My kitchen cabinets are about 15 years old. The frames and doors
are solid wood (oak?) although the end panels appear to be veneered
plywood. They were apparently finished with an oil-based poly and
do have an ambered appearance.

The doors are in pretty good shape -- a few have some grease marks
and water stains mainly along the top edge. In a few cases, the
old poly has flaked off.

The frames are structurally great but the finish is in poor shape
with a lot of flaking.

I'd like to give them a makeover but stripping or sanding the
entire surface area down to bare wood is daunting. Therefore,
I'm considering a hybrid approach and would welcome any comments
or suggestions.

Frames:
1. Clean to remove all grease
2. Sand to bare wood
3. Stain? A quick test (few square inches) suggests this may
not be necessary for a decent match. But perhaps it will
help the appearance and give a better bonding surface for
the poly?
4. Apply 3 coats of Minwax Polycrylic Gloss
5. Lightly sand -- I'll probably use one of those scotchbright things
6. Apply 1 coat of Minwax Polycrylic Satin

Doors:
1. Use a "deglosser" product to clean/etch the surface
2. Apply 1 coat of Minwax Polycrylic Gloss
3. Lightly sand -- I'll probably use one of those scotchbright things
4. Apply 1 coat of Minwax Polycrylic Satin

An oil based poly may be slightly more durable but the Minwax
product seems almost as good and a *lot* more convenient.

Obviously, there's potential for a mismatch between the doors and
the frames. I can certainly live with that if it's minor.

Comments and suggestions much appreciated.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
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