How to prep cabinets before staining

If you are getting ready to tackle a cabinet staining project, here is our step-by-step guide on how to correctly prep your cabinets before they are ready for stain:

1. Masking the Area:
   • 1st, start by covering all of the floor, walls, and ceiling surrounding the areas, we also recommend creating a plastic wall enclosing the area so that most of the dust stays contained.
2. Remove Cabinet Doors and Hardware:
   • One Key step is to label the doors and drawers when removing them. Use a piece of tape on the inside of the cabinet and one on the door or drawer removed (we like to use numbers and start from 1, 2, 3, etc…
   • Remove all doors, drawers, knobs, hinges, and any other hardware. Once you remove the hardware, that is a good place to place the tape with the number for the door or drawer, also use a smaller piece of tape to cover the number; that way, if the tape gets covered in stain, you can remove the smaller piece and still see the number clearly.
3. Cleaning:
   • Clean all the cabinets, doors, and drawers using degreaser and water. Some areas might need more cleaning than others.
4. Sanding the Existing Finish:
   • If you are planning on using a gel stain, only light sand to scuff the existing finish and clean the dust after sanding. Do this on all of the cabinets, doors, and drawers.
   • If you are using a wiping stain, use an electric sander to evenly sand all of the finish off of the cabinets, doors, and drawers. Be super careful to sand evenly on all of the areas. If you stay on just one spot, it will make it blotchy when you apply the stain. We recommend starting with 150 grit sandpaper, then using 180, and lastly 220.

That is it. You are ready to start staining. Since there are 2 different types of stain, we created 2 different guides on how to apply each type. Click on the link to follow the steps for your specific project.

How to use a Gel Stain

How to use a wiping stain