You must strip off the old paint before staining and depending on how many cabinets you have this may take you two weekends to complete.
Can you gel stain painted cabinets.
Stained cabinets guide compares paint and stain for kitchen and bathroom cabinets including pros cons costs and types like gel stain or white paint.
Work in small sections to prevent excess gel stain from drying on your cabinet s surface before you can wipe it away.
Gel stain is also used for faux finishing and glazing.
There are some drawbacks though.
Diy projects are still the rage these days.
I watched youtube videos i read blogs and i realized that the results were spectacular and that very easily i could achieve this amazing dark java look.
Gel stain comes in many colors and the thicker the stains the better.
A gel stain is a great way to bring outdated or worn cabinets up to date.
Gel stain is formulated more like paint than traditional stain.
You may be wondering how to use gel stain on your cabinets like i did and become overwhelmed by all the tutorials out there.
You can combine colors by staining your cabinets in one shade and applying a different shade of stain after the first coat dries.
For example it s difficult to get out once it s on and the gel color may look lighter than you intended.
Like paint gel stain coats the surface instead of penetrating it.
It s not the style i would pick but they re good quality they suit the house and with the paint and gel stain and hardware i am really happy with how the whole thing looks.
Find out which is better for the grade or type of wood like oak cedar and mahogany.
It s primarily used on wood although it can be used on other surfaces including fiberglass and metal.
Gel stain dries quickly.
Pre installed cabinets will suffer fewer drips drops and messes when you re working with the peanut buttery consistency of gel stain as opposed to the thin liquid you d be dealing with.
You should be aware however that this is a tedious project.
With the oak cabinets the grain was very evident post staining.
More so now than ever with costs of labor so high.
While gel stain does go on thick and sit on the surface of the wood i found that you can still see and feel the natural wood grain beneath unlike paint.
You can paint wood cabinets and if you do.
Gel stain will not require you to sand the product to a raw wood finish.