Step by step cabinet refinishing
I’m sharing how I did this as a professional refinisher for several decades, to help you plan your own refinishing projects using a HVLP spray system. Kitchen cabinet doors and drawers should be taken off so they can be refinished in a garage or any other suitable location. The frames can be refinished without being taken down, after careful masking. Starting below with a “before” picture….
Kitchen before starting the project.
The cabinets had been painted with a paint brush over dark oak wood.
step 1 cabinet finishing: removing doors
Step One: Removing doors, masking kitchen. The first day I am removing the old doors, (they will be replaced with new ones that have already been ordered) and I am masking the entire kitchen protecting the insides of the cabinets, the walls around the cabinets, the countertops and the floor.
All exposed surfaces not to be refinished are now masked and protected.
Stripping off old paint and old clear finish
Step 2: Stripping off old finishes. In this picture on the second day I have started stripping with chemical stripper. I am removing the paint and old clear finish that was below the paint, an all day process.
Letting the stripped cabinet frame exteriors dry overnight
Step 3: Let stripped wood dry overnight. At the end of the second day all the cabinet frame exteriors have been stripped and just have to dry over night to be ready for sanding.
Sanding the cabinet frames
Step 4: Sanding. Although the cabinet frames have been completely stripped, a lot of dark color remains and has to be sanded off to lighten the wood, you can see from the picture the lighter side in upper right that was sanded and below it the darker unsanded side.
Frames are now completely sanded.
End of third day: frames are completely sanded, and looking much lighter. There is still some of the dark color that remains in the deep grain, which will serve as an accent to the light color.
Using Fuji HVLP turbine spray system to spray sealer, then clear finish, onto cabinet frames
Step 5: Spraying on finish! (Note that this is day four; the preparation takes time but is crucial.) A sealer coat is sprayed on with my Fuji turbine spray system. The sealer upon drying is lightly sanded, then in this case a toner is sprayed on to achieve the desired color and then 3 coats of water based satin Ultrastar clear finish are sprayed on.
Sprayed finish is dry; masking is removed.
End of the fourth day: The finish has been applied and is dry, the masking has been removed — completing the refinishing process in the home.
Rebuilding drawer fronts
Step 6: Rebuilding the drawer fronts. Back in the shop I have rebuilt the drawer fronts, removing the old white fronts and replacing it with a 1/2" thick piece of wood which is fitted and glued in to serve as a base for the new drawer fronts to be screwed to.
Refinishing the cabinet doors.
Step 7: Finishing the cabinet doors. The new doors are finished in my shop, after being sealed with a clear finish and sanded lightly, a dark glaze is applied then wiped off to add some dark color to the deep grains to match the cabinet frames and then finished the same as the frames.
Drying rack for doors being refinished
Tip: Protect doors from dust after spraying them. This is one of my drying racks where doors are placed to dry. Each side is sprayed, then placed in the racks to dry before the other side is sprayed.
Hanging the refinished cabinet doors
Step 8: Hang the doors with new hidden hinges. After the doors and drawers are finished, I am back in the home hanging the doors with new hidden hinges.
Photos below show the completed cabinet refinishing project:
Closeup of refinished door sprayed with Fuji HVLP system
Closeup view of refinished drawers
I did this work as a professional, and many of my customers are professional woodworkers or refinishers. I also have many DIY customers. Check out the kitchen cabinet refinishing project one of my customers did. He was not only a DIV refinisher; he says he’d never held a spray gun before taking this on. (Spoiler: The project was a success!)