# whitewashing kitchen cabinets



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Hey all, client hasn't made up their mind yet, but they're talking about whitewashing their kitchen cabinets. I'm familiar with the process of whitewashing and have a few products in mind. That said, pros and cons of sanding the cabinets down to bare wood or going straight to priming. Thanks in advance, Steven


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Obviously sanding down to bare wood is best, but much more time consuming and unneccesary IMO. That's what bonding primers are for.. Also if the bases are laminated MDF which alot of times are the case, you'll have to be cautious not to over sand..


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Thanks. I have to double check if it's MDF. On first glance they look like solid wood. Not sure if it's pine or oak though. But have to double check. 



finishesbykevyn said:


> Obviously sanding down to bare wood is best, but much more time consuming and unneccesary IMO. That's what bonding primers are for.. Also if the bases are laminated MDF which alot of times are the case, you'll have to be cautious not to over sand..


----------



## Joe67 (Aug 12, 2016)

When I think "whitewashing" I'm usually thinking of something like a white stained effect - like it's bleached out wood with grain still showing. But I assume in this case you mean just painting them white. In that case, clean them to within an inch of their life. Light sanding. Bonding primer, and then topcoat.


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

These are stained too dark to do a 'white wash' You'll be chasing that forever. paint them. 
Its not oak, or at least the grain isn't open like oak would be.

Clean, sand, prime, paint.


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Actually she interested in the stained effect..have to talk her out of that. Whitewashing seems like a stretch based on the community's feedback.

Her second option was a natural wood look. Again going to probably require a lot of sanding to get the cabinets down to bare wood.



Joe67 said:


> When I think "whitewashing" I'm usually thinking of something like a white stained effect - like it's bleached out wood with grain still showing. But I assume in this case you mean just painting them white. In that case, clean them to within an inch of their life. Light sanding. Bonding primer, and then topcoat.


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

This is probably the best route to take, and least amount of risk.



cocomonkeynuts said:


> These are stained too dark to do a 'white wash' You'll be chasing that forever. paint them.
> Its not oak, or at least the grain isn't open like oak would be.
> 
> Clean, sand, prime, paint.


----------



## MikeCalifornia (Aug 26, 2012)

Are you crazy?? You can't get those down to bare wood for a natural finish, without some extreme cost and even then I highly doubt you will get the look you want. Just buy new doors and be done with it. I would have the cabinets skinned in the same type of wood as the doors and stain or just clear. Way cheaper than you sanding your fingers off.


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean by "have the cabinets skinned?" I'm taking that to mean adding an extra layer on top of the boxes that is the same type wood of the new doors.



MikeCalifornia said:


> Are you crazy?? You can't get those down to bare wood for a natural finish, without some extreme cost and even then I highly doubt you will get the look you want. Just buy new doors and be done with it. I would have the cabinets skinned in the same type of wood as the doors and stain or just clear. Way cheaper than you sanding your fingers off.


----------



## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

I’ve always been partial to the bleached and/or whitewashed look. Given the right budget $$++, equipment/hand tools, and know-how, cabinets such as those could effectively be stripped to clean virgin wood w/maybe the exception of the fixed side panels/toe kicks which are often veneered sheet goods, sometimes the veneers being too thin to strip/finish sand without burning through the veneers . Stripping & whitewashing would probably command more $$ than the cabinets cost, which would be a deal breaker in many instances.

Paint followed by maybe a very subtle glaze & clear could be an option or just straight paint...and my guess is they’re maple.

I’ve included 2 sets of before and after photos of stripped & bleached cabinets, and 1 photo of stripped & bleached oak illustrating the original ebonized oak color, stripping in process, and bleach before waxing.


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Curious, how and what did you use to strip down to bare wood?



Redux said:


> I’ve always been partial to the bleached and/or whitewashed look. Given the right budget $$++, equipment/hand tools, and know-how, cabinets such as those could effectively be stripped to clean virgin wood w/maybe the exception of the fixed side panels/toe kicks which are often veneered sheet goods, sometimes the veneers being too thin to strip/finish sand without burning through the veneers . Stripping & whitewashing would probably command more $$ than the cabinets cost, which would be a deal breaker in many instances.
> 
> Paint followed by maybe a very subtle glaze & clear could be an option or just straight paint...and my guess is they’re maple.
> 
> ...


----------



## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

becolouring said:


> Curious, how and what did you use to strip down to bare wood?


I used a Festool RO 150 with a hard pad for stripping & prepping the flats, running 3 grits, starting with # 80 in rotary mode followed by 100 & 120, and finished up w/a Festool RTS 400 REQ w/ #150. 

For the profiles I used methylene chloride stripper and coarse steel wool plus small stiff stainless steel wire brushes. I then further did some hand work on the profiles using a combination of hand scrapers, profile scrapers, wood chisels, keeping a sharpening stone and honing oil close by. I finish-sanded the details and profiles with PSA sandpaper affixed to wood counter profiles and wood blocks. I also used a linear profile sander with custom profile sanding heads matched to the profiles. It went pretty quickly.


----------



## cocomonkeynuts (Apr 14, 2017)

Redux said:


> I used a Festool RO 150 with a hard pad for stripping & prepping the flats, running 3 grits, starting with # 80 in rotary mode followed by 100 & 120, and finished up w/a Festool RTS 400 REQ w/ #150.
> 
> For the profiles I used methylene chloride stripper and coarse steel wool plus small stiff stainless steel wire brushes. I then further did some hand work on the profiles using a combination of hand scrapers, profile scrapers, wood chisels, keeping a sharpening stone and honing oil close by. I finish-sanded the details and profiles with PSA sandpaper affixed to wood counter profiles and wood blocks. I also used a linear profile sander with custom profile sanding heads matched to the profiles. It went pretty quickly.


I would just add you can't get methylene chloride anymore, or at least its significantly harder to obtain.

The newer water and citrus based strippers work well if you leave them covered in plastic for several hours.


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

cocomonkeynuts said:


> I would just add you can't get methylene chloride anymore, or at least its significantly harder to obtain.
> 
> The newer water and citrus based strippers work well if you leave them covered in plastic for several hours.


Could call my buddy Walter White if you need some..


----------



## PPD (Mar 19, 2018)

Wowza! Stripping that color & white washing is gunna be a serious task....Also gunna require bleaching to remove the red tones otherwise ur WW will turn pink.

There are plenty of ppl out there willing to pay $$$$ but in my experience, most are REALLY shocked to find it’ll cost more than a paint job 
(*should change my title to “I’ll leave you stunned..”)

So, 1st Q: does the HO seem be informed on how expensive it’ll be to strip & WW? 

2nd Q: Are all the cabinets & fronts solid wood or is it a veneer?


----------



## becolouring (Mar 30, 2020)

Yep. I convinced her that painting was her best option when you take cost, time and risk into account. Project starts in January I'll post after pics when I'm done with the job.



PPD said:


> Wowza! Stripping that color & white washing is gunna be a serious task....Also gunna require bleaching to remove the red tones otherwise ur WW will turn pink.
> 
> There are plenty of ppl out there willing to pay $$$$ but in my experience, most are REALLY shocked to find it’ll cost more than a paint job
> (*should change my title to “I’ll leave you stunned..”)
> ...


----------



## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

PPD said:


> Also gunna require bleaching to remove the red tones otherwise ur WW will turn pink.


I did a strip-refinish involving an old spinet mahogany piano and the white CAB lacquer turned completely pink within days after completing it. What a nightmare that was.

It was my first time encountering dye bleed due to the early 20th century blood red mahogany dyes. Ended up having to disassemble it again, strip it back down to bare wood, only this time de-color any residual dye with chlorine bleach which was an old wood finishers trick to prevent dye bleed which I wasn’t aware of on the first go. Lost my a$$ on that one.


----------



## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Redux said:


> I did a strip-refinish involving an old spinet mahogany piano and the white CAB lacquer turned completely pink within days after completing it. What a nightmare that was.
> 
> It was my first time encountering dye bleed due to the early 20th century blood red mahogany dyes. Ended up having to disassemble it again, strip it back down to bare wood, only this time de-color any residual dye with chlorine bleach which was an old wood finishers trick to prevent dye bleed which I wasn’t aware of on the first go. Lost my a$$ on that one.


I can't even imagine how long that must have taken.


----------



## Redux (Oct 27, 2018)

finishesbykevyn said:


> I can't even imagine how long that must have taken.



I couldn’t tell you how long it took due to not tracking the time spent on it. Had I done that and looked at the final tally, I’d probably puke. 

I did however refinish a baby grand a couple of years prior to doing the spinet mentioned for one of Donald Trump’s then attorneys, and it took a little over 48 hrs for a complete strip/refinish. That one was also originally dyed and cleared mahogany from a later era which was re-finished with the same white CAB yet didn’t bleed, thank Gawd..


----------



## PPD (Mar 19, 2018)

Redux said:


> I did a strip-refinish involving an old spinet mahogany piano and the white CAB lacquer turned completely pink within days after completing it. What a nightmare that was.
> 
> It was my first time encountering dye bleed due to the early 20th century blood red mahogany dyes. Ended up having to disassemble it again, strip it back down to bare wood, only this time de-color any residual dye with chlorine bleach which was an old wood finishers trick to prevent dye bleed which I wasn’t aware of on the first go. Lost my a$$ on that one.


Oh god....thats just one of those jobs where u spend the first 24hrs after it happens feeling sick & loosing hair...then u just get on w/ it & accept the job costs u money rather than making any 

I learned the dye bleed lesson the hard way too but thankfully it was after doing the hall bath BEFORE starting the master bath & kitchen cabinets. 

A finish carpenter pointed out the issue...I’d swear my guardian angel put that man in my path cuz I woulda thought it was wall/floor reflection or lighting before ever thinking it was dye bleed.

I can’t imagine taking apart such an expensive piece of equipment & re-stripping and bleaching


----------

