Ready to tackle those bathroom cabinets and need refinishing help!

[Teri Bennett]

With help from you guys, I stained and sealed my new desk with a beautiful finish! I am so happy with it. I attached a picture of the finished project (before added hardware).

On to the next project: About 4 years ago, someone stained my brand new maple cabinets with a Minwax stain (medium color) and then sealed them with a poly product. I believe it was a water-based poly. The cabinets ended up being very splotchy. He did not use a wood conditioner to start. I love stained cabinets and would prefer to keep that. The dimension stain gives to wood is so much better than a single toned paint. A darker color stain to cover the current color would be fine. I tried hand sanding off the poly but dang, that stuff is tough. I also read that I could use a deglosser like Krud Kutter wiped over the poly and simply paint over that, if I had to choose to paint them. I'd rather not use a chemical stripper - just not familiar with the product and I'm kinda scared of it.

I would appreciate your valuable input on options for both staining and painting, and what types of products to use (wipe stain, gel, or solid stain and latex or oil based paint).

Thanks everyone!

[Jerome Hanby]

I'm sure it's a chemical stripper, but my wife used this stuff from Lowe's, I thought the name was something like Strypee, but looking on their site, I see Strypeeze, so I guess that's the stuff. She went through stripping off the original finish then stripping several failed attempts as she worked out her finishing schedule for a rock maple dresser, it did a great job.