DIYbanter - Can I refinish kitchen cabinets myself?

In article , Scott Simpson wrote:
I got an estimate and it was extremely expensive.

It's *very* labor intensive.

Don't you just apply stripper and then relaquer? That doesn't sound
that hard. Can I do it myself?

Yes, you can do it yourself. It's a little more involved than
you suggest but it's not a complicated job -- just very time
consuming.

You'll need to remove the old finish and prepare the
surface with some combination of stripping and sanding.

You may want to apply sanding sealer and/or a stain.

Then you'll apply several coats of a new finish. Polyurethane
with a foam brush is a pretty good method for a DIY job.
Laquers are typically sprayed but that takes some equipment
and practice -- probably best left for the pro's.

The process I used on my cabinets:

1. Sand down to bare wood (I tried stripper but it wasn't
any faster or easier).

2. Apply 4 coats of gloss oil-based poly with a foam brush,
lightly sanding with 400 grit between coats.

3. Degloss the final coat with 0000 steel wool and a little
wax.

You might want to carry out a test run on an inconspicuous
area, like the inside of a cabinet door, just to ensure
the final effect meets with your approval. Also, you *will*
make some (hopefully non-fatal) minor errors and develop
your technique.

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