Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing

Almost every cabinet door or drawer front in the kitchens and bathrooms had water damage due to poor initial finish application. The cabinets were less than 5 years old and custom made by another firm which has since gone out of business. The doors and drawer fronts in front of the main sink were so badly damaged that I had to remove them and take them to my shop for refinishing and re-banding. I have included before and after pictures above. As shown above, some of the damage was so severe that the banded edges of the doors and drawer fronts had separated. A good deal of experimentation had to be done to exactly match the color of the maple veneered fronts. This was finally accomplished by first coating the surfaces with a button shellac polish followed by several coats of hand applied General Finishes Gel Topcoat satin urethane. The gel finish forms a more robust finish with fewer coats. In addition, I had to make a panel to cover an unfinished end of a bathroom cabinet. The finish had to be matched to the cherry stain on the cabinet. I was able to find an oil based warm cherry stain that matched extremely well. Again, the panel was coated with General Finishes Gel Topcoat satin urethane.The panel was glued in place with a panel glue similar to Liquid Nails. A good deal of time was spent on the job sanding and refinishing smaller water damaged kitchen and bathroom cabinets. At the owner's request, I added a strong very thin plastic to the inside of the partial drawers just under the sink. These drawers hold dish washing materials (e.g., plastic scrubbers and steel wool). I was able to secure this material from a sign maker who has a shop in the same building as mine.