Restoration Project - Kitchen Cupboard

As seen from the video, the cupboard or Kitchen Hutch is very dirty (years of steam and cooking fat) and the varnish has caked and crazed in places. The handles must be replaced as the originals are all broken and the replacements don't match and are later ones. The top drawer runners are worn out and must be replaced as are the sides of the drawer.

The place where the enamel bread bin was has been lined with cardboard on pieces of old wood cut from a crate. This is not holding anymore and must be replaced.

First step is to remove all doors. This will take quite a while as they are all fitted with piano hinges.

Next all handles and other fittings must be removed. The glass in the three top doors must also be removed.

Everything is labelled as removed so I know where they came from. The hinges may all look the same - but my experience is that if you change them they often don't fit properly anymore.

I decided to strip all the small bits first - using a paint stripper from the local hardware store.

Paint it on and leave for a while to react, scrape down and rinse with clean water. I find plastic net pads good for this, they don't scratch and they catch all the muck in them.

Make sure you have plenty of fresh air and wear the right clothing and gloves. The strippers these days are all somewhat less harmful but they are made for taking off old finishes and to do this they have to have some strong substances in them.

Read the instructions carefully and follow them.

I scrape off as much of the residue as possible before rinsing with as little water as possible. Some parts I must do 2 or 3 times before the varnish is removed. None of this can be done quickly so I spread it over a few days. Also the fumes are normally pretty horrible - no matter what the manufacturer says.

I ended up having to strip both sides of all doors and inside the cupboards! Afraid I never took any photos of this stage.

The shelves and on the bottom of each piece had a self sticking paper on which had to be removed as it was just so dirty and stained. This proved quite a challenge and I picked at it for a while every time I visited the workshop until eventually it was off. I tried various solvents after water to remove the glue but to little avail. I ended up scraping the rest off with a chisel and then used the sanding machine.

I was careful not to get the wood very wet and after a week I could start sanding. Again I started with all the small pieces. All the doors had to be sanded both sides. And inside the cupboard where I had managed to get the paper off needed sanding as well to remove the residue.

I started with 120 grit and ended with 220 grit. Where the sanding machine couldn't be used was done by hand.

The Lino I used 80grit to start and worked down. The holes and deep knife marks I filled using a hard wax. As the cupboard won't be used near water I can oil the Lino as well.

The top drawer was run down to the drawer liner on one side and not as much on the other. The runners inside had really deep rills where the overly laden drawer had been opened and closed over the years. Photo is of the removed cupboard runners!

The drawer had to be taken apart so I could renew the sides. One side had to be taken above the rebate for the drawer bottom and a new rebate cut. While at it, the sticky paper was taken off the drawer bottom - proved all but impossible so I turned it over and put it back again. Same was done with other drawer bottom!!

The veneer bubbles on the bottom drawer needed cutting and gluing. Once this was all done I could sand the drawer fronts by hand using 180 and the 220 grit.

The base of the bread-cupboard had to be put in. I added a couple more supports underneath and placed a matching piece of plywood on top, gluing and nailing it down on to the stretchers I had put in.

So at last we are ready to oil the kitchen cupboard. I have found a Danish oil that is really wonderful. I use it on my walnut dining table which takes a real hammering. About once a year I put a new coat on and leave it to dry overnight. Its water resistant - more importantly wine resistant and has been known to ignore schnapps as well!

First coat is best brushed on and left for about an hour to sink in. The residue is wiped off with a soft cloth - kitchen towel is also ok. The next day repeat the process but this time wiping on with a cloth not leaving any residue.

ALWAYS in the direction of the grain.

We have had very changeable weather lately and the humidity was very high which meant I had to leave two days or more in between coats with lots of air circulation. The third and last coat is again rubbed on with a cloth.

The inside and backs of the doors got two coats to protect it.

WARNING - dry cloths flat away from all else or put them in cold water - before discarding them. Fire danger!!

Then it was time to start putting it all back together again. Starting with the glass which had a really good clean before hand.

The handles came next. I could only get the size I wanted in pearl white. This meant I had to close some of the old holes and drill new ones on most doors. At some stage magnets had been put on in place of locks. I decided this was much more practical and much less expensive than having to buy new locks (old ones all gone). So these were all put back on again.

Next all 10 doors with the piano hinges had to be put back on. Luckily I remembered to put the long shelves back in before I did this - I would not have been amused!