Expert: Eileen Cronk - 4/7/2008

Question
Hi Eileen;

I have what I suspect is a common problem.  I have a lovely old 1929 house with original quarter-sawn oak trim and doors. The kitchen was expanded in the 80's and the cupboards, while good quality, are the classic oak cabinets with prominent straight-sawn grain. The kitchen is 300 to sq so you can imagine, that is a lot of oakey grain to take in. (I put a maple floor in to reduce the feeling of being in an oak cave.)

So my question is this:  is there a reasonable way to reduce the grainy appearance of these cupboards and make them more age-appropriate for the house?  If I put some sort of a wash on them, that will look very 70's and not in keeping with the house character.  Stripping and sanding and going darker would be a huge job and leave me with a dark kitchen.  Stripping and sanding and going lighter--would that even look good and would it reduce the grainy look?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Warm regards,

Lisa Buck

Calgary, AB

Answer
Hi Lisa
Nice to hear from you.
You know Lisa I often hear such complaints from folks with these oak cabinets. Makes a person wonder if a woman was ever involved in the decision to have them installed LOL.
I feel any attempt to go with a lighter stain will only enhance the grain.
And I think you would forever regret painting the cupboards.
And the grain would still show anyway.
Having said that I am going to offer you a couple of ideas that you can mull over.
Remember, these are only ideas LOL.
First you could consider having some panels in the upper doors replaced with glass and maybe some of that fret work applied on the back of the glass. Sounds hard but its relatively easy.
You could also opt to get the glass sandblasted so its opaque...yep you can sandblast glass I have had it done. Not a great expense either. That way the cupboard contents don't show.
The next idea is totally off the wall, but I actually saw this done and it was lovely. It never harmed the cupboards either.
The inserts of the doors where covered in wall paper that looked like leather...can you imagine that? Hid the grain too.
Hope I have given you some ideas Lisa but this is a tough problem to solve.
Good Luck and great question
Regards
Eileen