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gwer2007

S/O: re-staining vs. re-painting cabs

eleena
11 years ago

This is a spin-off from the "Why are all the local KDs down on painted cabinets?" thread.

I know it has been discussed many-many times but I am still unclear on the effort involved in re-staining vs. re-painting.

In our previous house, which was built in 1960 and had only one original owner before us, there was a LOT of woodwork, all of which (except for some doors) was pine with clear (I presume) varnish (like in Don & Betty's kitchen in Mad Men TV show).

The wood itself was in good shape as the owners took care of the house but the varnish was old and had yellowed. I was told that in order to renew it, I had to strip the coating off, sand the wood and apply new coating, so it'd be a lot of work and - therefore - expensive.

We never got to it as you had to move but I was dead set against wood cabinets ever since.

In our current house, ALL woodwork was painted - as well as in all the other houses I have seen in our sub-division where the houses range from $200K to $1M+. We don't live in Silicon Valley and I am mentioning the prices just to say that these are rather "higher-end" (though not the highest) houses for the area.

We have had most of the trims/moldings as well as bathroom and closet cabinets re-painted. It was quite easy and looks good (IMHO but other people said that too).

We had a lot of "fighting" with our KD who wanted wood cabs in the kitchen but I was adamant they should be painted. She listed all the reasons as posters on the above mentioned thread who advocated wood. I was insisting on painting b/c I did not want to mess with re-staining down the road when we have to sell the house. Our remodel did not happen then and I am still deciding on the finish.

If I understand correctly, the experts here are saying that it is NOT easy to do a good paint job on cabinets, even if there is no factory applied glaze, and I do not understand why.

Could you elaborate a little more?

Also, other people are saying they re-stained theirs quite easily. What gives? Are the new stains/varnishes different from the old ones? Don't you have to strip them?

Though paint-grade cabs are cheaper, I am not worried about the up-front cost as much as what it'd take to refresh them when selling in (possibly) 15 years. The last thing I want is to have to replace all the cabinets then, so I'd rather invest now.

I'd really appreciate an explanation about re-staining vs. re-painting.

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