[Photobug]

My kitchen cabinets are about 20 years old. I don't think they were properly finished the first time around. Some of the finish looked bad after about 5 years. Now it is time to remove all the doors and drawer fronts to refinish. What should I use to strip off the old finish.

I have a spray equipment I have never used, what is the chance I can do a good job spraying the new finish?

 

[ddawg16]

Those look pretty rough.

If you plan to go with a wood grain stain, I think you are not going to like how much work it's going to be.

2 Options....

1. Paint your existing cabinets

2. Replace all your doors and drawer faces with new.

If money is an issue....paint.

 

[stick\shift]

Citrus strippers often do a good job while the top dog is MEK but that's nasty stuff.

Judging by the looks of the wood, you may have to do some sanding as well.

Personally, I'm not a fan of spraying but lacquer sprays well if you were to want to try that for finish over whatever stain you choose to apply.

 

[Photobug]

Thanks for the info so far.

These are hickory cabinets. No way I want to paint it, i like Hickory, don't care for paint. I imagine it will be a total hassle. My wife and I are both are retired so have a lot of free time. My wife is the chef and wants the kitchen to look right and is willing to take on the task.

I plan on pulling off a number of drawer fronts and buying a few strippers and testing them. She did our front deck this summer and like a citrus stripper I had sitting around that has since been discontinued. I will look for its replacement and try a few others.

I was thinking of spraying lacquer but would also do a wipe on poly if that is suggested. I have good luck with General Finishes products.

 

[stick\shift]

Personally, I would brush on poly - three coats of oil based poly is my go-to finish.

 

[mark sr]

After sanding if you wipe the wood down with mineral spirits, how it looks while the thinner is still wet will approximate how it will look with a fresh coat of poly. Usually 1 or 2 coats of poly is enough to rejuvenate an old tired finish.

 

[woodco]

One thing to consider, is those are in such bad shape, its not gonna be hard to get the old stuff off. I would orbital sand all the flat parts, and see how much effort it takes to hand sand the non-flat parts. if it takes a long time to sand, try a stipper. I hate (paint) strippers myself, so I only use them as a last resort.

If you plan on staining them, if you go with a slightly darker color, you can be a little less thorough with the sanding. If you're going natural or a very light color, you gotta be meticulous.

 

[firehawkmph]

Wouldn't recommend spraying lacquer inside your house. Retired firefighter here. Been on a few pretty extensive fires that were the result of painters spraying lacquer indoors. Got to the right air mixture and found an ignition source, painters got burned, damage to the house was quite a bit. Stick to the wipe on or brush on poly. I've had good luck with products from General Finishes, just follow the directions.
Mike Hawkins

 

[cocomonkeynuts]

Citrus strippers often do a good job while the top dog is MEK but that's nasty stuff.

Judging by the looks of the wood, you may have to do some sanding as well.

Personally, I'm not a fan of spraying but lacquer sprays well if you were to want to try that for finish over whatever stain you choose to apply.

FYI MEK is methyl ethyl ketone, a member of the ketone family of polar solvents. Because of its polarity means it is miscible in both water and solvent based materials just like acetone. MEK dries slower than Acetone.



You have confused MEK with Methylene Chloride which doesn't really have an abbreviation.


Just don't want people to apply MEK and wonder why its not removing anything

 

[Photobug]

FYI MEK is methyl ethyl ketone, a member of the ketone family of polar solvents. Because of its polarity means it is miscible in both water and solvent based materials just like acetone. MEK dries slower than Acetone.



You have confused MEK with Methylene Chloride which doesn't really have an abbreviation.


Just don't want people to apply MEK and wonder why its not removing anything

Thanks for the info I have MEK in my inventor, it works well to clean silicone and other gunk off my boat. Are you saying it is not what I want to try to strip my cabinets? Use Methyl Chloride?

Miscible I had to look that up.

 

[cocomonkeynuts]

Thanks for the info I have MEK in my inventor, it works well to clean silicone and other gunk off my boat. Are you saying it is not what I want to try to strip my cabinets? Use Methyl Chloride?

Miscible I had to look that up.

MEK chemically similar to acetone. Strong solvent and cleaner. Not a stripper. Methylene chloride is widly regarded as the best, strongest stripper for practically all coatings latex, epoxy, urethanes... very caustic though neutralizes with water should any incidental contact with skin happen. Should use special gloves and respirator to work with this product. Citrus based strippers will work, just slower and maybe need more than one application. Safer to work with too.

 

[carpdad]

One with the chemical solvent that gets you high is the one to use. I don't like this process and too much time taken is discouraging. Another trick is lay down a brush coat of about 1/8" and cover with paper. I even used newspaper without ink all over the place. Then remove the gunk with scraper on flat part and brass toothbrush for the nooks. The small recessed trim parts should not be sanded with machine. Final hand sanding to get out all aging and get the wood to look uniform.


Ventilation is a must. Also read the instruction. I don't know if this still applies, but some strippers said to neutralize as a finish process.

 

[Photobug]

Ventilation is a must. Also read the instruction. I don't know if this still applies, but some strippers said to neutralize as a finish process.

It's -2F this morning. Anything requiring ventilation will have to wait for spring.

 

[mark sr]

A little hard to tell from the pic but if stain isn't involved you don't have to strip it down to bare wood.

 

[Photobug]

A little hard to tell from the pic but if stain isn't involved you don't have to strip it down to bare wood.

I don't think it is stained. It is hickory with a clear finish. It would be really nice not to have to strip to bare wood. I can test on the back of a door to find a matching finish or at least a compatible one.

 

[Two Knots]

Mark, why wouldn’t he have to strip it down to bare wood?

If he wants to refinish these cabinets to bring them back to all
their glory then sanding is essential, in my humble opinion.

There doesn’t seem to be a stain on these cabinets, just a finish
which looks more off than on.

Edit: do you mean if there is only a poly finish and no stain
you can remove it with turpentine or paint thinner?

 

[SeniorSitizen]

Being the finish is mostly toast to begin with, we might be surprised the speed a card / cabinet scraper will remove the remaining finish on the flat surfaces with less dust.

 

[Photobug]

Not all the cabinet parts look that bad. I chose to photo the one under the sink so it has seen a lot of water. I have card scrapers and a lot of filtration and dust control in my shop so if I do not use anything too toxic I should be good to go.

This will be my wifes project though. I am just getting as much info on my options for now.

 

[mark sr]

why wouldn’t he have to strip it down to bare wood?

When no stain is involved you can often just sand it down and apply a fresh coat of poly. Whether or not a fresh coat is enough can usually be determined by sanding and then wiping the wood with thinner. The wet thinner will approximate what the wood will look like with just a coat of poly.

 

[Two Knots]

Oh, I guess I misread your reply. I thought you implied that it wouldn’t
have to sand it down. Thanks for the clarification.