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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Refinishing steel kitchen cabinets

I have stripped the paint from my steel kitchen cabinets and would like to create a nice finish and I would like to know how to proceed. What do I use in order to get that look that most steel appliances look like now a days?

Alicia Starr
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
2005

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Those appliances are made of stainless steel whereas your cabinets are made of plain rust-prone steel. Although some people do try to clear coat steel as a decorative finish, and there are many letters about that on this site, it is perhaps unrealistic to expect steel not to rust fairly quickly when it is protected from the atmosphere only by a clear coat, and not with the pretreatments (phosphatiziation and such) that are usually employed on steel, but which are not transparent. I'd say pick a nice color and prime and paint instead of hoping that plain steel will perform like stainless; unfortunately it won't.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2005

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Ther are various 'patinas' developed for steel which provide beautiful variations of colors (brown, red, yellow, rust, orange, blue tones). Would require removal and surface prep for the chemicals to effect. Beautiful results. Call Barry at BarrysRestoreItAll for more info...Barry Feinman

Barry Feinman
BarrysRestoreItAll

Carlsbad, California

2005

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2005

I recently finished the exact same project. Original 1995 baked on enamel paint with two extra layers of paint. I stripped using 6" orbital with 26 grit, then 60, then 100, then 220, then 400 and finally 600 with a 1/4 sander.

To treat, I found a product by posting to this site, and so far it has worked wonderfully. It is called Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser]. I ordered it online. I tried acrylic spray, etc. and all of those finishes basically took away the shine I worked so hard to finish. Everbrite has a 3 step process (Xylene, Denatured Alcohol, then the Everbrite), but it really works and did not remove the shine.

Drew Cozart
- Falls Church, Virginia