new finishes on Kitchen cabinets

[John Gregory]

When looking around Lowes or Home Deport at the example finishes, you see where a glaze may be used, but how to you color the glaze? For example I saw a door with the color description as Cherry Chocolate. Do you use a clear glaze and add color? What kind of product do you color the glaze with? Are there precolored glazes? Or am I totally off track and they do some other method?

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

There is clear glaze available that you can tint or you can, I believe, buy pre-tinited products. Suggest you speak to a "real" paint/finish store, such as SW, BM, MAB, etc. or Homestead Finishing.

[Sam Yerardi]

John,

Bob Flexner has written a lot about this. Flenxer writes: A glaze is merely a stain that is so thick it stays put where you apply it such as on a vertical surface. It is the act of applying color over a sealed surface and it comes in many different forms. Gel stain can be used as a glaze. Glazes are either oil-based or water-based. Glazing is not applied to bare wood. If you apply it to bare wood, you may be using what you would use for glazing but you're actually just staining. A lot of different materials can be used for glazing. Glazing is the additional coat for coloring over a sealed surface but under the final topcoat. The nice thing about glazing is you can try it and if you don't like it you can just wipe it off without damaging the finish. Research the articles that Bob Flexner, Chris Minick, Michael Desdner, and Jeff Jewitt have written in Fine Woodworking and Popular Woodworking. Also, check out Flexner's books. A ton of good reliable information that more often than not is better than what you'll get from the vendor. By the way, Jewitt is the owner of Homestead Finishing.

[Jamie Buxton]

Why the heck do you want to put that stuff on beautiful wood? I can understand factories wanting to use stains and toners and glazes. They want their cabinets to all look identical regardless of the wood underneath or even poor craftsmanship. Wood, natural wood, is much more beautiful than all that paint. Buy good wood, build good cabinets with it, and show it off in all its glory!

[John Gregory]

It is not us wanting to, but my SIL. My wife and I are more prone to more traditional finishes on real wood products. That is why we have no experience with the new fadish colors and finishes.


Why the heck do you want to put that stuff on beautiful wood? I can understand factories wanting to use stains and toners and glazes. They want their cabinets to all look identical regardless of the wood underneath or even poor craftsmanship. Wood, natural wood, is much more beautiful than all that paint. Buy good wood, build good cabinets with it, and show it off in all its glory!

[Jamie Buxton]

It is not us wanting to, but my SIL. My wife and I are more prone to more traditional finishes on real wood products. That is why we have no experience with the new fadish colors and finishes.

My apologies, John. I should have known that somebody who reads this board would be a wood-lover. In-laws -- well, there's no accounting sometimes.

[Jim Becker]

Do keep in mind that glazes can be useful even if you are a dedicated wood lover...to darken the inside of profiles and enhance the look of aging, for example. In fact, the railings and newels on the stairway in our new addition will be darkened slightly using a glaze to provide some contrast. But I, too, wouldn't slather a whole piece in the stuff...nor use a gel stain on something like cherry. :)