15:34:06
Remote Name: 152.163.195.214

Comments

Before you spend possibly a few thousand dollars to professionally refinish your cabinets, you might be interested to know that natural maple is now the most popular kitchen cabinet according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. So from a decorator's standpoint, you made a good choice a few years ago.

However, if you and your wife still prefer something darker, here are a few tips to consider:

1) Maple is inherently a light wood with fine grain. It tends to look best with neutral and lighter stains. I've seen some "honey maple" finishes that look beautiful and may provide the extra richness you're looking for.

2) However, if not done properly, maple can look blotchy when stained, particularly with darker stains. Generally, I would avoid very dark stains with maple altogether.

3) Most likely, your cabinets do have some type of finish on them. If they came prefabricated from a major cabinet manufacturer, then they may have a satin conversion finish, which is a very tough, durable, water-resistant finish.

Generally this factory applied finish is better than the locally applied finishes due to state regulations limiting Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's).

4) If your cabinets were custom made by a local shop, then chances are they were sprayed with a lacquer finish. If you don't see an obvious finish, it's probably a satin lacquer as opposed to semi-gloss.

5) Since staining and finishing cabinets is a big job (not to mention very dusty), I would not attempt to do this yourself, particularly if you haven't done it before. Chances are you will have to carefully sand your cabinets down to remove any existing top coat and sealer, then use a combination of penetrating stain followed by sealers followed by a topcoat finish, such as lacquer. Check out Minwax stains to give you an idea.

6) To give you an idea of how quality cabinets are stained at the factory, a typical process is as follows (reference Kitchencraft):

- Wood Preparation - thoroughly sanded; - Toners - used for some woods to lighten or darken for increased uniformity; - Stains - with pigments and tints to add body and color, highlighting the grain; - Sealer coat to lock in the stain; - Catalyzed conversion topcoat that chemically bond with basecoat materials for durable finish.

7) Some people have had good experience with water-based aniline dyes to add color to maple furniture.

8) To recap, I suggest that before you go to the expense of refinishing your relatively new cabinets that you look for other ways to add warmth to your kitchen such as with wallpaper, wall color, window coverings, and other ornamental objects. These are relatively easy to change if you change your mind later. But, if time and money aren't the issue, then I suggest hiring a professional cabinet or furniture refinisher and let them do the dirty work! If you decide to do it yourself, you'll need all the proper sanding equipment and spraying system for applying the sealers and topcoats.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

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