Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Stripping/Staining cabinets and baseboard

:alarm:I am no professional, in fact anything I've ever done as "home improvement has been very basic." I have oak kitchen cabinets I am going to refinish. I want to strip the stain and re-stain with a darker walnut or cherry. Does anyone have experience or advise for a first timer on stripping stain? Sand or purchase the chemicals?

Stripping already installed cabinets is a long and messy job. But many of us have done it and lived to enjoy the results. Remove the doors and do them in a seperate area, like a shop or garage. I have had fairly good results with a citrus based (orange) stripper from Lowes, Don't recall the brand, but the only orange one on the shelf. Low odor, seems to work on factory finishes fairly well. Once all is stripped, you will have to sand to get below the stain. Then you can start your refinish project. Stain per manufacturers directions, then follow up with polyuretane(my recommendation, most durable) in water based(won't yellow) or oil based(mellow yellow).

Welcome to the forums!

As Bill noted, all the finish must be removed before you can restain..... and that is the best way! You can apply a tinted poly to darken your cabinets some. Little prep other than cleaning and a light sanding is needed. It does need to be applied carefully/evenly! Runs, drips, lap marks will show and look bad:eek: