Expert: Jamie Yocono - 8/30/2006

Question
My kitchen cabinets are old and havent had anything done to them for 50 years.  They are yellow pine.  The finish is spotty some has been scratched off some areas are still good, but the finish is just not even.  I know stripping them may be the best, but is there another method that can be done?

Answer
Hi Norman,

Your question is somewhat outside of my area of expertise, which is building furniture. While I do absolutely no refinishing, I can offer a suggestion. I had to take a few classes in refinishing when I was in college, a million years ago, and I actually do remember a few things!

It sounds like your cabinets are in bad shape, but that you don't want to put a lot of time, energy and money into having them redone properly. By that, I mean completely stripping them and having them refinished. I don't blame you, that's a ton of work. I'd rather have a root canal. With no anesthesia!

That said- what I am going to suggest should give you good results. Not GREAT results, but from the sound of it, a decent enough job that I think you will like.

There is a product made by Formby's called Formby's® Conditioning Furniture Refinisher.  It's sort of an all-in-one product, as it dissolves the old finish, and reconditions the wood all at the same time. If you cut and paste this link in your browser, you can see what they have to say about it on their website:

http://www.formbys.com/products/refinisher.cfm

Now normally, these products don't give you the same result as what a deeper stripping and refinishing job would do. But I think, from what I hear in your question, this product will work just fine for your cabinets.

The good news is- you can probably find this at your local Lowes or Home Depot, so it should be readily available to you. If it were me, I wouldn't buy their kit, instead, I would purchase a big can of this, and some steel wool or 3M Scotchbright pads for scrubbing the wood. It'll probably be cheaper to do it that way. Plus, I am not sure you want to apply the Tung Oil they have in the kit, you might not need it. You might be satisfied with the job after just the stripper/conditioner is applied. Roll up your sleeves, and get to work!

I hope this helps. Please feel free to write back if you have any further questions after reading this.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV
www.wooditis.com