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I may be jumping the gun here a bit, but play along.
My husband and I are in a bidding war on this house that we love. They have new homemade cabinets (oak) in the kitchen. They haven't been stained/sealed. What would be the easiest (and less messy) way for me to take care of these? Do I have to take them off the wall or can I do it with them up there? I am clueless!!!
For an updated look, I'd paint them black - some friends redid their kitchen and ran out of money when they got to the cupboards - they painted them black and they looked really great - contemporary, updated and neutral. You should take the doors and hardware off and place painter's tape between your cabinets that adjoin a wall or ceiling so that you don't get paint where you don't want it.
Black and chrome looks terribly "modern" in a kitchen these days, similar to a "pro" kitchen look.
The height of fashion over style for a residential kitchen.
And it will be extremely difficult to redo when that "look" falls out of fashion. It certainly isn't a "warm" and inviting look for a major room in the house.
Staining the wood is easy. Head over to your hardware store and get a pint of minwax or comparable stain and filler for your oak cabinets. You can apply it easily with a brush and use "painter's rags" (scrap cotton fabric) to wipe off the excess and control the color saturation. Only do a cabinet at a time until you are comfortable with the process. Wear gloves and eye protection, and use dropclothes on the counter and floor adjacent to protect them.
Finish the cabinets with a polyurethane clear coat. Quick drying, use 2-3 coats as needed to seal and protect the surfaces. More thin coats are better than a thick one.
You can undo the cabinet doors for easier access, but it's not always needed to get good results.
We just renovated a kitchen. We had raw oak cabinets and we gave them a light sanding then put clear poly on them. It brought out the natural beauty of the wood.
Location: Sometimes Maryland, sometimes NoVA. Depends on the day of the week
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My old boss made his own cherry cabinets. He only uses poly on them, but something like 7 coats, sanding them down with steel wool between coats. Make sure you use several coats of poly since they will be used so much and subject to spills.
Proceed with caution. Make absolutely sure that all the wood is the same type.
If the doors are real oak, and the part they rest against is a softer wood, the softer wood will absorb the stain more readily and it will be darker than the doors. Yes, I did learn this the hard way, although I wasn't dealing with any oak.
Black and chrome looks terribly "modern" in a kitchen these days, similar to a "pro" kitchen look.
The height of fashion over style for a residential kitchen.
And it will be extremely difficult to redo when that "look" falls out of fashion. It certainly isn't a "warm" and inviting look for a major room in the house.
Staining the wood is easy. Head over to your hardware store and get a pint of minwax or comparable stain and filler for your oak cabinets. You can apply it easily with a brush and use "painter's rags" (scrap cotton fabric) to wipe off the excess and control the color saturation. Only do a cabinet at a time until you are comfortable with the process. Wear gloves and eye protection, and use dropclothes on the counter and floor adjacent to protect them.
Finish the cabinets with a polyurethane clear coat. Quick drying, use 2-3 coats as needed to seal and protect the surfaces. More thin coats are better than a thick one.
You can undo the cabinet doors for easier access, but it's not always needed to get good results.
Take off the doors first. You get a better job. Cabinets can stay on the walls. Be careful trying to stain some oaks. They can suck up the stain far more than normally believed for a hard wood, use just a tad at first. I like to just apply with a rag, then wipe with another rag.
Don't use those stains with the poly already in them. I like one coat of quick drying poly and then coats of wiping poly, looks better.
I have to stain my cabinets in a house rehab. Got them stripped and sanded, doors off, will replace the hardware. Will do the same advice given here. Skipping the stain can be a good option, some hard woods look super natural or you can go with a lighter stain and work with a number of coats that dry between each to get exactly the depth desired.
I agree, painted cabinets are horrible. For cheaper models or if you really need in a particular design. Painted anything looks worse over time. Natural finishes look better as they age.
I like to do the doors laying flat down, back sides first, eliminates chances for drips, poly tends to "Self Level". Less poly each coat is better than more.
Sunsprit - the kitchen I was referring to was not high tech nor did it have stainless appliances - they had used taupes, warm cream, and warm golds along with black - the granite had those colors also - very warm and updated but homey. I think light stained oak cabinets are very dated looking but maybe that is just me. If you don't want to paint the cabinets black, you could certainly stain them black and let the wood grain show through....I would definitely use a dark stain of some kind...but if you want a country, 80's look, I think light oak cabinets would work fine.
We are looking at doing the same thing with our PICKLED oak cabinets. I found this website that sells some specialized varnishes and stains and they too have a great message board with people who have used the products and to ask questions about specific woods and stains and such. One of their products, Stain N Varnish, seems like a really cool product as it avoids a lot of stripping, apparently. Hopefully this will help you!
Sunsprit - the kitchen I was referring to was not high tech nor did it have stainless appliances - they had used taupes, warm cream, and warm golds along with black - the granite had those colors also - very warm and updated but homey.
In the decorating trade, such a large combination of colors is referred to as a "doll house".
I'll bet the expanse of black painted cabinets dominated the visual impact of the place. And also made appropriate task and area lighting a challenge to overcome.
For the same reason that a home with modest neutral colors will outsell a combination of strong decorator colors in the latest fashion statement.
It may look good for a time being and the owner may enjoy it, but the appeal is limited. Natural woods are a timeless classic, and will have a universal appeal today and tomorrow ... that's style.
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Yeah I like this advice
