Expert: Eileen Cronk - 3/4/2007

Question
I am wanting to redo my kitchen cabinets because the laquer that was applied 15 years ago has yellowed and my once beautiful red oak cabinets are now ugly.  I will paint them as a last resort, but is there a way to remove the laquer without too much trouble?  Can you also give me some tips on painting cabinets using a glaze?  Thanks!

Answer
Hi Rebecca
Nice to hear from you.
It would be nice to get your oak cabinets back to lovely wood again.
Use paint stripper to remove the finish.
In my experience, paint stripper removes this older laquer in 95 % of the cases.
The other 5% need laquer thinner to remove but I hope you do not need to go that route as the thinner is vile stuff to use.
In most cases in this applicatrion, I recommend using an oil base poly as the final finish, but if you want to be 100% sure the cabinets do not yellow again, use water based poly. And its actually easier to use and dries faster. No smell either.
Rebecca do not even consider paint till you have tried stripping just one cabinet door to see the wonderful result.
Any paint finish on kitchen cabinets will need redoing every three years at least...horrible job.
The wood finish will be lovely for years.
So do it once and do it right.
Trust me on this one...been there, done that LOL.
If you need my stripping and finishing guide, just let me know.
Kindest Regards
Eileen