Start with the methylene chloride stripper to remove the lacquer. You'll need lots of steel wool and heavy duty gloves.

All the old finish must be removed to use stain.

I wonder if a faux painting technique and varnish might be much easier. Kind of like a dark milk painting idea.

Have either of you ever heard of the product Klean strip liquid sandpaper? Wonder if that would remove the old finish?

That product is not a finish remover. It is supposed to degloss the finish so a fresh coat of paint will stick. Never tried it, never will. I already have mastered the use of real sandpaper. If you were going to paint instead of stain the chairs, I would recommend roughing the surface with sandpaper and skipping the liquid stuff.

I've used Klean strip premium with Methylene chloride. Thats the stuff you need to get down to bare wood.

Strip off the old finish....and Klean Strip is probably a good product...other products may be cheaper or smell better....but take the table outside and get it down to bare wood.
It just occurred to me....the top isn't a laminate is it? Hope not.
Then flip the table over and start experimenting with stains on the underside of the table top....when you find a color you like, flip the table back and stain it all over....let dry and apply your finish.
If you want a hard wearing kitchen table...I rec ommend poly...if you want something that will show wear....you can use a paste wax over the stain....but be aware that if you wax it you can't change your mind and apply a finish over the wax.
Linda C

Do not forget to finish all sides of all the wood, but especially the top.

Finishing only one side is a recipe for warping as the humidity changes between heating and cooling seasons.

It can even cause the top to split.

So much advice, thank you all so much!

I live in Florida so we don't really go through a heating/cooling period. And the table wasn't finished on the underside of the table before, it's 6 years old, and hasn't split yet so I am only doing the one side.

Here is what we did. Took the table outside and sanded it with a 1/3" sheet sander we bought for $20. Best $20 I ever spent. Sanded the top which took us 2 hours to get to bare wood and then go over with a fine grade sandpaper. Was so easy. After sanding we wiped it down with a damp cloth and let dry for an hour. We stained the wood and let it dry over night. The following day we deglossed the legs and painted them black. We also applied 1 coat of poly. Let the poly fully dry, I think it was like 4 hours, then applied another coat of poly. I found that the poly gave a slightly gritty texture. Is this normal?