Okay ,I thought when I typed in a questions under “the woodshed” that I was in a woodworking forum. Guys told me to ask it here.
Okay fellows and gals. How do cabinet mfg. get the cabinet doors and drawer front to look like they match in tone or colors. I am trying to stain match some seconds in cabinet doors. They look good. Had a local guy make me 4 nice maple base cabinets, two of them all drawers. Bought the drawer front several years ago from a guy ar flea market Real nice flush ones.They have like a clear finish on them It scrapes off easy with a sharp putty knife. couple of them i put on some no 77 red devil paint and varnish remover. some of the drawers are taking the miniwax” golden pecan” a lot darker than the maple face frames. I dont want to mess with cabinet doors. They are solid maple raised panels. Nice color stain. The drawer fronts look like maple too, I assume they are from two diffent mfg. I asked the guys that sold the doors who the mfg. was . they said they did not know or maybe they dont want me to know .So I can not contact them to ask what they used. I would call it “sand” myself.
Wish I would have found this place thar sells seconds in cabinet doors years ago. They were either 3 4 or 5 dollars. Why make doors when you can find good enough ones for that price.?
I wish I would have asked Hubby to have looked for me a water based stain instead. I like using the waterbased varnishes. I bought several gallons of a zar brand .cheap when Lowes was discoing it. Been using it for years. Hate the smell and cleanup of the oil based polys.
Hubby bought me can of “golden oak”,’ Provinical”,” colonial maple”. I just wish the cabinet doors were unfinished. I would have just varnished them Let them be natural. Love the look of Natural Maple.
Please Help. would appreciate advice. Us gals dont mind asking questions . Thanks
Replies
If you can live with the darker shade, the easiest way to get a match is to add a small amount stain or an oil color to your oil based finish and over spray the lighter pieces until they are as dark as the darkest pieces.....Graumbachers burnt umber oil paint (tubes of artists colors) can be added in small amounts and will match many of the manufacturers finishes. I've never tried to do this by brushing or with water based products and I doubt it would work....Let me know if I can help - it's a trial and error process......
Jean,
George is right, this is a trial and error process which may not deliver the results you desire unless darker is acceptable. You really need a professional to take a look at the wood and finishes and determine what options you have. If you stripped everything back to bare wood, would the wood colors match? If not, the darkest color in the wood is about the lightest color you can go. In the past they would seal up the wood and then stain to get an even coat and then apply the protective finish. Good Luck
Jean, if you asking about the finishes you get on commercial furniture such as Drexel and others, they most often start out by bleaching all the color out of the wood then proceed through a 10-20 step process of stain(s), sealers, glazes and toners and multiple coats of clear final finish.
Cabinet manufacturers typically don't go through as many steps but depending on the variations in the base wood, there can be 5-6 steps. Most final blending/matching is accomplished with sprayed on toners.
If you really want to match the different panels it may be best to find a professional finisher. That's what I would do.
Not to mention that maple can be challenging. Depending on how entertained you want to be this week, another option is get some dewaxed shellac and some dyes. Dissolve the shellac into a weak cut with denatured alcohol, and slowly add dyes to the mix and spray it to tweak the color you're after. The down side is you have to go just a little at a time and it requires you have some kind of spray equipment. The upshot is you can do a new coat every ten minutes. I do this periodically when I want to adjust a color and the buildup of fifteen very thin coats amounts to no more than one good layer of varnish, if that. Also gives a good base for your topcoat.
Thanks you all. I just wish I had some water based stains to add to my gallons of water based poly. Other people suggested painting! Yuk! I even had hubby rip out all old baseboards etc in house replace them with natural finished oaks.
Just want to finish my pretty MAPLE KITCHEN cabinet and get on with these other 100 projects not done in this house like drywall, floors ,ceilings , trim etc. Been waiting 13 years to see some nice stuff in this small lake house we are doing ourself. Just venting. and whining.
Some of you said go to a professinal. How expensive would that be.? a lot more probably than I could afford
I have had the insides done for over a week. I am about to pull my hair out. Thought about stripping all the doors. That is no guarantee they would even come out the same or near the same.
If I was back home i would try the big paint stores.
Have tried stripping four of those drawer fronts several times. Still no go. Some of my drawer fronts are big and have several maples glued together. They even look different thru that frosted "finish" that were on them already.
I bought some Miniwax wood conditioner, Wasted 10 bucks there. I could see no differences that it made. Wish miniwax would offer more of a selection in there water based stains. No light ones
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