To achieve those effects you ll need to commit to a full scale campaign of stripping sanding and refinishing from scratch.
Cabinet stripping and restaining.
Soak the hardware in a soapy water solution for 30 minutes scrub lightly with a soft brush rinse let dry and apply polish.
Next scrape the old surface with a scraper in the direction of the grain.
Let the gel sit for 10 minutes or so until you see that the surface has bubbled and softened.
Paint a light coat of stripper onto the face of one cabinet one drawer and one door at a time.
Use a bristle attachment on a vacuum to remove all of the dust.
You will need to clean off and remove years worth of residue oils and grime in order to fully prepare the cabinet surface for stain.
Using painter s tape i prefer frogtape tape off wall and floor surfaces where you do not want stain.
Allow cabinets to dry in dust free environment.
Drape drop cloths to prevent drips from staining your floors.
Denatured alcohol mixed with water 50 50 mix on a fine grit sanding sponge will remove all oils grime and take the edge off the old finish to help you prepare the cabinets.
It s one of my favorite things to do.
If the cabinets have a waxy or thick finish then house beautiful recommends apply a stripping agent such as turpentine over the surfaces.
Because i m a lazy crafter.
Lol i hate sanding and prepping.
If you want to take your cabinets to a lighter tone for example staining oak cabinets gray or giving them a stylish bleached look there is unfortunately no quick and easy option.
Okay so let s talk about how to restain wood without stripping.
Lightly scuff the clean dried existing finish with a synthetic sanding pad or 220 grit sandpaper.
Clean the cabinet hardware.
Follow the instructions on the stripping agent to remove that first layer of tacky finish.
I just want to get the fun part painting making beautiful etc.
This is the same process for prepping cabinets to paint.
I mean who likes doing that.
Wait 10 minutes and then scrape off the softened lacquer with a putty knife starting at the top and.
Unless you re replacing the hardware cleaning it will help give your cabinets a fresher look.
This can reveal divots and deep scratches which will need to be filled with a wood filler.
Apply gel stripper with a paintbrush to one or two cabinet door sets at a time any more and the gel will dry out.