The 8 Step Guide to Refurbishing your Kitchen Cabinets

Few tips for refurbishing your kitchen cabinets

Kitchen cabinet refurbishing means giving your old, outdated cabinets a new look and feel. You start by addressing the back of the cabinets, which may involve removing a wall or cutting and replacing the wall framing. Next, you can and discard the existing doors and drawers. Finally, you install new doors, drawer fronts, and may add hinges and other fittings. Everything else remains the same: there is no need to replace the cabinet box or make other structural changes. Regardless of the reason, there are steps to run through before taking the plunge into your kitchen cabinet remodel. This article will go over some tips that I’ve picked up over years of working with refurbished cabinets.

What is the best place to refinish cabinets?

Choosing the best place to refinish cabinets will require thorough consideration. Cabinets are stressful to work with, and they may get damaged when sanding. This means that you have to find a dry, secure location in which to refinish. For example, you can choose the garage and leave the door open when renovating Cabinets.

Note: Removing dust from the garage will ensure that whatever surface you’re coating on will be cleaner and more thoroughly covered.

Things you need

  • Paintbrush
  • sander
  • Tack cloth
  • Drill(cordless preferred)
  • Gloves(preferably latex gloves)
  • Eye and ear protection
  • Paint
  • Spray gun (If you are spray-painting your cabinets)
  • TSP cleaner
  • Primer
  • mineral spirit

Instructions

how to finish your kitchen cabinets

1) Remove Kitchen Cabinets

When restoring kitchen cabinets, it is essential to remove kitchen cabinet boxes. Before removing your cabinet boxes, you need to take all the necessary steps. You need to give them more space to fit into your remodeled kitchen space without removing the existing cabinets underneath. Also, consider the location of wherever the boxes belong and ensure that they are just as accessible as possible.

Tips: Determine the possibilities of clean removal by looking for paint or caulking that links the cabinets through the surfaces. Also, before you remove the cabinet doors, look at the screws.

2) Remove Doors and Drawers

Kitchen cabinets are usually hard to disassemble. This is not necessarily a problem when purchasing new kitchen cabinets because you should remove them from the frame without too much hassle. However, if you own used kitchen cabinets, you will need a few more tricks up your sleeves. First off, remove the doors and end walls from the existing cabinets.

Using a cordless drill fitted with a driver bit, remove the screws on the hinges. With sandwich bags and an indelible marker, label each bag with the hinge’s original location. Include the screws, and be sure to remove everything from the drawers.

3) Clean Cabinets

It is necessary to clean your cabinet before you sand it, especially those old hardwood ones. If you decide to use TSP to clean it, keep in mind that it’s not just about removing stains but also promoting fresh paint. Mix trisodium phosphate (TSP) or a phosphate-free TSP substitute in warm water and a clean cabinet. Wipe off any excess TSP with a towel and then apply stain after finishing with the pre-annealed wood.

Tips: You should use latex gloves or latex-free alternatives. Avoid watering the cabinets and Allow the furniture to dry before refinishing completely.

4) Remove Fixtures

Do not put anything into a cabinet unless you have removed all of the Fixtures items from that cabinet. Remove all of the knobs, handles, cabinets, etc., that you do not intend to paint.

Note: I hate to be the one to break it to you, but some of your cabinets are more “finished” than others. If there’s paint on the cabinet doors, don’t touch it. If your backdrop is uneven (and potentially peeling/yellowing), don’t solve it by sanding/ping-ponging around it.

5) Sand Cabinets

After you have removed the fixtures, you need to do sanding using an orbital sander.

Mix and match thin layers of sandpaper (1/32″ or 3 mm) using a random orbital sander to create perfect sanding marks on every flat surface. Random Orbits have several random orbits, and they offer many styles of sandpaper for the most popular woodwork use cases. I use the average profile sandpaper (118 grit) to sand cabinets.

Note: Begin sanding at about the #100 to #150 range. Highest you can go is #220. But in a particular condition, for example, a glass-smooth surface, you can also apply #320 sandpaper. If the sander cannot reach uneven surfaces, use a foam sanding pad.

6) Clean Cabinets after sanding

Cleaning your cabinets after sanding is essential to doing an excellent job of refurbishing them. Anyone can sand down edges and corners, but if you want nice straight edges that won’t chip, you need to remove the sanding dust from the surface before moving on.

You can clean your cabinets thoroughly by using the dust cloth and hand vacuuming.

7) Finishing Cabinets

After sanding and cleaning cabinets, now is the time to finish the cabinets. That means it’s time to do the painting and staining work.

Painting: Painting your kitchen cabinets after sanding is one of the easiest ways to dramatically improve your kitchen look. By painting the wood, you are essentially re-priming it, which will soften and darken the appearance of any chips, dents, and scratches. In addition, you reduce the overall cost associated with refinishing kitchens.

Please choose the paint formulated for cabinets as not all kinds of colors go well together. Enamel or acrylic paint works best. However, do not choose latex wall paint.

Staining: For staining and finishing the cabinets, it’s best to use oil-based finishes to provide a robust and long-lasting surface. Do not use water-based products.

8) Sand between coats

Finally, You can sand between coats for a great appearance and a durable surface for refinishing wooden cabinets.

Conclusion

Refurbishing your kitchen cabinets offers a great way to re-design it with a fresh new look that will certainly make your kitchen feel like a brand-new place. There are different methods of doing it based upon the condition of your current cabinets. However, the above given are some tips for refurbishing your kitchen cabinets.

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