We recently finished up an interesting project. Our clients had cabinets that were golden oak, and it would’ve cost thousands of dollars to replace their vanities and woodwork. They decided to refinish rather than replace. They had a previous contractor come in and re-stain their existing bathroom vanities and surrounding woodwork. Unfortunately, the process they used left a lot of splotches and streaks. Our clients were very unhappy with the finished product.
We used a different approach to refinish the cabinets. Instead of staining over the existing stain and finish, we completely removed all the existing finish and stain. We used a specialty Festool sander that could get into tight places and would aggressively remove the finish. This sander hooked up to a HEPA vacuum which really kept the dust down in the work space. We purchased our stain through Sherwin Williams and stained all the cabinets and woodwork to match our customers’ specifications. We then sprayed a sealer and finish onto all the cabinetry and surrounding woodwork to complete the process.
Refinishing golden oak is a great way to update cabinets that are in good condition but are dated in appearance. You can see a couple other examples on our blog here: a kitchen and another bathroom.
The finished product looks great as I am trying to do something like that with the cabinets I have. I think mine will just be a refinish and stain which is similar to what you guys did. Also, since I have never done something like this before, do you think it would be a good idea to get someone to do it for me?