Cabinet Refinishing - DIY ?

[Mrs. Shae]

has anyone refinished [not re-painted] their kitchen cabinets?

i am mostly fine with my kitchen ... but am making some changes [paint, appliances, knobs/hinges] ... with changing out the hardware on the existing cabinets ... i am wanting to have the faces sanded and revarnished[?] ... not painted ... the current finish is just a dull clear coat which is fine with me ...

i have access to a painter [crew] who is going to do a bunch of other painting in my house [in exchange for bookkeeping services] ... but just found out that the work on my cabinets isn't something that he [or his crew] is interested in due to the time that it consumed ...

i just finished removing all of my cabinet doors [needed the hinges removed as i am having them replated] and am wondering ... should i just tackle this myself? ... there were 27 cabinet doors ... the remaining cabinet faces are very minimal ... i know they need sanding to prep and then the finish ...

am i crazy to consider this? ... has anyone else done it? ...

[Melissa]

I haven't personally, but my dad did and it is time consuming. He sanded down the doors, re-varnished them, etc... They looked wonderful, but it just took so darn long. Also, he re-varnished the areas around the door so that they matched. If you have the time, I don't see why not, but know it will take a lot of time.

[Eva]

Funny you should ask since we will be redoing our bathroom cabinet today. Since it is just the bathroom it shouldn't be that hard or time consuming.

We had our kitchen done 2 years ago but we had them done professionally. They came in took all our doors and did them at their place and then came in and sprayed the base with laquor finishing. They look amazing.

[Mrs. Shae]

Melissa ~ i have the time ... somewhat ... since it's light longer ... we can work on it a bit in the evenings ... and anytime we have on the weekends ... doing the cabinet faces is gonna be a biotch i think ... since i will have to remove everything from the cabinets [or cover it up] :dead:

Eva ~ let me know how your bathroom cabinet goes today ... i just measured and it looks like we have about 50 LF of cabinets :eek:

hubby is up for the job [at least right now :lol: ] so we just might attempt it ... going to take one of the doors to Lowes tomorrow and ask the helpful paint person what they would recommend we get ... today is "clean out the garage day" ... to make room to attempt the cabinet doors ...

[Karly]

I have not refinished cabinets, but I did refinish my bed and dresser one summer. It was time consuming, but the end result was so worth it! I always look back on that time as a wonderful summer of special time I spent with my dad (who helpled me strip, sand and varnish the wood).

I did repaint my kitchen cabinets once though. Not so fun.