kitchen cabinet refinish

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  • schloff
    Established Member
    • Jan 2007
    • 229
    • Southern Middle TN
    • Powermatic 64 (BT3000 RIP)

    #1

    kitchen cabinet refinish

    Hi folks! I have a finish question. I stumbled on a set of cabinets, perfect condition, removed from a house and begging me to take them home. Solid oak with oak plywood carcass. Killer deal, can't pass it up sort of price. even if I have to resale them, I can't pass it up. But I'd rather use them in my house.

    My wife has been begging for a new kitchen for years, and this was the largest hurdle for me, price wise. She wants oak, but wants them "whitewashed". I don't mind that look at all and it will look great in our house. However, these cabinets are golden oak with poly currently.

    I think I'll have to take them down to the stain surface (remove poly from all surfaces) before I can apply the white wash (basically a dilluted latex) . Am I correct here? I have no interest in taking the poly off, so a vineger and galvanized nail pickling solution will not be possible at all.

    I don't mind sanding to create a bonding surface, but total removal of poly is out of the question. The amount of cabinets and detail is staggering.

    Is there another product that I can use to apply on top of the varnish without being totally opaque if I can't use a dilluted latex?

    I have never been a "paint" guy. I love the cabinets the way they are, but this isn't my space.

    Thanks for your input.
  • cabinetman
    Gone but not Forgotten RIP
    • Jun 2006
    • 15216
    • So. Florida
    • Delta

    #2
    You aren't going to like my advice. "Whitewash" finishes, AKA "Pickling" is a treatment done to bare wood and topcoated with a film finish.

    Using a latex on top of an oil base poly, or a waterbase poly has poor adhesion and will easily peel/scratch off. My usual technique is to use a white oil base paint and thin it about 75% with mineral spirits, and wiping it on bare wood that has been sanded to no smoother than 180x. Then a sealer is applied and a clear topcoat.

    If you add a latex, or a whitewash stain to a film finish it will look like a painted finish. It won't take on the look of the grain. If you decide just to mist a white finish, it would have to be sprayed. If the existing finish is an oil base you cannot use a thinned lacquer as the finish will react with the lacquer solvent (lacquer thinner/acetone).

    If you use either an oil base or water base, it will just color the finish and the existing color will likely read through. You could experiment with an inconspicuous area, and if you get some semblance of what you like, it would have to be topcoated with a film finish that's compatible with what you used.

    But, no matter what, adding anything over a film finish is not a durable finish, and even topcoated has very poor wear characteristics.

    .

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    • schloff
      Established Member
      • Jan 2007
      • 229
      • Southern Middle TN
      • Powermatic 64 (BT3000 RIP)

      #3
      Cab-

      Thanks for the reply. I don’t mind seeing the old color behind. If it were up to me, I’d not do a thing to them in the first place. They’re perfect in every way, just not in my wife’s master plan ideas.

      I figured adding paint to a varnish would be a poor idea and lead to horrible results a few months down the line, I was just checking.

      That being the case, is there a way to easily and uniformly remove the poly? All that is coming to mind is a solvent stripper. Sanding isn’t an option, as the raised panels and other details would make for a pure nightmare of a time.

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