Refinish cabinets or no?

[carrie mclaren]

I need to renovate the kitchen and bath in our new house, but am having a hard time deciding what to do with the vanity and cabinets. As far as I can tell, they're oak; they're well-constructed -- or, at least, they're much more solid than the cabinets I've seen at big box stores. Doors seem to be solid wood. Made by Pace Industries in 1987.

Any idea of the best, easiest way to refinish? I'm not even sure how to tell whether this is veneer... the sides of the vanity actually seem to be some sort of laminate. If that's true, is this even doable? Would it be a ton of work to try to cover those sides with a wood veneer and attempt to match? Ideally, I'd like to make the cabinets darker to obscure some of the graining; otherwise, I'm wondering if painting them would look okay.

Any and all suggestions or thoughts would be very much appreciated.

http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/house/bathroom-vanity.jpg



http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/house/kitchen.jpg

[John Mihich]

I just painted my cabinets this past summer. They are oak also. What I did was removed all the doors and drawer fronts and sprayed them with an oil based enamel from SW. I first gave them a good cleaning and sanded with 220. I filled the grain with spackle, prime with oil base primer, then put on 3 coats of paint, lighly sanding in between. A couple of the base cabinets I was able to take out to the shop and spray them as well. The other cabinets I treated in place. We had to use the kitchen while I was doing this so I did them in steps. I did pretty much the same as the doors except I use latex paint; I needed it to dry faster and my wife hates the smell of oil based paints. I was able to get SW to match the oil and latex paints exactly. While I was at it I replaced all the shelves with white melamine and painted the insides hi-gloss white. I also got 1/8" while paneling (the type you use in a shower) for the bottom of each cabinet. Now it's easier to see under the sink and in the corner cabinets.

I have refinished cabinets and restained them also. The doors and drawers can be done in the shop. I removed any cabinets I could and did them in the shop. The remaining I used a epoxy paint remover to strip the reset. If the cabinets are factory made then the finish is harder to get off then regular paint. Just takes time and patience. After removal of all the finish then sand everything to 180 or 220. At this point you can either use a dark stain or a dye.

I would experiment on the vanity first. Worse case is you hate what you have done and have to redo it or just buy a new one. If you have more then one bath then I would remove it and do the work in the shop.

[Dennis Peacock]

Carrie,

I can't really add anything to what John already stated. Just remember, this is quiet a project and will require patience and lots of hand work. The rewards will be very high though. :D