A DIY Kitchen Makeover

I have had a few people ask me if we painted our cupboards, and the answer is no we did not. We stained the using a gel stain. We knew that painting them would not look as nice so I researched tons and thought that gel stain was the best option for us.

We used General Finishes Java Gel Stain (A quart was plenty for our kitchen). We bought it off of Amazon because it isn't sold in any stores around us. You will also need gloves, socks or foam brushes, tape, sand paper, a drill, and a clear stain polyurethane top coat (don't do glossy or it will be too shiny).

Begin by taking off your cabinet doors (it just makes life easier not to do it with them hanging) and lightly sand over everything. You're just sanding enough to rough it up but not enough to take off or do much to the old finish. Then you wash off your cabinets and tape off everything. And tape it off well.We had to repaint a door frame because my taping job wasn't as good as we thought it was.

Now comes the scary part. Putting on the first stroke of stain is terrifying, but you have to have faith for the rest of the project.

After 1 coat of stain.

Apply a thin coat of the stain going with the grain of the wood and then let it dry for at least 12 hours. The longer drying time the better. I think we waited 24 hours because of our schedules. It will look like crap and you will wonder what the heck you're doing, but it gets better. 

Still streaky after 2 coats of stain. 

Once it is dry, and you can tell by feeling it when it is, apply a second coat. If you apply it too early your second coat will seem to take off some of the first coat and you will end up extremely frustrated.  Let your second coat dry at least 24 hours, but once again the longer the better. 

Your third coat will make you feel a lot better. Our third coat covered mostly everything, but being that we wanted a very uniform look we did a fourth coat as well that was mainly touch ups. 

Once again wait at least 24 hours before applying the finish, but you're better off waiting at least 48 hours to give the stain time to really set. The finish is a lot runnier, and it will take all of the stain off if isn't completely dry so be patient. We did two coats of stain in most places and three coats in the places that would have more wear and tear. Like by the sink for example. 

We used a 'fast drying' finish and we were able to hang our cupboard doors up, and had a kitchen again the next day.

While it looks black in pictures it is actually a deep brown in person.

TIPS:

- Expect to be without a kitchen for at least a week.

- Be patient.

- It takes at least three coats to get the dark rich color so don't freak out too much after the first two coats.

- Stain will come off of things when its still wet with a magic eraser. It's a lot harder to get off once it is dry.

- Use cooking oil to get stain off your hands. It's an oil based stain so soap and water won't do much.

- We live in a drier climate so if you live where it is more humid you might need to let each coat dry longer. 

- I preferred the sock for most of the project while my husband liked using the foam brush better. Use whatever works best for you.

Costs breakdown:

Stain $25ish

Polyurethane $12

Foam brushes $4

Tape $1
Knobs $45
Sand paper $3

TOTAL: $90

That's a brand new kitchen for 90 dollars! And if you're old knobs will work with your new cabinets or if you want to spray paint your old knobs then it could cost you half that much.