Sprucing up old kitchen cabinets (but not refurbishing or refinishing) (hardwood, painting)

[scrapper105]

Hi there -

I'm active on the Colorado and Maryland forums but am new to this one.

I have a 1930s house with gorgeous hardwood kitchen cabinets from the 1960s. They are structurally in great shape but are covered in scratches in several area from 2 dogs that we used to have.

I'd like to spruce them up a bit, but not necessarily refinish them or refurbish them.

I *think* that what I should do is:
1. remove hardware and take off doors
2. clean them using a light concentration of a degreaser cleaner (sodium triphosphate or something similar ?)
3. use one of those furniture markers to repair the scratches (although there are a LOT of scratches)
4. apply some sort of glaze or gloss to make the color uniform ?
5. apply some sort of wax or poly to make them shiny again ?
6. re-apply new hardware

Would greatly appreciate any advice or comments. Most of the information I've found out on the internet involves a thorough refinishing.

[Grettastone]

Sounds about right.There is this product that I recently tried with awesome results called Restor A Finish.I bought mine at the Antique Shop where I have a booth.You can probley go online and order.It comes in several natural wood colors.Its not a typical stain it really covers up everything and makes your wood look just finished.All it takes to apply is a rag.No streaks to worry about or overlaping color.Its crazy simple.I recently refinished a old cabinet thats original finish was almost gone.It looked beautiful in just a couple hours,and I sold the cabinet within a week or so later.
A little goes along way.I still have quite a bit left from a 7.50 can.
Hope this might help save you time and money with a great look....

[desertsun41]

My friend if your kitchen is from the 60s I'm afraid it's not as good as you claim. Not because you don't know, but because most people hear the words "new kitchen" and dollar signs can be seen in their eye pupils. So they try and escape the inevitable by researching refacing and painting.

Painting cabinets looks horrendous. That's not my opinion or anyone elses. That's a fact. Refacing is like putting a brand new clean pressed suit onto a dirty unwashed man wearing dirty sneakers and soiled underwear. You ever hear Mechanics say if you just change the 4 quarts of oil and not change the filter holding 1 quart, you still have 5 quarts of dirty oil.

Refacing is always more expensive then replacing. In your case I'll suggest buying new doors. There is a couple threads on replacing cabinet doors only still on top of the list in this forum with some tips. You can buy doors only that mimic your wonderful old home. You can even get them prefinished with a solid baked on enamel and all you have to worry about are the box carcases.

Good luck

[K'ledgeBldr]

A little/lot of this-
Home
And some new hardware, done!

I've used Briwax on many wood projects, love the results and the protection it provides.

[JanND]

Old English scratch cover furniture polish works great.