Have you been out pricing new kitchen cabinets lately? If so, you probably have come to realize that they’ve become quite expensive. It’s simply far more economically viable to redo your existing cabinets. Below are six useful pointers to help you do just that.

1. Are your cabinet doors covered in paint? If so, start by removing the paint with a stripper, preferably a chemical one. For stained cabinets, you can also use a chemical refinishing agent or you can just clean the door surfaces very well.

2. Next, get a synthetic steel wool type pad and dunk it in mineral spirits or turpentine, then carefully start to buff off any stains still in the surface of the wood. Go over the entire surface of the doors, removing the remaining paint or varnish so that the new coating will adhere properly.

3. Now that you have removed the rest of the remaining paint as well as any dirt, put on a few coats of a clear, oil-based finish. Most such products come in both glossy and satin types of finishes.

4. If you find that you have more than a few dirty/stained areas on your kitchen cabinet doors, try using a chemical solvent cleaner, one that removes the old coating of paint or varnish. You should be able to buy this type of a potent cleaner at your local home store.

5. While applying the chemical refinishing agent, make sure you concentrate on small regions rather than working the entire door surface at one time. Now that you have successfully finished putting on the chemical peeling agent, the cabinet doors will be appreciably more smoothed out and more even in tone.

6. As a final step in your door preparation, you should confirm that the cabinet doors are now the same in both their texture and their color. If you find that the wood still isn’t smooth or completely uniform, just buff down the door one more time in lengthy strokes with new synthetic steel wool and a fresh coating of refinisher.

The doors now ought to be properly prepared for their brand spanking new coating of paint, stain, or varnish. Once you’ve re-stained or re-varnished, you’ll have doors that look good as new and a kitchen that will look far fresher and more up to date.

You can further spruce up your kitchen with new window treatments or a set of new kitchen stools such as kitchen bar stools or leather bar stools, adding a whole new look for not very much money.