Q: We have beautiful custom kitchen cabinets in natural maple. They are now about 7 years old and showing some wear. The finish is worn around the pulls, and there are some minor scratches. What is the best way to clean them and restore the finish?
A: Assuming you have been doing routine cleaning all along, you probably don’t need any major cleaning effort. However, it sounds as if you want to do more, and I’m guessing that means removing the hardware and adding more finish to help alleviate scratches and repair the worn areas.
Prior to any repair or recoating, I do suggest a more stringent cleaning schedule, as follows. Clean the surface by scrubbing with mineral spirits or TSP on fine nylon abrasive pads. The solvent will remove any surface grease or oil while the pad lightly abrades the surface. At that point, you can add another coat of finish, but first add one coat of Zinsser SealCoat, a clear primer that works over and under just about anything. After that, you can spruce up the finish with a coat or two of polyurethane. Incidentally, oil based polyurethane is slightly amber and will add some color, but waterbased goes on clear and stays clear. You can decide which will look better in your case.
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