You aren't changing the color without stripping off the existing finish. To me the floors read more orange than the cabinets. If the top they selected and the new flooring are chosen already and the proper color that should help with the cabinets as well.

Cleaning them is just Dawn and a microfiber. You don’t change the stain color of anything without stripping and starting over. Or painting.

I guess the reason I asked is because I saw a post regarding gel stains, and didn't know if we should try that. I also saw something about Briwax, but I heard you shouldn't do that if you are going to paint them in the future. THEREFORE, I think we should just clean them. Dawn is the best way to go?

And yes we are hoping the new countertops and floors will help the situation!

"I always see this at Home Depot."

Best place for it is at the store. No better than the deck restore, makes a huge mess and then you can never do anything else expect replace.

Join the Kitchen Cabinet Painting Experts group on Facebook if you want to learn a thing or two from the pros. Gel stain is a one shot deal. If you don’t like it, and it is mostly ugly, then your next step is strip them all back or replacement. Stripping never happens. It’s too much work.

Ugh. Well I think their two choices are to save up and have them professionally painted or save up and have them professionally stripped and stained. They both work crazy hours and DIY is not their thing.

So back to the cleaning. Should they just use dawn and warm water?

Update: They decided to just clean and keep what they have for now. New laminate was just installed and now in the process of picking a backsplash. Much better. Also installed black pulls. The house ended up needing a lot more work than originally thought (of course). New HVAC, and all of the electrical had to be fixed. All new faucets in the entire house, doors, door knobs, all flooring, all new blinds, etc. Cabinets will stay as they are for now but with these countertops they look so much better and were inexpensive!

Huge improvement! Not normally a fan of black hardware but that looks sharp and somehow makes the cab color more subtle

they /you made some nice choices. Looks quite inviting actually.....a nice classic look. Glad it worked out.

Thanks! I'm not a huge fan of the curtain but it's my daughter's house not mine so whatever makes her happy!

The cabinets look great. I like the new hardware too. I think they made the right choice.

What a beautiful change!

BTW, they HAVE a backsplash. It is the curb that extends above the counter. They shouldn’t add to that. Just paint the wall between that curb and the cabinets. The counters look great. They have made good choices.