Sun damaged cabinets-- restain?

[nguyenm100]

Hello, we have a kitchen island with several cabinets in our 25yr old kitchen. The stain is in dark cherry. As it were, several cabinets and part of the island have been faded by the sun. We would like to restore those damaged parts as replacement is beyond our budget but was unsure the most efficient way to attack this. I suppose the best way would be to sand everything down to bare wood and restain (hoping to get close enough for a match). Are there any other (faster) options? Any specialized tools worth purchasing (especially for sanding/stripping?). Someone had mentioned a "scuff and restain" option but I wasn't familiar with the term.

Thanks

[Malcolm Hoar]

Sanding is a lot of work (speaking as someone who recently refinished a bunch of kitchen cabinets).

Some sanding tools may help but the choice of tool will depend on the size and shape of the pieces and what kind of moldings might be present. Making a sanding block that is profiled to your specific moldings might help a lot.

There are certainly some legit products like that -- often used for finishing/repairing fine furniture. There are other "wonder products" you should avoid at all costs.

"It's a floor polish AND a dessert topping".

If you don't sand or strip the old finish completely, you'll need something that is compatible with the existing finish. It would be unwise to proceed before you have identified the existing finish to a reasonable degree of confidence.

If you want maximum durability and certainty of outcome, I'd completely remove the old surface by sanding or stripping. In my case, I found sanding to be just as fast (slow) as stripping and so I chose to avoid the rather nasty chemicals.

[nospambob]

[scott21230]

Use polyeurethane that's rated for outdoor use when you refinish. It will hold up better with the sunlight hitting it.