Cabinet refinishing is one of if not the most complex painting service that Busby Finishes offers. This is because we understand the incredible amount of skill and precision that has to go into a cabinet refinishing job in order to ensure it will not only look as good as possible but last as long as possible. There are a few different ways you can go about refinishing your cabinets such as painting, staining, and glazing. To begin we'll start with our cabinet painting service if your cabinets are already stained you want to de-gloss them using lacquer thinner this is just a fancy way of saying to wipe them down with a lacquer soaked rag to remove any grease/grime that may have built up over time. Once this is done you want to thoroughly sand down all cabinets being painted with sandpaper that is at least 220 grit. Then wipe down all cabinets and bases with a tack cloth to remove excess dust. Now it's time to prime, for primer a high quality oil based primer is recommended as latex won't last long. In addition for the best look possible all applications should go on using a sprayer with a fine finish 210 tip as opposed to a brush which will leave visible lines in the material. Be sure to thin your primer and paint slightly with mineral spirits, failure to do so will result in lines left that you will have to sand out. Once all primer is dry you will want to LIGHTLY sand all primed areas with a very fine grit sandpaper. Once this is done all beveled crevices of the doors should be caulked and holes should have either putty or bondo applied (note if using bondo be sure to prime and sand until level once it is dry, if you don't this will be very visible in your finished paint job). After this is done re-wipe down all areas with another tack cloth. Finally it's time to paint, again apply paint with a spray rig using a fine finish tip for best results. In addition you want to use a high quality oil based paint I recommend Benjamin Moore Satin Impervo. Once applied allow to dry/cure for 48-72 hours in a warm area before rehanging all doors/drawers. If you would like a glazing added simply apply with a brush and wipe with a rag until desired amount is applied, before sealing with a clear polyurethane sealer. Now onto staining your cabinets if they are already stained the project becomes significantly more difficult, if they are raw wood you can skip this step. In order to re-stain you need to strip the cabinets all the way back to raw wood. To do this the best way is the alternate using a lacquer thinner rag, and sanding with 80 grit or even 60 grit sandpaper until all sealer and stain is stripped (note only sand in direction of the wood grain not doing so will leave scratch marks visible in stain). While you can use stripper it creates a much larger mess than the stuff is worth. Once back to raw wood you can apply this material with an ox-hair brush keeping a wet edge with the stain preferably using an oil based stain and finish the application with one continuous brush stroke so brush marks aren't visible. Apply enough stain to achieve your desired color (each consecutive coat will make the color darker). After dried you can apply the desired sheen of sealer satin is the most commonly used. You can use a polyurethane sealer that is brushed on although the best method is to spray on lacquer using a cup gun ideally having another person come behind you to mist on lacquer thinner very lightly, the results of this is an almost mirror like finish that looks significantly better than polyurethane. If you would prefer to not do all this work yourself and are looking for a professional cabinet painting crew in the Santa Fe, Albuquerque area who knows how to refinish your cabinets the correct way give Busby Finishes a call. We offer reasonable prices for this work and we always promise the best cabinet finish possible, we also have the reputation, and pictures to prove it, we even offer free estimates to all customers within our service areas, give us a call today for your free appointment and get your cabinets looking the best they possibly can!