Magic Erasers are just sandpaper. You’ve permanently damaged the finish. Contact the manufacturer and order new doors.

i dont know who made them, they came with the house. Is there a way to find that out? Im not thinking so. Yes, i know (now) that they are sandpaper, and that the finish is gone. Can they not just be refinished somehow? I think on most of the cabs i just went over the whole thing lightly. They look a bit different, the grain pops out more, and they are less glossy but its uniform. I almost like it; Certainly livable. Two cabs received harder scrubbing mostly in one are and these are the two that look bad. Im thinking of hardwood floors now- when their finish gets worn away they can be refinished, you dont need to throw them away and start over. Surely there is an option like this for cabinets? And since its really only two doors Im hoping for a diy. I have not disturbed the stain at all, just the layer of “sheen”

There are several remedies but there is not enough information to give you a suggestion. You may not get perfect results without a lot of work, but you can probably get it past noticeable to the naked eye if you only damaged the sheen. Mostly, don't panic, find a furniture restorer or refinisher in your area and take a door to him/her and see what you have on their now and what they suggest.

If you really want to DIY it, it is not that hard, but I would find out what is on them now, if they happen to lacquer it is easy to fix, anything else and you can just use a poly. If you have a local woodworking supply store take a door off and take it to them. They will help you.

If you have only scuffed up the clear coat then you could use a product like Minwax wipe-on poly. It's available in 3 sheen levels, satin, semi and high gloss. You use a soft cloth to apply very very thin coats and it will blend in well. Try a small area first, takes about 6 hours to dry to the touch.

omg thank you guys so much. i was in tears at first thinking i have to burn the house down and start again lol

Where do u live? I know of an amazing furniture restoration company in Cincinnati. I've seen them spot fix areas on cabinets as big as my hand. They're true miracleworkers! If you don't live near Cincy, then search in your area for a furniture repair specialist. Call furniture stores and kitchen dealers. Many times, they'll know someone has a biz relationship with them and can refer you.

So sorry this happened.. definitley don't panic. I am sure you can fix it even if it is to just make it a little better. I always tell my cstomers to think of their kitchen cabinets like they were a $20,000 table - what would you clean that with?

I would suggest anything you want to try - do it on the inside of a doors first and see what happens.

Best of luck! Make sure to come back and tell us how it went - I am sure there are many other people in the same situation!

I did the same thing in my last house to just one spot where one of my boys used a sharpie. Ruined the finish in a small spot. Taught me about the evil of magic erasers. I had no idea either! I’m sorry this happened to you.

Shoot! That sounds like something I would do. You've gotten good advice. The only thing I would add is: step away from the kitchen. If I were me, at this point, I'd take the weekend off (at a minimum) get out of the house, decompress, and come back with fresh eyes next week. Best of luck!

Post a picture after you've it 'em with Scott's Liquid Gold please.

Yes, try Scott’s. If that doesn’t help, try Howard’s Feed & Wax. If that doesn’t work, you can always call Howard’s and ask if their Restore-A-Finish might help. I once saved an antique lowboy with that stuff — nail polish remover spill. But before using RAF I do like best the option of trying to take a door to a skilled craftsman, if you can find one. Those sponges ARE the devil. My regular painter once found a box of them in my work bin on a project, chastised me roundly, and chucked them in the garbage. He said they ruined paint.

Interesting factoid: Magic erasers are made of melamine foam. Not only is melamine the stuff they make those unbreakable plastic plates from, but it is also the wear-coating on the surface of formica and similar laminates And it's the stuff that unscrupulous farmers in China used a few years ago to get their milk to pass nutrition tests (high in nitrogen), but it poisoned children.

i was getting marks from the kids off the walls with them and it was working so well i moved onto the cabs... facepalm. My husband just laughed at me and doesnt really care but to me its so obvious and awful depending on your viewing angle and the lighting. I really like these cabs! After the weekend I will find someone to take a door to. Ill post befores and afters to help anyone else that does this. It DOES say on package, in very tiny letters, not to use on wood. facepalm

As was mentioned up thread, Restore A Finish can be a great solution—very easy to DIY and you really can’t screw it up! Can you post some pictures?

Many of these home “solutions” will actively harm a modern cabinet finish. A furniture restorer like Furniture Medic would use UV cured resins to get close to a modern CV finish that a cabinet finish would have. Leave the rest alone. Its likely to be close to buying a new door in cost to do it correctly, with longevity. Better than having to buy a whole new set of doors from some of that stuff.

Whatever you do DO NOT use any orange stuff...not orange glow or oil or anything else of that nature. You will only further damage the finish where you have dulled it.
Be sure your cabinets are clean and grease free ( but I guess you have already done that. :-) then simply take a piece of paper towel, the good kind that doesn't shred....and put some Min wax antique Oil finish on it and wipe on your cabinets.....a VERY thin coat. Repeat if you would like after the first dries.
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If you are really resigned to having some shop do it for you....try my suggestion first.....can't hurt if you are going to have them redone....but I will bet there will be no need to re-do.
And yes, I have done that...in 3 different kitchens ( not all of them mine!)

Could just take some 2000 grit sandpaper or some ultrafine polishing compound for woodworking and polish them all to an even sheen again. Not a small job but not overwhelming either. If you've never used super fine sandpaper to polish a finish before, probably best left to a hired pro.

I don't know how old your cabinets are, and how much you like them, but you could also use this as a chance to renew them. A clear pre-catalyzed WB topcoat could be sprayed on. It would give you a new clearcoat of even sheen. Again, a job for a pro.

Plenty of threads on Houzz where “pros” have totally face palmed major projects......

put some Min wax antique Oil finish on it and wipe on your cabinets

Minwax antique oil finish is a penetrating solvent based product and is not compatible with several modern cabinet finishes. Many solvent based systems try to penetrate the wood while poly's set on top. It is typically OK to do poly over penetrating oil and rarely OK to do penetrating oil over poly. You can create a giant mess trying to get an even sheen over a 2k poly.

If I was giving blanket advice without seeing or knowing anything else then wipe on clear dewaxed shellac. Shellac sticks to everything and everything sticks to shellac. It is what a lot of experienced woodworkers use when they get uneven sheen's on furniture because it almost always works and rarely causes problems. However, over time it will yellow a bit.

Many of the solvent finishes such as lacquers will blend into the previous coats even after 20 years, which is one of the beautiful things about lacquers is that they can be refreshed with little trouble, so knowing what the current finish is will allow for better advice, which is why I recommended taking it to an experienced woodworker or cabinetmaker.

Disclaimer: if it turns out to be lacquer turn off pilot lights and open doors...lacquer goes boom!

thats the largest ruined area. its only noticable from certain angles or depending in how the light hits if that makes sense. i dont know how they were finished so I am afraid of making it worse

i like the cabs, and i just contracted some work in my basement, so def cant reface them now

There are several options that are going to get you acceptable results.

The longest lasting option is going to be finding a polyurethane with a matching sheen and rub that in. Try to blend the edges to even things out, or you can take a green scotchbrite pad and knock the sheen off the entire raised panel and poly that.

You can also just wipe on some furniture paste wax and buff it to a shine. Paste wax will actually work over oil finishes and poly's, although it adds little to poly's. Again try it on a scrap piece to compare the sheen.

Or, you just hit them with shellac. Shellac has been the go-to product for furniture restorers for a long time now because it almost always works. You can just get a spray can of shellac and spray on light coats until you get acceptable results or grab a wipe on can and wipe it on. Shellac will work but, again, I would do some practice runs on a scrap piece of wood and compare the sheen. The one advantage you will have with an aerosol can and light coats done thoughtfully is an automatic blending. Shellac has a strong odor but it is just denatured grain alcohol, so just don't drink it, reach for the Everclear instead (which is grain alcohol that hasn't been denatured).

Honestly, I would try to find a reputable furniture refinisher and ask them to refinish the doors.

I think there is a franchise called Furniture Medic that would be able to do this type of repair.

The moving company that was used during our last relocation move, used them to repair a piece of furniture that got damaged.

I have the exact same problem, did you find any solution?

I did the same thing! ...to basically all the cabinet doors 😭 any of the above suggestions work? Trying not to spend a fortune fixing this

I just did this to my cabinets too! I was cleaning the wall where my niece what putting her dirty feet and I moved to cabinets... help!! We just moved in and there is no way I can afford to refinish cabinets. It’s slight a few spots and only at certain angles, but with the lights on I CANT STOP SEEING IT!

@HU-457955908 and @Mallory Prokopuk What caused this? Magic Eraser as well?? This is something that I would do as well, cleaning and shining then BAM its ruined :( Hope you get a resolution..

Find out who manufactured the cabinets (brand,door, finish) and order replacement doors. Replacements aren't nearly as expensive as replacing an entire kitchen.

I think that's all you can do.

Unless you can find a company in your area that does furniture repair and finishing. If you're anywhere near Southern Ohio, contact Professional Furniture Services in Amelia, OH. They are true artisans....miracle workers actually. I've had finish gouges 2 feet long that they repaired and you can't see any hint of it!

Want some glass doors? Have a carpenter rout out the center panel, add glass!

Try rubbing it with either raw pecans or walnuts. The natural oils in raw nuts works wonders on wood surfaces. It won't be a poly coating but, it will restore some sheen until you can find a permanent solution.

I actually never did anything.... I was too paralyzed by fear of making it worse. There was one cab that was really bugging me at first (THE ONE PICTURED ABOVE) but now I barely register it. I thought about dulling all of them with the damn eraser so at least it was even, i thought about just greasing it slightly to restore sheen.... ended up just leaving it. I have 4 kids 5 and under so everything gets beat anyway.... ill replace them when they are older. I would try the walnut thing though- I have restored damage to a wood table that way and i dont think you could hurt it worse. Then again one of yours is a painted surface it looks like so I dont know. I SO WISH MAGIC ERASER SAID IN BOLD ON THE FRONT THAT ITS SANDPAPER. That was not at all obvious to me but if it was I never would have used it. I thought it was magic!

What color are your cabinets? I tried the cooking oil, maybe it helped a little? Awesome that it took care of it for you! I can still tell on mine but I think I’m just getting used to it haha.

Oils will soften and ruin cabinet finishes. Only oil them if having them stripped and refinished, or replaced, is on your radar for future costs. A standard cabinet finish that is adhered well, and isn’t gummy or damaged from contaminators like orange oils, pledge, Liquid Gold, Restorafinish, etc, can be scuff sanded and painted over that existing finish. When you contaminate the cabinets with any of that stuff, it’s got to be stripped to bare wood first. Meaning, those go in the dumpster. Because stripping cabinets never happens unless it’s DIY. Way too many labor hours that could just go to buying new cabinets.

I would reach out to the manufacturer. They have touch up kits and often you can get just the top coat.

Where would I find out who the cabinet maker is? We just purchased the home, we didn’t build, so I have no idea.

If it is a better brand, there will be a logo somewhere on a drawer box or sometimes a sticker inside the sink base

After using a Magic Eraser on my painted kitchen cabinets, I found this thread but didn’t see any agreement on a course of action so I called my cabinet manufacturer today. Below is their advice in order of operation. If one step doesn’t work for you, try the next until you get the desired result.

Step 1. Rub scuffed area vigorously with a brown paper bag - which I didn’t have, so I used brown craft paper instead.

Step 2. Rub scuffed area vigorously with a plastic bag.

Step 3. Wipe scuffed area with NON-ACETONE nail polish remover on a soft cloth.

Step 4. Clean scuffed area with Guardsman Deep Clean.

Step 5. If you know the cabinet manufacturer and color/finish name, call a dealer to purchase touch up spray.

Eureka! Step 1 worked great on my cabinets but I had to rub pretty hard. Even though I no longer need it to repair my cabinets, I ordered Guardsman Deep Clean on Amazon to use next time in place of a Magic Eraser. 🙄

Good luck to you!

I plan to paint my cabinets could I use the magic eraser instead of sanding them all down?

While magic eraser is abrasive like sand paper, I don't believe it will have enough abrasiveness to rough them up enough for the paint to get a bite.

Glad I found this thread! Just did the same thing! Ugh!!🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ Just called our painter that just repainted our whole kitchen! So mad!

I always tell my customers to think of their cabinets as a $20,000 dining room table and treat them as such. No cleaners like that should be used on cabinets, just a simple mild soap and water. Ans then dry them. If there is a stain, contact the company first or try a product on the inside of a door before doing the outside.

I'm still amazed at the amount of people who use chemicals on their countertops and don't rinse when done.

Take care of yourselves and your wonderful kitchens!

This thread is actually really old but I felt I should mention something different bc I did not see this as a possible solution for those who are trying to remedy the problem of sheen damage to their cabinet doors. Rubbing a dull sheen when cleaning can buff up the sheen making that area noticeably stand out with high sheen spot. Just as a door with a higher sheen can be rubbed with a more abrasive material or chemical this can have a lowering of the sheen effect.

In either case a good approach to this would be first to ensure to prep the surface before applying any type of sheen corrector on it .

!st Best way is to first use a damp cloth mild soap and water (Dawn is a safe brand to use) to remove sugary film or grease residue on surface.

2nd Once clean and dry you will want to lightly sand with a super fine grit 2000 sand paper

the area so that the sheens both shiny and dull are fading into each other. This will make it easier to coceal when you touch up the area.

3rd Identify what kind of material is used on cabinets. It is important because if the product your cabinets are not catalyzed what ever you use can have an adverse reaction to ti.

For instance am uncatalyzed poly or an oil enamel finish will not be able to be touched up with a clear lacquer spray , reaction could make the finish crinckle and lift. To ensure this does not occur it is best to test out a small area . Preferrably the back of a drawer front for a reaction prior to using a clear lacquer spray can.

4th Choose to spray the back of a door to get the hang of sheen blending by first lightly sanding with 2000 and then lightly spraying that area .

Choose the appropriate sheen level by Using a easy to spray touch up spray can like deft or valspar Clear Lacquer Matt, Satin , Semigloss or gloss, spray a light coat starting from one end of the AFFECTED AREA TO THE OTHER. These spray coating are very light and thin making it easy to blend into finish.

If you are not satisfied with the first pass . You may need to hit this area again , keep in mind of blending your mist coat so that it basically disappears into the original sheen.

Practicing on the back of a door is important to do so you can have the confidence and experience to hit the faces of the doors to be corrected.