Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing

[Denis Kenzior]

Hi All,

My Kitchen cabinets need a facelift. They are only about 10 years old and look to have been finished with regular lacquer. Probably sprayed 'in place' since the coverage on hard to reach areas is a bit spotty. Not sure if some sort of coloring was used. It looks like it was not a penetrating stain, but instead a toner?

The finish has disappeared in some places, particularly those spots where moisture is present. Here are some pictures of the worst areas:
photo 1.jpgphoto 4.jpgphoto 3.jpg
I'd like to re-finish these with the least effort possible, potentially with something a little bit more durable / moisture resistant. I would prefer to use waterborne. I own a Fuji Q4 system with all the fixings and am not new to spray finishing. However, I am new to re-finishing and not sure how to tackle this project.

Is a decent result still possible with this level of finish degradation or should I be looking into other alternatives, e.g. paint.

[Todd Burch]

That's a strip and refinished job there. And a new door too, from what I can tell.

Todd

[John TenEyck]

The finish is certainly degraded but the wood underneath still looks pretty good to me. The finish looks like clear lacquer to me, I don't see any color to it other than normal aging maybe, and no stain underneath. That should make it "easy" to strip with a chemical stripper. I really like KleanStrip Premium but any stripper with methylene chloride in it should take it off about as fast as you can brush it on. That said, be prepared for some work because of all the doors drawer fronts there are to do. If that isn't appealing, then take them to a pro stripper and have them strip those parts, leaving just the cabinet frames for you to do. When you do the cabinet frames you will have to take great care not to get the stripper on anything you don't want it on, and be sure to wear the appropriate safety equipment and provide adequate ventilation.

However you get the stripping done, afterwards you will have to sand them some to eliminate any discoloration that might have occurred where the finish was worn through and to unify the color. Hand sanding should be adequate, and preferred.

There are several good waterborne clear coats you could use. First, however, I would start with a coat of dewaxed shellac to seal the wood and give it a nice warm tone. If you want to stain or dye it, you normally would do that before spraying the shellac sealer. I really like General Finishes waterborne products. http://generalfinishes.com/professio...anding-sealers Several of them meet KCMA performance standards. Of the ones I've used, I really like EnduroVar because it looks great and is very chemically durable. Enduro Clear Poly also is very durable and water clear; wouldn't be my first choice over maple, however, unless I was using it over stain or dye. All the Enduro WB products can be tinted with Transtint dye to make toners, and I often do this to change the color w/o obscuring the grain. I'm sure the GF Conversion Varnish is good stuff, too; I just haven't had the occasion to use it yet. You should have no trouble spraying those products with your spray outfit.

How much effort you put into the finish is dependent upon what look you want. If the color variation in the doors, from board to board, doesn't bother you, then a simple sealer + topcoat should satisfy you. However, if you can't stand that color variation, then you might be looking at dying them first, then a sealer, then a glaze, another coat of sealer, then maybe even a toner, followed by your clear topcoats. Really, it all depends upon what you are trying to achieve.

I hope this helps some.

John

[Denis Kenzior]

I should mention that I have about 30 door and 12 drawer fronts to do. Maybe 3-4 doors have significant issues, the others have a finish that is 90-100% sound. So I'd rather avoid stripping the entire thing. There is already some color variation in the cabinets, not great but gives some wiggle room. So trying to match existing color is an option.

Can I apply waterborne over the lacquer directly? Is a barrier coat necessary/good idea?

One idea I've heard was to 'reflow' some of the material by applying some lacquer thinner / lacquer and trying to migrate material from undamaged areas to the damaged ones. Has anyone tried this before? Is this worth pursuing or would strip + color match be the easier approach.

[John TenEyck]

Well, you can try fixing the lacquer but as often is said, most times the more you mess with some things, the worse it gets. But give it a try and go from there. If the doors are 90% good, they still have issues and they will likely get worse over time. To me, it would either be an all or nothing prospect. Trying to match 3 or 4 doors to the others will likely be a difficult task and, even if you are successful, they might not look the same a year or two from now as the two finishes age differently. Then in another year or two you'll have several more doors/drawers that will need to be done but the recipe you used for the ones now won't work for them.

John

[Rich Engelhardt]

One idea I've heard was to 'reflow' some of the material by applying some lacquer thinner / lacquer and trying to migrate material from undamaged areas to the damaged ones. Has anyone tried this before? Is this worth pursuing or would strip + color match be the easier approach

Try some Formby's Furniture Refinisher.

I don't much care for old Homer but - giving the devil his due, Formby's does make a couple of excellent products - their Furniture Refinisher being one of the.