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Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing

CustomMade by Paul Norman

Almost every cabinet door or drawer front in the kitchens and bathrooms had water damage due to poor initial finish application. The cabinets were less than 5 years old and custom made by another firm which has since gone out of business.

The doors and drawer fronts in front of the main sink were so badly damaged that I had to remove them and take them to my shop for refinishing and re-banding. I have included before and after pictures above. As shown above, some of the damage was so severe that the banded edges of the doors and drawer fronts had separated.

A good deal of experimentation had to be done to exactly match the color of the maple veneered fronts. This was finally accomplished by first coating the surfaces with a button shellac polish followed by several coats of hand applied General Finishes Gel Topcoat satin urethane. The gel finish forms a more robust finish with fewer coats.

In addition, I had to make a panel to cover an unfinished end of a bathroom cabinet. The finish had to be matched to the cherry stain on the cabinet. I was able to find an oil based warm cherry stain that matched extremely well. Again, the panel was coated with General Finishes Gel Topcoat satin urethane.The panel was glued in place with a panel glue similar to Liquid Nails.

A good deal of time was spent on the job sanding and refinishing smaller water damaged kitchen and bathroom cabinets.

At the owner's request, I added a strong very thin plastic to the inside of the partial drawers just under the sink. These drawers hold dish washing materials (e.g., plastic scrubbers and steel wool). I was able to secure this material from a sign maker who has a shop in the same building as mine.

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Price range

$2,300 - $2,500

Dimensions

Entire kitchen and 2 bathrooms. This is a fairly large house in a well-to-do suburb of Boston so exact dimensions are not included.

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REVIEWS OF THIS MAKER

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  • Front Porch Rebuild

    by M. Wheeler Nov 19th 2012

    I hired Paul Norman of SherpaDog Renovations to rebuild a large enclosed front porch which had been destroyed by carpenter ants! I was pleased by the variety of cost effective redesign options Paul offered. In the end I chose to add some ornament to my Victorian home. He replaced the exterior plain shingles with scalloped ones, designed a diamond pattern (instead of the common basket weave) for the exterior skirt of the porch, added wainscoting under the interior windows, built a beautiful wooden ceiling and installed casement windows. I was thrilled with the results. Paul's attention to detail and fine carpentry skills resulted in a porch much admired by my neighbors and friends. I recommend him to anyone looking for a reliable, conscientious and creative carpenter. I would definitely hire him again.

  • Wooden Cover for residential holding tank

    by Richard F. Sep 17th 2012

    Very good. No problems, builder took time to ask questions and provide suggested design elements.

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