How to Stain or Restain Kitchen Cabinets: A Concise Guide

Whether you’re staining your kitchen cabinets for the first time or you’ve decided that you need to re-stain what’s already there, it’s important that you know how to do it properly. Here are a few tips on how to stain or how to re-stain cabinets correctly.

Before You Start

Before jumping right in and staining the cabinets, there are a few quick and easy steps you need to take. First, you need to figure out what kind of stain to use. If it’s the first time these cabinets have been stained, then your options are wide open. All you’ll need to consider is the aesthetic of your kitchen and decide what you want before purchasing anything.

If your cabinets have been stained before and you’re re-staining them, the stain will either have to be within the same range as the first color or darker. You don’t necessarily have to sand off all of the previous stains, either. The pre-existing stain will blend with the new one, but it's usually best to sand off at least the first layer.

Safety Concerns

Then there are the safety considerations that you have to make. When sanding, painting, or staining, you should always work in a well-ventilated area so that you aren’t breathing in the fumes, wood dust, and stain particles that may linger in the air for hours. If possible, remove the cabinet doors, and drawers. etc. and take them outside to work on.

Clean the cabinet surfaces you’ll be staining, too. This can be done by wiping them down with a warm, damp rag. Problem areas may need a deeper cleaning.

Preparing and Applying the Cabinet Stain

Before applying the stain to the cabinets, apply a coat of a 50-50 mixture of wood conditioner and denatured alcohol. Then, just like you would if you were using paint, you need to prepare the stain before applying it to your cabinets. Using a wooden stir stick, thoroughly mix the stain in the can. If there are any lumps or solids at the bottom of the can, be sure to pull them up and mix them in, as well.

You can apply the stain with a paintbrush. The stiffness of the bristles and the size of the brush you use will depend on the type of wood your cabinet is made of and its specific design. When applying the stain, do not saturate the brush with it. Instead, only dip the tip of the bristles in the stain. This gives you more control over where the stain will go and decreases the risk of it dripping. Apply stain to the textured or beveled areas first, working your way outward from there.

Varnish

After you’ve applied the desired number of stain coats, set the pieces aside to dry. They must be dried completely before doing anything else with them. Once that’s done, they should be sealed with a protective polyurethane varnish to ensure that the stain will last. You can apply the varnish using a similar process to the stain, in a dust-free area so you don’t end up with blemishes in the finish.