First, let me say that I have stumbled upon a buried treasure in finding this website. There seem to be so many knowledgeable people here, and as a "young" guy, I appreciate you "old" guys sharing your experience and knowledge. JK...

Here's my situation...I have built 26 kitchen cabinets for a buddy of mine. This is the first time that I have tackled a project of any substance, and I'm lost when it comes to finishes. The cases are prefinished birch plywood, with hard maple face frames, mitered door frames, and 1/4" maple plywood door panels. So basically, I am just needing to finish the face frames, doors, and drawer fronts. He has shown me pictures of some of the finishes that he prefers, and so now it falls on me to replicate a production shop look, in my tiny workshop. I have never sprayed so I have no equipment to speak of, save a portable 5 gal. compressor.

Here's the finish...Hard Maple with roughly a "coffee" color (medium brown) with a dark glaze hangup on the mitered door frame and in the corners of the door panel.

So I'm thinking:
1. Some type of pre-stain (for color uniformity).
2. Some type of stain.
3. Some type of sealer.
4. A couple coats of finish.
5. A glaze.
6. However many topcoats of whatever finish I'm using.

Yes, I am that lacking in my knowledge of finishing. What I need is for someone to suggest the products that I need. Please don't be shy about naming specific brands and products, as I really need some specificity here. Some brands that I have heard of are: Sherwin Williams (chemical coatings division), Target Coatings, Fuhr, and I will assume that these finshes have one-up on something from Lowe's such as minwax.

One other note is that I do have a budget for finishing...Around $250 for actual finishing supplies. He had a rather small budget to start with, and my time has been donated, so I need to keep it as inexpensive as I can, and still somehow provide him with a great looking durable finish.

Thanks in advance for all of your help and information thus far.

Steven Valentine