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I have darkened 1990's golden oak cabinets and furniture successfully. It involves gel stain applied with a brush. There is no stripping involved, just some good cleaning and scuff sanding. I prefer General Finishes gel stain or Old Masters over the minwax crud they sell at HD. (The minwax dried WAY too fast and wasn't consistent). Gel staining is different than other staining, it's not so much about wiping off. It's more like glazing and building up the product.
You can get these products at woodworking stores or some old-school hardware stores still carry them. You may have to dilute them with mineral spirits a bit to get a consistency and color depth you like. Allow proper drying time, top with a wipe-on poly and call it done! ( General Finishes Arm-R-Seal is a great one. No water rings or cloudiness.)
If you have a Habitat for Humanity Re-store in your city, they sell old cabinet doors for a couple of bucks. I used these to practice first and it was great for getting the hang of it.
As for the fake-y panels on the side, a clear primer called PrimeEtch can be applied first and ANYTHING will stick to it. I have used that product to paint tile and it stuck! It's from a company called Faux Effects. I don't remember the website, but I'm sure you could find it online. They don't sell it in stores to my knowledge.
No, I'm sorry, I sure don't. They were in my parents old house that they sold.
However, we recently moved to a new house and my cabinets are golden-oak and I will be gel staining them soon!
If you search images for "gel stain oak cabinets" the first image that comes up from "that home site" looks almost exactly like my result. It's a dark java color.
I chose to do mine quite dark, but if you wanted it lighter you certainly could with a cherry gel stain, etc.
(DesertSun, I know you are right about quality cabinets being the best way to go - but sometimes $40 in materials and a weekend is all we can afford right now. Please don't fuss at me. LOL)
No, I'm sorry, I sure don't. They were in my parents old house that they sold.
However, we recently moved to a new house and my cabinets are golden-oak and I will be gel staining them soon!
If you search images for "gel stain oak cabinets" the first image that comes up from "that home site" looks almost exactly like my result. It's a dark java color.
I chose to do mine quite dark, but if you wanted it lighter you certainly could with a cherry gel stain, etc.
(DesertSun, I know you are right about quality cabinets being the best way to go - but sometimes $40 in materials and a weekend is all we can afford right now. Please don't fuss at me. LOL)
Did it really only take a weekend of work? How many cabinets did you do? Did you remove doors or just stain them hung?
It really only took a weekend. My Dad did help some, though.
It was a smallish kitchen - the house was 1700 sq feet if that tells you anything.
Yes, I removed the doors first. It's so hard to get a decent finish trying to go around hinges!
One tip -we bought these little 2 inch tall pyramid plastic things (how's that for a technical name? LOL) in the paint department, to place the cabinet doors upon.
(It allows you to lift them off the ground.) They dry quickly and you can flip them over more quickly to do both sides!
I did not redo the insides of the cabinets. That would have taken much longer! I may do the insides on my own house, though. HTH.
Did you stain over the veneer on the ends of the cabinets or what did you do there? We have 1/4" veneer on the ends of the cabinets-do you just scuff those up and stain as well or did you add new?
I have honey oak cabinets, actually they are the ones from Armstrong. We would like to change our kitchen around a little bit by changing the color of the cabinets. Ideally we would love to do a WHOLE makeover, but unfortunately at this point in time it is not in the budget, so we will have to stick with just re-staining the cabinets. The new cabinets these days all have a glaze on them, chocolate, amber, onyx, etc and I really like the way it makes the wood look. However, I have been all over the place, and nobody seems to know what I am talking about on these glazes, so I don't know how to purchase it or where.
I want a dark stain that will cover up most of the grains of the oak. I really don't care for them. Any suggestions on color, style or technique? I would like to post a picture of our kitchen because we don't want the cabinets to end up the same shade as the floor, would like a bit more contrast, but don't want to go too dark on the cabinets and then make the room too dark. Don't get me wrong, the espresso looks beautiful, but where we have black appliances I think it would make the room too dark. I could be wrong.
So, how does one go about uploading a picture to get some feedback and show what we are dealing with and get some ideas? Also in the meantime if anyone can tell me where to get some glaze, I was thinking maybe chocolate covered so I could practice glazing and staining in the meantime, that would be great.
I cannot remember the product I used, but couldn't get it at one of the big box stores. I found the brand here on City Data so you might want to try researching past threads on this topic. The store I found this great gel-stain had many different kinds of glazes, too. So if you go to a specialized store ... maybe one that sells unfinished furniture or a good paint store, you will find what you need.
Did you do anything to your cabinets? I have the same boring oaks and wanted to stain them but then I found out that the sides are particle boards. I am not sure what the doors are made of. I think the frames could be real oak but the faces might be particle boards with laminates.
Did you do anything to your cabinets? I have the same boring oaks and wanted to stain them but then I found out that the sides are particle boards. I am not sure what the doors are made of. I think the frames could be real oak but the faces might be particle boards with laminates.
Gel-staining would work on those, too. I did it over white cabinets....look like dark wood stain. They have held up quite well.
Are you saying that gel-staining will give me the same result on laminates and oaks? Do I need to sand first? I am not sure how thick the laminates are.
Thanks,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squirl
Gel-staining would work on those, too. I did it over white cabinets....look like dark wood stain. They have held up quite well.
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