What is the best way to refinish wood cabinets?

Question

Currently all the wood in my parents house is honey colored with a light finish, some places are more worn than others. Should I use a stripping compound over the surface before staining to a darker color or is sanding a better option.

I know sanding can get messy. Is there a good way to minimize the mess if I need to go that direction?

Answer 1

      I have a wood-working shop in my basement, all the necessary tools for anything I want to do. This is to explain to you that I may be able to do things others can't.

      I stripped my cabinet down to the bare wood, using "Klean Stripper" from Ace hardware. Zip Strip works good too.

       Once stripped down, I washed them to get any excess off, then sealed them with a wood, sanding sealer from Ace.

        When I felt I had the right texture, I used a good undercoat, some took as many as three coats with sanding between with 180 to 300 grit. I applied the final coat and then sprayed the top with a good poly, so the were like glass when finished.  

Answer 2

well stripping is just as messy as sanding just so you know, anyway you go its going to be messy. what you should do is take the doors off and that way you can deal with them outside somewhere. technically stripping the clear coat off is the best way then sanding....yeah you better believe it BOTH.

on older cabinets sometimes they didn't use such a heavy layer of lacquer or it has become cracked and really dry, in that case sanding only would be OK, you might try it out on one door just to see if it would make sense to do it that way. all in all refinishing cabinets properly is a tedious project, i think its better to just replace the doors with ones the color you want and refinish the frames only.

Answer 3

Staining wood is a long procedure .....Go to home depot and get Restor a finish...they have so many varieties ...and the best thing is u dont need to strip anything...good luck