The question of how to refinish kitchen cabinets cannot simply be answered in a short article, but I will do my best to provide you with all the basic information to help you get started.
You will need to remove the old finish first, and then prepare the surface by stripping and then sanding.
Dismantling the kitchen cabinets
You can strip old varnish with paint and varnish stripper. Try Park’s Furniture Refinisher or anything else that suits your needs. Simply rub the wood with the restorer-soaked steel wool until you’re satisfied. Usually wipe until you get the color you want, then wipe it off. This process can be a bit tricky. Some people choose to remove the doors and make them outside the house.
This process can be quite slow and although paint and varnish and even some of the varnish can be removed, it is sometimes difficult to remove all of it with the stripper. This is where sanding comes in.
sanded
You then need to sand them down to bare wood. Just don’t start sanding until you’re sure all the paint is removed. You can use an orbital sander to remove the rest of the paint. You can get an electric descent sander for a good price (around $70) at stores like Amazon. Do not use a disc sander unless you are doing a final smoothing.
refinement
This is the last step on how to refinish kitchen cabinets. Once you get the cabinets satisfactorily light, you can refinish them. You have several options here. You can choose to refinish the kitchen cabinets with a cherry stain and 2 coats of polyurethane or one coat of minwax. You can apply this with a foam brush.
You may need to do some light sanding between coats. You can sand with 400 grit and then when you have recoated, de-gloss the top coat with steel wool and a bit of wax. This of course applies if you choose to top with gloss oil based poly.