Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Help Avoiding painting inside cabinets

Hi Everyone,

I am getting ready to stain my cabinets red mahogony, The inside of the cabinets are oak. Is there anything that I can use like the adhesive liners but for the inside of the cabinets that I can buy? So that the inside and the outside can match rather than painting the inside of the cabinets too? There has to be something that I can cut and stick on the inside. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks you in advance! :dogrun:

I've never done such a thing before but I don't see why not. I'm sure somebody's done it before.

Personally I'd use a wood-looking laminate that closely matches your stain. Don't fret over slight differences in color, when people look at your cabinets they will see the doors and the face frame.

I'm a bit of a non-comformist and I'd personally use a lighter-color for the interior. We build and install cabinets every week that have a nice, dark stained exterior but a bright, beautiful natural maple interior. The lighter color inside keeps things looking cleaner and "spiffy-er". There's plenty of laminate out there that looks like maple, knotty pine, birch, ash, etc....

You will need a good, strong contact adhesive to install laminate properly, and access (or owning) a nice table saw w/carbide tooth (60 tooth or more) blade will allow you to cut the laminate. Any sharp edges on the laminate (like on the bottoms where it touches the outer edge of the frame) can be smoothed with a good metal file.

I only say laminate for these reasons----
-the most durable thing you will line your cabinet with, period.
-very stiff and will not flop around on you as much as a paper-type product
-quadrazillions of color choices easily available.

Call around, get prices, laminate prices can vary (I'd steer clear of "vertical grade" laminate, while it's specifically made for vertical surfaces, it's more brittle and "floppy" and isn't an advantage if you're sticking foot or two square pieces. Get the thicker countertop-grade stuff.

Thanks, I don't know what I've done wrong but my stain came out a walnut and not a mahogony red. I just don't know what I"m doing wrong. I've sand it it and resanded and still comes out that color. I give up :-( I'll just continue staining that color.
The only comfort is that at least it has a stain and I didn't have to paint it.

What kind of wood is the outside? Oak?

Different woods take stains differently. If you don't have enough red to suit you, leave the walnut on there and go get yourself a can of the reddest "cherry" you can find. Wipe some of that on top of the walnut, but don't go bonzo with it. Do a **test piece** first, and let it dry. Should help you get some red.

Red cherry? I'm sorry it's my first time I do this type of thing--are you talking about a cherry stain? Without Polyeurathen I suppose? Thanks in advance. also what brand? I'm using minxax without the poly.

Sorry yes it's oak.

It is best to stain a test piece so that you know how the stain will take on the wood you want. Stains look different on oak than on birch.