Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - need help with cabinet refinish

Hello all, first time user here on the forums. I need some advice on refinishing some maple cabinets. I have no idea really where to begin. Just purchased my first home and love all of it except the "blonde" maple kitchen cabinets. I would like to stain these darker (lots darker--like mahogany). I dont even know if this is possible or if it should be undertaken. I would only want to do it if I could do it and make it look perfect. I would love some advice. thanks

Welcome to the diy forums

Maple is a hard wood to stain, especially dark stains. If compatible with the current finish, polyshades will darken it some - but not as dark as mahogany.

Since no one else has replied, I thought I'd give you my two cents worth. Hopefully, someone with actual experience doing what you want to do will give you their thoughts.

I once refinished my kitchen cabinets from stained/sealed surfaces to white oil based paint. But, I didn't have to remove the poly completely. Nevertheless, if I was going to do what you propose, here are some thoughts:
- Plan on removing all the cabinet doors and refinishing them where you can get lots of fresh air
- Assuming the cabinets have a sealing coat of polyurethane or varnish, I'd take one of the doors to a local paint store and ask their advice on what chemical to buy to remove the old finish. I would only buy a small quantity of whatever is suggested, and then try it on one of the doors to see if it suits you. Assuming it does, I'd go ahead and finish refinishing this one door (restain then reseal) so I'd know exactly what I needed to do for the rest of the work.
- I'd also surf this web site and the internet for "refinishing kitchen cabinets", and "restaining kitchen cabinets" to get the benefit of what others have posted
- When redoing the cabinet components you cannot remove, I'd plan on breaking the job into small chunks of work to avoid the frustration and regret that inevitably occur when I try to do too much at one time. I enjoy it when I don't overdo it; but, can get real frustrated when I attempt to do too much at one time. Also, you want it to be perfect, and doing it slowly, and little by little facilitates this goal.
- My intent would be to avoid any sanding -- don't know if that would be totally doable, but I'd try.

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- My intent would be to avoid any sanding -- don't know if that would be totally doable, but I'd try.

No good paint or refinish job can skip sanding, to quote one of our members "all the easy ways have been taken" :D

? for marksr... Would a "chocolate" glaze stain work?
*applegn1 - to refinish you'll have! to sand, completely remove the old finish.

I haven't worked w/maple much, my furniture projects can't take quite that much budget. I have "simulated" maple with a cheaper wood and a custom light rose color stain. So, I'll have to defer the final word to anyone else that has more experience w/ maple.

JC

? for marksr... Would a "chocolate" glaze stain work?

I'm the wrong person to ask, I don't think I've used any glazes since being an apprentice 35+ yrs ago.

thanks for the replies. what i am gathering is that it sounds like it may be possible to sand these cabinets down completely then stain them some shade darker, but it is going to be a lot of work. The work i don't mind i just want it to look 1)natural 2)darker 3)professional 4)not that fake shiny finished look. does anyone have a reference i can go to for a step by step process/guide. thanks again

I don't know of any "how to's" on this, off the top of my head.
I learned with guidance from my Dad and other pros on his crew, and ALOT of trial and error.
If I find anything I'll pass it on.
JC

Another suggestion...
Take one of the cabinet doors down to a good paint store. Find the oldest guy there. (I do this at every home improvement, lumber, hardware, landscaping store when I have a question.) Tell them what you want, they should have displays, so you can show them also. Then ask for a recommended stain. Make sure they have experience with maple and the stain they suggest.
JC

To restain any finished wood you must first strip and then sand off all the previous finish/stain. Any area the previous finish isn't COMPLETELY removed will not accept the new stain.

Maple can be stained but is more difficult than most woods. I don't know that it an be stained real dark. I would expect that the darker the stain the harder it would be apply with good results.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'fake shiny look' but professional results can be had. After stain, you usually need to apply 3 coats of poly [sanding,dusting between coats] to get a good even sheen. The 3 standard sheens are satin, semi-gloss & gloss.