Wood improvement?

[HipGnosis]

My 1950 home has plain honey oak kitchen cabinets and trim.

I'm wondering if I can use faux wood painting supplies and technique to change them by giving them some 'grain'.
Has anyone ever heard of this or done it?

[Miss Piggy]

Have you looked into Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit?

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/transformations

[HipGnosis]

Have you looked into Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit?

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/transformations

I was not aware of such a thing.  I'll check them out!

[Uturn]

Oak has a ton of grain.  We can discuss the difference between flat sawn, quarter sawn, and rift sawn, but I think you are more concerned with the goldish yellow color.  A couple of things to keep in mind about wood finishes.

1.  They all will turn color over time, mostly amber. 
2.  Putting anything on top of an existing finish will only be as good as the underlying finish.  In other words, do you trust the 60-something year old finish to continue to perform? 

It's a bit of work, but I would suggest using something like Soy-Gel to remove the old finish.  Then either paint or restain the cabinets.  If you restain, you will need a finish such as urethane.  I have found gel stain and General Finishes Arm-A-Seal to be rather beginner friendly.  If you are going to paint them, sanding is a good option to stripping if you have a way to get into the crevasses. 

[tomita]

following, + sent this to my DH to try on our table

[BudgetSlasher]

I consider and researched this option for a while in our kitchen and while possible our plans mushroomed (or put another way we lived with the kitchen a while and learned more of what we wanted). Long story short we are going a different route.

According to my research there are a couple issues.

1) This is the most important: preparation. in most circumstances you rough up the surface, wipe of the dust and apply paint; in the case of older kitchen cabinets you've got decades of airborne grease to remove before you even start sanding take you pick of cleaner (such as TSP) and get to work. Any grease left is just asking for a paint failure. 2) Research your paint and pick out meant for the purpose; cabinets see much more wear than ordinary painted surfaces.

[index]

Spend a little money ~ $1500 and reface the cabinets with new doors. It is going to look better and you can update the style to something modern. 

[tjalexander]

I have used this product "Georgian Cherry" on my honey oat cabinets and think they look great. Search the web, as many people have detailed upcycling projects.

https://generalfinishes.com/retail-products/oil-based-wood-stains-sealers/gf-oil-based-gel-stains

[Uturn]

General Finishes product are outstanding.  Even my cheap ass uses them almost exclusively.  Their gel stains are Uturn idiot proof.  That being said, you still must remove the old finish first.  Stains absorb into the wood, and cabinets have an external coating that is designed specifically to prevent absorption.  Their Arm-R-Seal is a fantastic top coat.  It is a linseed oil and urethane blend that feels more natural and less plastic than straight urethane.  I usually use 3-4 coats, sanding with 0000 steel wool in between.  The first coat will look like shit, accept it and let it dry. 

[Smokystache]

Have you looked into Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations kit?

http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/transformations

I was not aware of such a thing.  I'll check them out!

We literally did this to our entire kitchen about 3 weeks ago - using that exact product. We were really happy with the results, but:
1) even though there isn't any sanding (at least for our cabinets), there is still a lot of work. Each surface gets 1) washed, 2) "deglossed" to allow the paint to stick, 3) 1 coat of paint, 4) second coat of paint (we skipped the optional step that makes the surface look aged or distressed), 5) top clear coat for protection. All of this comes in the kit and it worked great. But don't forget that steps 1-5 have to be done on both sides of the cabinet doors (or at least we did). We had about 4 adults working on it and it took 2-3 days. The drying time between all the steps is tricky and it works best if you can create a huge area for the cabinet doors to dry.

We kept the old hinges (saving about $250), bought new knobs/pulls (for about $80 total) and it looks like a completely new kitchen. We needed 1.25 kits (which means we had to pay for 2 - but still it is a big difference for about $250 (and a lot of elbow grease).

In the attached pics, we started with the dark cabinets and went with "Quilters White" to brighten the place up. My wife's really happy with the results.

[Smokystache]

Looking back to the original post, I realize you may have been asking about something completely different than completely transforming the color of your cabinets - but I'll leave my prior post there in case others are curious about the Rustoleum product.

[Drifterrider]

Smokystache,

Did any of the brush marks show?  I have a hard time getting a smooth finish.

I bought RTA cabinets when I redid my house.  I wanted white but the upcharge was too much.  I spray painted mine with Rusteolum appliance paint (bright white enamel).  The fumes are BAD but the finish is GREAT and sooooo easy to clean.

Anyway, looking for a next rental and I'm sure I'll have to paint the cabinets.  I like a white kitchen.

[Smokystache]

Smokystache,

Did any of the brush marks show?  I have a hard time getting a smooth finish.

We have some very light brush marks - but they are minimal and you've got to really be looking for them. We used higher than average quality brushes and that seemed to help a lot. Two coats was a must. But I certainly don't notice brush strokes on them - the overall effect is signficiant.