Expert: Eileen Cronk - 8/17/2009

Question
I recently inherited my mother's house and want to update the
kitchen cabinets which are birch stained maple.  They are in excellent condition for the exception of a few dings and scratches.  The cabinets date back to the l970's and have more of a satin sheen than gloss.  Is restaining possible and what are the steps I must follow to do so?  Someone said to clean with TSP, lightly sand and use a Miniwax satin stain with poly?  Your thoughts, please.  Matching stains is a probem as the maple color
on the existing cabinets in not dark.  Thank you.

Answer
Hi Arlene
Nice to hear from you.
The steps you have been quoted are correct.
The TSP will ensure all grease is removed. The sanding will ensure that the colored poly (Minwax Polyshades) in a satin sheen you wish to apply will hopefully adhere properly.
What you don't know at present is what the cupboards will look like when finished.
Thats why its so important to test your process through to completion on one door or drawer.
I read this bit of advice a while back from Greg Scholl another expert in this forum and its the best piece of advice a do it yourselfer can follow.
What a disaster if you went ahead and sanded all your cupboards down only to find they looked awful after the new finish was applied.
And if you are hesitant to do the front portions, then experiment on the back of a cupboard door if the finish is the same as the front.
Having said that, (you asked my thoughts LOL), this is not something I would do.
Heres what I would do and a whole lot easier and quicker.
I would give the cupboards a good cleaning with a degreaser or TSP.
Then I would wipe a Minwax oil stain over the cupboards with a rag. Wipe back the excess well with a clean rag. Choose a color close to the existing.
THIS IS INTENDED SOLELY TO STAIN ALL THE NICKS AND SCRATCHES. It is not intended (nor can it), change the existing color.
You cannot restain this way. You must remove all the finish down to bare wood to restain.
So I hope this is clear. You are just trying to hide the damage a bit.
After the stain dries, and it will take a good while, wipe a coat of satin sheen tung oil over the entire cupboards with a rag.
Your tung oil rag will take off the stain where there is no damage to the finish and you will see your rag getting dark as you work along. Change tung oil rags often.
Arlene this process works. I have used it many times to freshen up perfectly otherwise good kitchen cupboards.
The only alternative is stripping down to bare wood and starting from scratch.
So you have nothing to loose by trying it, but do your test with this process too.
Keep me posted
Regards
Eileen