Cabinet re-finishing process

I decided to document my cabinet re-finishing process so that if I forget and even think about doing it again in the future, this will remind me and put that thought out of my mind. So far, between the laundry room and the project workroom, I've done 3 base cabinets, 5 upper cabinets, 13 cabinet doors, 5 drawer plates, 2 shelves and their mounting pieces, 2 block-off plates, and some trim moulding. I think that's enough. I am NOT joining the cabinetry business after this.

The process starts with sanding the old finish off. I used a Black & Decker power mouse sander with 80 grit sandpaper to get down to bare wood. A door of this size would usually take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to sand both sides completely.


After sanding, I vacuum the surface with a curtain attachment (the little brush). The bristles get in the wood grain and crevices well and remove a large amount of the sanding dust.

Next, the surface to be stained gets wiped down with a tack cloth to remove the remaining debris.

Wood conditioner is applied with a foam brush. This has to sit and penetrate the wood for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, the excess conditioner is wiped off with a rag.

Now it is time for the first tint base coat. This has to be applied within 2 hours of applying the wood conditioner. This was also applied with a foam brush.

The tint coat penetrates for about 20 minutes. After that, the excess is removed with a rag. For some cabinets, this part makes you work up a sweat. The tint goes on runny, but after 20 minutes it turns sticky and is tougher to wipe off of the surface. And you have to rub hard to wipe up the majority of the tint. I applied 2 coats of tint, and had to wait 5 hours in between each coating per the instructions.

After a minimum of 8 hours of tint curing, the first layer of protective finish can be applied. I used Polycrylic by Minwax. This was applied with a bristle brush.

After 2 hours, the surface is sanded with 220 grit sandpaper to roughen the surface for the next layer of finish to be applied. After sanding, I wiped the surface down with the tack cloth.

The next layer of finish is applied, then 2 hours later it is sanded, then the final layer is applied. Overall, 3 layers of protective finish were applied. For cabinets the process wasn't too bad, but for doors and shelves, both the front and back had to be done. The surfaces have to be flat during the process, so this required doing one side and flipping them over.

The Polycrylic protective finish is ready for light handling after 3 hours, and regular use after a 24 hour air cure. I would usually install the cabinets and doors the next day to be on the safe side.

A before & after comparison:


So that's it! Like I said, I won't be doing this again if I can avoid it. I've had enough sanding and staining for awhile.