I've used tung oil preps on furniture. Not so waterproof. I have a dark stain circular stain on my oak table from a bottle cap.

Riverspots, can you be more specific about 'tung oil preps'? Reason being that a lot of so-called 'tung oil finishes' contain zero tung oil.

Mulemom--I'm planning to use real tung oil on my cabinets. Used tung oil on new wood window interiors that have been installed for three years & so far, so good. Refinished w/ tung oil some window frames which have been in service 4 or 5 years & those still look good. These are old windows that need replacing--leaky, lots of condensation & interior ice, even! Extreme conditions & I'm very satisfied w/ how the finish has held up. As an experiment, late last summer I used tung oil on the redwood side trays of my outdoor gas grill when I refinished them. They've been thru a lot of rain & snow over the fall & winter with no change in appearance.

Anyway, I don't have any hesitation whatsoever about using tung oil on kitchen cabinets. More labor intensive, sure, but the results are worth it to me.

I wouldn't be afraid of using it on the cabinets. We used tung oil on our hardwood floors. I like that it is not the least bit shiny and a cinch to touch up. (fyi, it was stained darker first). We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, but they don't seem to bother the floor - it's the humans in the house - and they rarely get scratched. I've only touched up a few places in 4yrs.

You could always try it out on a door or drawer back, and if you don't like change what you're doing.

Isn't there a GW section on Furniture Refinishing? May be another place to ask.

Agreed. not sure what riverspots used, but the pure tung oil on my kitchen counters beads water until it dries up. The waterlox on the floor seems to absorb drops, but not be remotely affected by it.

Thanks all. I think I will get a couple of pieces of different woods and pure tung oil and give it a try to test out and see if I can persuade DH.

i think plenty of people use tung oil ...especially on floors & countertops. don't see why cabinets would be any different. try and run a search since i recall lots of discussion about finishing it off with waterlox -which is what i'd like to do on our floors. good luck!

I have tung oil under Waterlox on the table that's used constantly, day in and out, and it's held up amazingly well.

I used pure tung oil thinned - I prefer the orange natural citrus solvent - until it didn't soak in anymore, then rubbed on Waterlox thinned with pure tung oil and solvent, the idea being to build up a finish. I added some oil-based stain to the tung oil and warmed up the wood a little that way.

The only thing that would make me hesitant would be the number of applications and how much work and time it would take.

@Eileen Zeigler I'm also thinking of doing 100% tung oil over cherry wood for cabinetry. I've looked into Waterlox and tested it but not been happy with the results. It's a wiping varnish so actually produces a film that can be tacky and capture dust if not done in a clean room, and it has linseed oil in it, so the color wasn't the greatest outcome very orange in hue. The tung will tend to be more amber while the linseed oil is more yellow. Here's the best article I've found on using tung oil for indoor furniture. Read the comments, too, as there is a lot of information: Tung Oil: Debunking the Myths from Canadian Woodworking.