My wife wants me to refinish our maple kitchen cabinets because she doesn’t like the look of them. They are in decent shape given the age of the house (9 years, 1 with us) The original finish is what is commonly known as “natural”, meaning no color, just sealed & sprayed with a satin lacquer I assume.
Is there any product out there that I can apply over the clear finish to change/darken the look of them? I tested one lower door by scuffing it with a scotchbrite pad & then wiping on a coat of Minwax gel stain as a glaze. I wasn’t impressed with the product or the the look of the results. It would take several coats (and several days of drying time) to get the look we want.
Is there an easier way? I’m a finishing novice…
ZanderK98
Replies
You can spray it with a toner, which is lacquer with a small amount of dye added. Use a light shade and "sneak up" on the final color with multiple coats. There is a lot of info out there in books, etc., on how to do this. Be sure that your original finish is lacquer and not varnish before you spray lacquer over it.
Woody
The first thing to do is to confirm that it is finished with lacquer. Nine years ago it is quite possible, though not quite as certain as would be the case today, that the finish is a catalyzed lacquer or a conversion varnish. If it is more ordinary nitrocellulose lacquer that readily redissolves in lacquer thinner, then you can spray a toned lacquer on top--after THOROUGH cleaning, but if it is one of the catalyzed finishes, it may not be possible. Some of the possibilities that could well have been used on commercially made cabinets might not tolerate other finishes on top and you could, though not with complete certainty, have crazing underneath, and/or adhesion problems with a new finish. So first test with lacquer thinner in an inconspicuous area (though not on the insides of the boxes which could have been finished differently.)
Steve great points ,I sprayed cat lac every day for many years and all your info is dead on .but ,there is a but vynal lacquer seal will lay and stay just fine ,and you can top coat it with almost anything. yet another but and I have had to prove this to many clients over the years, you can tint your new top coat as much as you wish and it will never look good.there are 3 choices #1refinish(strip to bare wood )#2paint or #3 tear them out. I have been telling people this for years , if it was as easy as wiping something over an old finish to tottally change look of something like this there would be alot of builders and finishers out of ajob.
Dan
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