Expert: Greg Scholl - 8/20/2009

Question
Hello:

I had solid oak kitchen cabinet door, approx 18 years old in my kitchen.  When I moved into my house the cabinets were in rough shape and the previous owner had used orange oil to keep them looking better.  I continued to use orange oil myself for two more years about 2-3 times per year to perk up the dull finish.  Earlier this year I had my kitchen cabinets refinished.  The contractor (who has done this type of work before) used a paint and glaze technique which I love.  Cream color with darker in the corners, very nice updated look.  My problem is the paint is popping up and chipping away from some of the cabinet doors and drawers.  He has come back once already and refinished 9 of them and it's been three weeks and I can already see where they are popping again.  I know these will need to be redone but my question is what can be used or done to the doors and cabinets to keep the oil from coming through after the paint/glazing process is done?  He cleaned the doors and drawers numerous times but I still have the problem on some of them so before we do it again I want to figure out how to clean them so it won't happen in the future.  He indicated I may have to purchase new doors/drawers, I really don't want to have that expense since I've already spent the money on the refinishing.

Thank you for your assistance!

Answer
One of the problems with any refinishing is proper cleaning and prep of the surfaces. In a kitchen environment there's a lot of oils and grease, and it's getting dissolved with any solvent/cleaner, and then being driven deeper into the surface, cracks, joints and crevices, making it doubly hard to thoroughly remove. The Orange oil also most likely has mineral and other non drying oils, and also can cotain silicones, which present serious contamination issues when refinishing over a surface that has been treated multiple times over a several year period. You would need be exceedingly thorough, using a degreasing solvent regimen and a silicone wash product as well, to eliminate any chance of remaining contamination. After that,scuff sanding and then use of a barrier coat like a very good primer, Vinyl sealer, or a dewaxed shellac, to seal the old finish before painting, would also be warranted. Also, it's possible that these cabinets may have had a conversion varnish, or other catalyzed finish on them, and if this is painted over, you can have adhesion problems as well, because these are very hard films, and are designed to not allow soil, dirt etc. to stick to them for maximum clean-ability and durability. This kind of finishing is always a bit of a crap shoot, because as you can see (literally), it's very difficult to be this thorough in ones finish prep, and even when one is super thorough, these issues can still rear their ugly head. It would help to know his steps, products, etc., but if you're having repeated issues, it may not make a lot of sense to keep throwing money at these cabinets in lieu of planning to reface, or replace....hope that helps a little- post back if need be- regards- Greg