Why are you set on gel stain. Gel stains are normally translucent, not solid. If you want a solid color, paint or other cabinet finish is best.

They want the grain to show. You could mix white and black together to whatever darkness you want. and rub it off as you go or leave it depending on the look you are after but I would strip the finish that is on there first so that might be why a paint has been suggested so that stripping is not needed.

Patricia, do you mean a black and white paint mixed or black and white gel? Thanks guys for the suggestions!!

Do you want to see wood, wood grain, or both? Paint will mask the wood, but with oak, the grain will show. Stain will allow the wood and wood grain to show.

Yes, that's why I'm set on gel stain because I what to see the wood grain.

Are your cabinets stained now? If you go over them with a gray gel stain -- if you can find one, you will have a mix of gray and whatever color they are now.

No, my cabinets are not stained, they are Oak. I've search all over the Internet for Charcoal Grey gel stain and haven't been able to find it. Patricia thanks for suggesting to mix the black and white. I've found Pickling White gel stain by Old Masters and found Black gel stain by General Finishes. Amazon have both colors so I'm going to mix it myself. Brilliant idea Patricia.......I've mixed some acrylic paint yesterday to practice to see if I could get the shade of gray I'm looking for and I did. Patricia it shouldn't be any different mixing stain gel should it? I'm going to go for it and when I'm done I will post before and after pictures. Thanks everyone for your input.

I have read that oak is hard to cover over with color , so it may work out great using stain . Do you have a sample piece of wood? You could do the inside of cabinet first.

fmblessed, oak cabinets are stained. Make sure you sand them down to bare wood before you stain again. Just read a nightmare story where someone tried to stain without stripping.

The prep is the most important part so strip and sand for sure.

If your cabinets are not stained, there is no need to use a gel stain. Go to Home Depot or some place similar and buy a piece of oak. Take your sample board to a paint store like Sherwin Williams. Tell them what you are doing and they will help. They will mix whatever color you want, and you can see it on your sample. Remember it will look different after you apply the clear.

If your cabinets are raw wood -- no finish, that is different than cabinets with a clear finish.

Which do you have?

Good Morning, I am trying to achieve the same look with my daughters cabinets , I have used the General Finsishes Gel stain on Bathroom vanities and it looks awesome!! I painted my oak kitchen cabinets with Black Paint from Benjamin Moore, they look great but do have some chipping with the Gel Stain no chipping, Definitly would use the Gel Stain, I found a light grey at a store in Florida the brand Is Wood Kote, they suggested mixing it will the black to darken , I am going to order today and attempt. Would love to see your finished product. The store name Constantienes Wood Center Phone # 954-561-1716 Good Luck

Hi!

I'm looking for the same color of gel stain.
Were you able to find charocal gray gel stain?
Have you tried mixing the colors?
I'm really curious how did it turn out :)

Hardly anyone comes back and posts what a disaster they had on hand by trying something that they were told not to do. Not many people follow up period. But the failures don't for sure.

Yes, I was able to find a light grey Gel Stain, At Constantienes Wood Center in Ft. Lauderdale , Florida. I purchased the light grey and the black, mixed a small amount of black in ( using another container and was able to choose the color, To get it to look solid use several coats, only problem smells very bad!!!!!!! Have to open the windows!!!

Could you please show the picture of the final result? I'm very curious!
Did you sand it down?
How is it holding up?

When you use Gel Stain you do not need to sand, I washed the cabinets with TSP can purchase at Home Depot in the Paint Department, it is a powder mix with warm water and wash cabinets, I let them dry for 24 Hours. Then started staining!! I do not have any pictures. With the Grey Gel Stain, I have used General Finishes Java Gel Stain, with great results. If you do not want the grain to show, I have also used Maison Blanche Chauk Paint with the General Finish Top coat sealer. So many different techniques to use, on my Kitchen Cabinets , I painted them black with a Benjamin Moore self leveling paint, great results, but I do have problems with chipping even though I prepped the cabinets. Just have to try different methods on a piece of scrap wood.

I bought black gel stain from woodcraft and then they had tubes of white paste I added to get charcoal. First try I had too much white. Picture is after 1 coat

How is the quest for charcoal going? Did a second or third coat provide the desired colour? I have wondered how to get a deep grey using a gel stain, and am curious as to your results.

General Finishes brand now sells a Gray Gel Stain. They also started carrying Black.

There are a comments and a couple of photos on Amazon suggesting the General Finishes Grey Gel Stain is more of a slate blue. Has anyone recently found a true grey or tried mixing a black gel stain to get a true grey(charcoal) color?

Still no pictures from anyone's project. Except the single soul brave enough to post their fail above. No one else wants to show how awful and muddy it looks.

Someone please post any results with any method you used to try to makeover oak cabinets or furniture with a charcoal grey stain gel. I've also read that the General Finishes grey gel stain is very blue so I'm staying away from that option.

Does it have to be gel stain? If you want a charcoal color try paint. Annie Sloan chalk paint in Graphite

General Finishe's Gel Stain in Java is widely used. Google it and you will find tons of Before and Afters of Kitchen Cabinets. I've only used their wood stains and they super potent compared to minwax. I have a can of gel stain for a small later project.

Just a heads up, almost all grey gel and wood stains are very blue in tone. If you want a real grey tone, I would just use latex. I checked out Annie Sloan, when I started looking to refinish all my cabinets, but it super expensive and fussy for what you get. And if you aren't looking to distress or for the expensive shabby chic look, then I would stay away from that product. Check out BM Advance.

I've used Java Gel too. But it's not grey.

I'm looking for the same thing. I've used General Finishes java gel stain on smaller oak pieces with great results...it comes out almost black...I'm going to try ordering a small can of gray and experiment with it, maybe mixing java and gray, because I don't want a blue tone, and don't want to paint the cabinets. I just installed charcoal vinyl plank and it looks awful with 80's "orange oak "cabinets. I've also used the chalk painting kits from Lowes with good results.

Hello judylloyd! I am interested to know how your quest to find a grey stain has turned out! I am also looking for the same thing as you and I would love to know your story! I have used GF Java Gel with great success but am looking for a gray stain now.

I did find grey stains , but none of them looked very good,( Lowes) and used walnut. I found java gel stain on amazon, and used it for something else. it is very dark, and looks almost black, or a really dark brown....no really good grey stains out there that I found

Oh....that's too bad. I'm not giving up though.....there HAS to be something out there! Thanks!!

It just seems that using General Finishes Black mixed with a lighter pigmented one (grey or white) would be a good starting point. Mix in the lighter one gradually, using a sample area and work with it until you get what you want.

this is General Finishes BLACK gel stain. (over honey oak). I did not strip. with Gel stain it isn't necessary bc it sits on top of the wood. I cleaned them well and lightly sanded with finer grain block. The gray by itself was really ugly and too blue. the Java was way to brown. So note to all,any coats are needed for rich color. I'll post a gray plus black tonight because I'm still experimenting.

Alison, you don't always have to strip, sanding will remove the top layer of stain. What I said was stripping will pull out ALL of the previous stain from the grain. Sanding will take off the top later of stain. Not doing either, was when I said the gel stain would just sit on top, like a nail polish.

Oak is a very pronounced grain wood (as opposed to maple). You are using black, which will also cover any lingering lighter shade. The point I was trying to make was if you want to do a superior stain job, normally you would strip off the old color. Ask any pro wood finisher and they will tell you the same thing. I have done it both ways and both have looked good. It depends on the type of wood and color stain.

btw, I just got some of the GF gel in black myself. Love it. I did this oak window casing in black aniline dye, and then the gel stain in black.

@Alison Ball, did you try to mix the black gel stain with the gray gel stain by chance? I noticed in several postings all over the 'net on the GF gray that it is very blue looking which, as you indicate, is not a good look to me. I was hoping I could mix the black gel stain with the gray to come up with a darker gray that is less blue. Thanks!

I've mixed 1 qt GF gray with 1/2 pint GF black and applied to an already stained hickory cabinet (unfortunately with a hickory floor we had to do something to differentiate the two). Here are 2 pictures of the same panel after 3 coats following a mineral spirits cleanup (first in direct sunlight, second in shade). Will need to touch up to get rid of the little brown showing. You are right that there is still some blue (can't get rid of it). If anyone has ideas how to get rid of it I'd love to hear.

instead of the gray, why not mix the black with the white stain? if the gray already has the blue undertones, mixing w/the black won't remove it. I've also mixed the black w/the brown tones, like walnut or chestnut. you can play around w/those as well. you can also take any oil based gray paint and cut it w/mineral spirits to make your own stain.