How To Sand Kitchen Cabinets Before Staining

In this home below the island was a dark stain and kitchen cabinets were painted a cream color.

How to sand kitchen cabinets before staining.

Always sand in the direction of the wood grain. Sanding the kitchen cabinet doors and frames is hard work but pretty straightforward. After sanding apply a wood conditioner. Start with a heavier grit about 100 or 120 grit sandpaper for the first pass and sand with the grain.

Before you stain the cabinets it s important to remove all the doors and drawers to make sanding and applying the stain easier. I would use that. Wipe clean then sand with a finer grit such as 180 or 220. Use 120 grit sandpaper to lightly sand the cabinets.

However i would still sand the edge off of the cabinets with a sanding sponge before applying. Step 5 work in the direction of the grain and aim not only for complete coverage but for a light even coating. If the cabinets are stained or coated with a single layer of clear finish you may not need to use paint stripper. To do that you need to sand the kitchen cabinets either by hand or with an electric powered hand sander.

Once you ve coated every cabinet surface wait for the stain. Sand the finish from the cabinets trim and drawers with 120 grit sandpaper. The key here is to sand some of the existing finish off and roughen up the surface so the primer sticks but you don t need to get the whole finish off unless you re staining your cabinets. How to sand your kitchen cabinets.

You can lighten things. As you go along you may notice one or another section looking darker than the rest. For the second sanding use 220 grit sandpaper.