Glazing your Kitchen Cabinets


Glazing or darken up your kitchen cabinets will certainly add more depth and character, thus providing them with an antique look along with some colorant. Whenever you plan to glaze your kitchen cabinets, you rub a watered down layer of paint over the surface of the cabinet. It will look almost like translucent layer over the existing paint or stain on the cabinet with some areas of the paint being darker than others. Below are guides on how to glaze your kitchen cabinets.

What you need:

  1. Oil or water based glaze
  2. Several brushes
  3. Plenty of lint-free rags
  4. Stain, paint or colorant
  5. Paint thinner

Method:

  1. When trying to darken light coloured or wood stained cabinets, use an oil-based glaze because it is a clear medium that only need to add to colour. The glaze provides translucent look and is easy to work due to longer time for it to dry thus providing you more time in order to get the preferred effect.
  2. Next, add some oil stain with your choice of colour and try a few different mixes. You can test the colour onto a piece of light coloured scrap wood or on a place on the cabinet itself.
  3. For cleaning the cabinet surfaces from unwanted paint, you can use degreasing cleaner or denatured alcohol. You can also use a natural bristle brush to glaze onto the cabinet\’s surfaces and corners. Then, wipe the glaze one section at a time by using a clean, lint-free rag.
  4. Glazing painted cabinets is where you paint the surface using a water based glaze rather than oil based normally used with stain. When using an acrylic to cover old paint, apply a colorant in the mix to give it your preferred colour. As for using latex paint, the colour that you choose will lighten slightly when it dries and if you do not like it, try using a slightly darker colour.
  5. Always remember that if you are working with acrylics, you should know that there are three different qualities of acrylics such as a slightly milky look when it is first brushed on, it will darken when it dries and it also dries faster than some other glazes.
  6. For wiping off excess glaze, you just need to give the painted area a naturally aged appearance so that people will notice that the design is quite charming.

Additional Reading:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2194651_antique-glaze-kitchen-cabinets.html
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/applying-antique-glaze-to-kitchen-cabinets
http://homeguide123.com/articles/How_To_Glaze_Your_Kitchen_Cabinets.html

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/waikikiweekly/4339872296/