Staining Kitchen Cabinets... Handyman question...?

[gate_pourri]

I am thinking about staining my kitchen cabinets this weekend, but am getting mixed information online. Am hoping some handy dis guys (or girls) might be able to help me. I am not terribly handy, but I have successfully painted a few things recently (I painted a door last weekend that looks pretty decent), so I hope I am not biting off more than I can handle. I have a pretty small 'high-rise condo' kitchen, so there aren't a ton of cabinets.

Anyway, onto my questions: This link http://www.onlinetips.org/how-to-stain-kitchen-cabinets mentions that if you are going a darker color stain than the cabinets are currently stained, you don't need to remove the stain first. It doesn't really explain if I need to sand the cabinets if I am going with a darker stain color. The Sherwin-Williams staining website says "To preserve that glowing quality wood gets with age, we suggest you not sand refinished wood." http://www.sherwin-williams.com/do_i...ring/index.jsp

So.. do I need to sand these cabinets first or not? Do I need to remove the old stain first? Do I need to prime? Or do I just go straight into the first coat of prime?

Thx!

[laurafergie]

Are your cabinets shiny? Then they may have coats of polyurenthane (sp?) and then you would need to sand quite a bit.

If the cabinets were just treated with tung oil, then you can just sand lightly with a very fine grit sandpaper, clean well, and stain away.

If possible, try stain in a hidden area. Staining over another color will get you a different result than the sample.

[BunsenH]

Stain works by penetrating into the wood. Your cabinets need to be completely free of finish (poly, acrylic, varnish, etc.) for the stain to evenly change the color of the wood.

You can consider a finish with a stain mixed in. This will not give as professional a look, but may better match your skills, time, and expectations.

Check out: http://www.minwax.com/products/one_s...olyshades.html

Good luck!

[2kidsnutsfordisney]

Ok I am not a super handy girl but I did manage to stain our kitchen cabinets a darker color about a year ago with much success! I did not strip the original stain but I did lightly sand them. Lightly sanding for me means to take off the clear coat and get enough dust that you have to wipe them down with a damp cloth. After they dried I applied a darker stain (original cabinets were golden oak and I put on a provincial color over the oak). I did have a couple of spots where the original stain was almost gone due to sun fading so I applied the golden oak before the darker to make it consistent with everything else. I applied the stain with those disposable sponge brushes that have a white handle and black sponge. I think I only did one coat as I wanted them darker but not too dark.

After they dried I then applied a spray clear coat protector. I did not want the high gloss that we had before so I did a satin finish and did one coat. I pretty much did the entire kitchen by myself and it probably took about 1 week from start to finish.

If I knew how to post a pic I would show you how they turned out The most time consuming part was the sanding. For the flat surfaces I used a small hand sander and for more tight places I used one of those blocks that you can find at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Give it try it is really not as difficult as you might think