You are finally completely fed up with the color of your kitchen cabinets. While they were nice in the 80s when you bought the place, back then you also liked big hair and leg warmers. Time to remake them in a color that is more than what you like today.

The first part of this project is to disassemble these cabinets. You don’t want to try to avoid drawer pulls and knobs. Imagine the hassle of trying to remove the paint around the drawer pulls and, once done, painting around the drawer pulls without making a mess. It probably won’t happen. Instead, you’ll probably end up having to remove the drawer handles at that point anyway, to clean up the paint. You might as well do it to begin with.

Once all the hardware is out of the cabinets and drawers, you should clean the items before adding the stripper. Dirt and debris don’t need to get in the way of the stripper trying to get the job done.

Now prepare the workspace. Remember, you are working with things that are going to eat up the paint. That doesn’t just mean the paint you’re intentionally applying it to, but whatever painted surface it touches. If you are doing this work indoors, be sure to cover the other things in the room that shouldn’t be removed. The best way to do this project is to take as many pieces as you can outside.

Most strippers are relatively easy to use. You will put a large amount of stripper on the wood. Do not be stingy. Then let him do his job. How long it will take will depend on the stripper you have selected for your project. Read the instructions to find out how long to wait.

Before cleaning everything, see if it worked. Using a plastic paint scraper, push along part of the painted surface. The paint should start to go up the scraper. If so, the wood is ready to be removed. Otherwise, you may need to wait a little longer.

When you’re ready to remove the wood, don’t expect everything to come off. Sometimes a coat of paint will come off, but some areas will remain painted. This could be because they had a thicker layer of paint there, or just because it’s stubborn. Don’t let it get to you, just take off what you can and then put another layer of stripper on what’s left and let it work its magic.

Once all the old paint has been removed, you should clean the wood with lacquer thinner or denatured alcohol. Then let it dry for a day or so. Now you are ready to become a new wonder. Paint it the color you wanted, replace the drawer handles and other hardware, and enjoy your new kitchen.

Note: After removing paint, all stripper rags, paper, and other items should be stored in a metal container, with a lid, until removed as they are highly flammable and are sometimes known to spontaneous combustion.

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