How to Use Stain to Touch Up Your Cupboards

Cupboards with a darker stain.

Keeping your kitchen maintained doesn't mean you have to remodel it every few years. There are simple things you can do to help keep things looking touched up without spending a lot of money. Making sure your cupboards look nice can have a dramatic impact on your kitchen.

Touch Ups

If you have small nicks and scratches on your cupboards, you can touch them up with stain. You will need to insure that you use a matching stain color. You can use a small paint brush, a toothpick or purchase a touch-up pen. If there are a lot of nicks or big scratches, you will want to consider refinishing them so the color is even and not blotchy.

Types

If you are doing a touch up, you should use the same kind of stain that was used to treat the cupboards originally. There are different kinds of stains to choose from, depending on the look you want. There are pigmented stains, which create a more dramatic color but will hide the wood's grain appearance. Another type is a dye stain, which doesn't cover as much of the grain and is better for a transparent look.

Considerations

If a touch up won't work, you will need to remove the finish and possibly sand before you can restain. The best way to do this is to take all of the doors and hardware off your cupboards.

References

• House Painting: Choose the Right Stain
• Kitchen Cabinets and Hardware: How to Stain Kitchen Cabinets
• Painters-Toys: Wood Stains