When Brenda told me we were had another cabinet job that was to paint over “pickled” wood I knew it would be extra work. I’m glad there aren’t too many “pickled” finishes in the Kansas City area. In the Kansas City metro area we have a ton of cabinets that we call “yellow oak”. It was the big thing 15 years ago, but that’s a story for a different blog post. In most cases the “pickled” finishes have kind of a pink cast coming through the translucent white finish. The cabinets are solid, so rather than go to the expense of replacing or refacing, our clients call us to put a faux finish over the top.
For the most part our process is to clean the cabinets and do our faux painting magic on top of the existing finish. We have found, however, that over the years the finish on “pickled” cabinets turns gummy when handled–like when you use your hand to open and close the door. It can get to look like what is pictured here.
But in a lot of cases the finish appears to be fine. But you know the old saying: “Appearances can be deceiving”. Before the finish gets to look like the door pictured here it gets “soft”. And putting a good paint job over a soft foundation can lead to problems. We like to live by the phrase “do it right the first time”. So when we have a “pickled” job we take care to check each door and fix the problem before we start. Like I said, it is a lot of work. But the result is beautiful.
The cabinets pictured here are due to get primed, painted and glazed. The before and after will be coming soon on the Portfolio page.