Gel Stain To Darken Cabinets

I used about half a quart of varathane gel stain by rustoleum in the color dark walnut.

Gel stain to darken cabinets.

These varieties tend to absorb thin traditional stains unevenly looking messy and unfinished no. Unlike other traditional stain gel stain sits on top of the wood rather than penetrating it hiding the previous stain color as well as some of the wood grain. While gel stain does go on thick and sit on the surface of the wood i found that you can still see and feel the natural wood grain beneath unlike paint. I watched youtube videos i read blogs and i realized that the results were spectacular and that very easily i could achieve this amazing dark java look.

First remove the drawer faces and cabinet doors. The gel stain is thick like pudding not a liquid. Remove all the knobs and take apart any removable parts of the cabinets. If you ve decided to darken your cabinets lets go over the steps i suggest you follow.

Tip make sure to label the location of each door or drawer so you don t forget where it came from later. With the oak cabinets the grain was very evident post staining. Gel stain is particularly forgiving with splotch prone woods like birch cherry maple and pine. In my case it was one door and three drawers.

Updating cabinets with gel stain step 1 clean the cabinets.