Olau, you have done a beautiful job; your cabinets are looking beautiful. We have a lot of natural wood in our home. We put Thompson's Water Seal on it. That was three years ago, the wood still looks great, and it didn't darken the wood, it did bring out the grain a little more (which I love).

olau, I admire you for all your hard work and you are doing a such great job. i know how much work it is do strip and refinish i have done it with a lot of furniture and your cabinets look beautiful! oak is a wonderful hard wood with a beautiful grain. it is very expensive that is why you don't see wood cabinets in homes. I think you are doing a beautiful job. everyone is so afraid of things looking dated and not loving the beauty of the wood. i know it is not everyone's taste and that is fine, but most people paint it because they think is a cheep look and that is not true. now old wood is the rage! old barn wood and wide plank floors the average person can't even afford to buy and 20 years ago you were considered poor if you had a farm table. well the good thing is pretty much every 20 years design repeats itself so these cabinets are making a comeback and your hard work is going to help bring it back. i have oak cabinets and i am proud of them. i had them custom installed 18 years ago when they were on the way out and i have been wanting to paint them ever since because of all the design peer pressure... i can honestly say i love them and i am glad i didn't paint them. i brought an updated look to my kitchen, new sink, granite counters, backsplash, new appliances (stainless steel) the handles on my cabinets to a contemporary brushed nickel, and painted the walls a heather blue- it is a really soft grey, new lighting and my kitchen looks beautiful it would have been such a waste of money to replace them.

lamandulak,

You said it so well. Trends come and go. I cringe when I see a discussion, "Should I paint my solid cherry cabinets white?"

Remember white was all the rage in the 80's? People wanted to get rid of dark cabinets. Then back to dark, then, pickled. On it goes.

Truth is that quality cabinets can look good in any time and your kitchen can be updated in other ways.

Check out water based varathanes. They shouldn't change your cabinet colour at all. I think you have done an amazing job !!

I will admit that I have not read the entire thread BUT...you said at the beginning..."I started stripping them to bare wood..and actually I LOVE the color of natural oak! I am just going to leave it like that. I just wonder if I am all excited and think that looks good, or it actually does look good ;)??".
That really bothered me. If YOU think it looks good it does! Who is the judge and jury? They are your cabinets and you will look at them every day. Wood is beautiful and I feel that natural wood is exceptional. Nature knows best. Just my two cents. P.S. I would not mix natural wood with white cabinets. That is a trend that is bound to go bye bye.

I also haven't read the entire thread so apologies if this has already been covered, I wondered if it was an option to turn the upper corner cabinets into shelving. It would open it up and let the lovely oak doors below shine.

Late to the party, but there ARE protective low/no sheen finishes you can apply, if you want to stay safely with that stripped look.

They're called hard-wax oils, and one of the best is Rubio Monocoat. They're more often seen as flooring finishes, but they're also suitable for vertical surfaces. More info here:

http://napervillehardwood.com/blog/the-hardwax-oil-experiment-part-2-monocoat/

I totally agree with you about the stripped look - it's gorgeous- just look at the goodies over on Remodelista for MANY examples, or google "stripped oak kitchens" etc.

Imandulak, I agree with your comments about wood cabinets and everyone painting them. I have oak cabinets too, which I have grown to love and appreciate. Would love to see pics of updates you've done to your kitchen, without painting cabinets - I'm considering doing the same.

People who think painting beautiful wood white is all the rage probably started wearing bell bottom jeans in the '80s. :)

In some parts of the country and world, oak is never outdated...it's timeless!

I just did a budget kitchen for my hurricane sandy damaged property. While there were many cabinet choices; it happened that the cheapest ones to buy were solid wood oak with a clean profile just like yours. What can make a very big difference in your kitchen and save you money is to change out the sink, appliances counter tops and backsplash. Put new hardware on the those cabinets and kitchen will be charmer.

someone asked if i could share some pictures of my oak cabinets that i didn't paint when i renovated my kitchen. well I took some pics. I am a little nervous to share. i love my kitchen but i am no decorator. we are do it your selfer's on a budget. my husband and i tried decorated according to our style home (60's raised ranch) and we wanted to incorporate both of our tastes in to the space.
we took down the wall separating dining room and kitchen, put in new granite counters, with the left over granite we made a table top. new sink, faucet, backsplash, ceiling fan, hardware on cabinets, appliances, paint and new windows. when we took down the wall to the dining room the space still seemed rather small so we added a row of windows. i was very scared cutting this huge hole out of my house in cold weather but boy was it worth it! it opened up the space and the natural light is unbelievable! to be honest this was the best money spent. it transformed the my kitchen. it really wasn't that expensive and we did purchased quality windows in oak to match.we have been working on this room for 3 years (on and off of course) but so far it has been worth it! i am almost ready to rip out the old tile floor and then i think we will be done. can't wait! thank you for asking for pictures, it was fun to share.

You really improved your space. No reason to be nervous ,you did great !

Olau, I'm happy to have run across this post. I am currently getting ready to undertake the same project that you are working on. (It's how I found this post.) I am happy to see that the finish from the oak cabinets can be stripped and cleaned down as nicely as you have done them. It looks like the wire brushing is an absolute must. May I ask how long it took you to clean up the "face" of the cabinets? I love the look of natural wood, just not the golden or honey color they always put on the oak. At Lowes, or other "box stores" you can buy a piece of "toe kick" both in the finished honey oak and in the unfinished oak, I am going to use this to try finishing techniques on. If I'm lucky they may have an even smaller piece of wood I can experiment on. The toe kick in our area is about $18. My plan is to do a light whitewash or pickling on the oak and then sealing with a clear water base finish flat or matte finish. I believe most clear coats will darken a wood to a degree so maybe by very lightly white washing then clear coating it will help to keep that nice light color of the natural wood. My plan is also to stop by a local paint shop rather than the big box store to ask their opinions on the best way or color to choose for my whitewashing (possible color washing) and clear coating. (Big box store people seem to be too busy to answer all my questions or may not have all the knowledge that a dedicated paint store may have.) From what I have read so far, an oil base clear coat will tend to yellow over time, where as a water base does not. I hope to verify this at paint store in a couple of days and to also check how well a water base will hold up in a kitchen. I personally love a nice whitewash finish, but ONLY if done super neatly where it is evenly coated with no gobs of color or white smears in it. I want it to look "fresh" and not old and un-cared for. If you want to paint your upper cabinets white, maybe a light white wash on your bottom cabinets would help them to blend a little more? Just a thought. It is obvious that you have spent a lot of time on the stripping work, I am happy to see that it can be done so beautifully, that was the part I was concerned about before starting my project. But now I see it can be done. Oh, sorry so long winded, but another thing I was going to check on at the paint store was a wood conditioner. I've seen it recommended for use on wood before staining, to keep the stain even, I do not know if it applies to wood before whitewashing or clear coating. Good luck, and please post more picture on your progress!!!

My nearly 30 year-0ld custom made oak cabinets are turning orange, but I'm betting they will just keep on getting darker and darker...if I live long enough. They will certainly outlive me. I do like the look of the bare oak. Great job!

I think you will need some clear oil or tung oil on them.

As I had mentioned in above post, I am researching the same type project that you are doing. I went to my local "paint store" and asked a gazillion questions...

If you decide to stain or white wash they did recommend a wood conditoner or a prestain, in particular on a project where you are stripping a finish off, to keep your new stain or finish from having a blotchy or streaked affect.

They also said they would recommend an oil base over a water base clearcoat for a kitchen. When I asked them about yellowing, they did say an oil base would eventually yellow a little, but it would take like 15 years or more before it did.

Best of all my local paint store said that if I brought in a sample piece of wood, they would be happy to apply a few different stain colors on it, to include a clear coat, so that I could take it home and check it out. (no charge of purchase necessary)

As for the wood to experiment on, turns out the toekick piece I had mentioned above is not good, super thin, and has a veneer or contact paper on it. They did however have a spacer board that was made of solid oak that would work, it was around $8. Or as another person posted, the back of a drawer should work fine. Good luck, looking forward to an update on your progress.

Olau, thank you for initiating this lively discussion! Love what you've done & i really love the hardware you have chosen. We just moved into a home with wood cabinets - i'm not sure whether oak or maple but they were not in very good shape to say the least - apparently the previous tenants (we bought it) weren't big on cleaning... I used a wire brush similar to yours, & a product i bought at Ben Moore "Chomp" and scrubbed over & over & over all the lowers & uppers (countless hours/days after my own 8-5 job), then washed over with tsp & water. We will remove the doors and will first prime with Stix, then paint with Ben Moore Advance Waterborne Interior (in Ivory White) Pearl finish. Our walls are Ben Moore Muslin (matte/flat). We were told to NOT use a white foam roller but for Advance Waterborne to use an "Excaliber" synthetic brush (we are in CDA, don't know US equivalent), & for the rolling part use either a regular white fluffy sleeve, or a velour sleeve. We too can't afford "fancy tiled" backsplash & instead are using beadboard also painted in Adv. Waterborne in a semi-gloss. We also couldn't afford new appliances - we were renting a basement suite for 14 years so starting from scratch when we bought. We have something called www.usedvictoria.com up here (each town has it's own site) and we bought a used, but new to us lovely stove, & a 9 year old large stainless steel fridge both are beautiful, the fridge doesn't look old at all, and they were very affordable! Keep it up, Olau - We're rooting for you!!

So Natural Paste Finishing Wax (Minwax) will not yellow the oak- just makes it shiny. Unfortunately it offers worse than no protection- with wax it is easy to get wax splotches with contact from hot water.

I've tried water based varnish (Minwax Polycrylic in a spray can): it darkens the wood (but does not yellow it).

Lacquer, varnish and oil all yellow the oak.

I'm now trying Fiddes "Hard Wax Oil - Oak Lightening." It has white pigment in it. I see some furniture from Crate and Barrel where they showcase teak on drawer fronts, but use natural appearing oak everywhere else- so the technology definitely exists. The label says wax / oil finish. Anyway, that's why I'm trying the Fiddes.

I tried the Rubio Monocoat oil plus and it yellowed my wood (pine) it was really really ugly, almost fluorescent, I had to sand it all over again (the whole ceiling..) and I'm now searching for another product, if you know one in Europe please help!!!

There is no finish that will not change the color of the wood. Some more than others. Oil finishes do add the amber color. Water based change it the least. The amount of color change you achieve is also a function of the type of wood you are treating. There are professional finishes that are known as "water white", meaning they will color the wood as water would. If you want to see what a water white finish will look like, just spray some water on the unfinished wood. That will be the closest you will be able to get if you can come up with a "water white" consumer finish, short of not putting anything on the wood. You should always do samples before any final application. Don't believe the color charts, or what you read on the cans.

I have the same oak cabinets and plan on stripping them like you did. I probably will hire someone and keep a close watch to make sure they do it right. I'm not as young as I used to be.
Your floor looks great do you need to replace it? I am stripping my oak floors when I do the cabinets. The finish will require a lot of research. I want them to stay as light as possible and still look natural.

It is VERY good idea to hire someone! It takes forever and if you don't have time to do it ( like I don't) it will take even longer. Unfortunatelly I am on the budget so I have no choice but fight with it :) I learned from the comments that it will be very difficult to finish the cabinets and keep the "raw" wood look, so I might just leave it unfinished. It is probably not the best idea, but it has been sitting unfinished for almost half a year and still looking good.

My floors are old linoleum - it has to be replaced at some point. I just don't like it, but to be honest, as a kitchen floor it works great. Easy to clean, water resistant - it just looks not the way I want it to look :)

Now my big problem is a backsplash - I am not sure what I want there. I have been buing samples of different mosaic (mostly travertaine style) to see how it looks, but there is always an issue ;) I might just put some beadboard and paint it - it seems like an easy project. At this point I should do someting because the walls are getting dirty and greasy.

to Al Fortunato Furnituremaker - My cabinets are red oak. I like the look of raw wood and thats why I haven't finished it with anything. Ideally I would want to achive flat/matte finish, not shiny, not wet look. And I do samples, oh Yes! I love samples :) You should see the back of some drawers! I would never start the project without doing samples! I also bought some red oak boards to practice on those, I wanted to try whitewash finish that wouldn't have a pink hue - it is not easy! Even after bleaching the wood - still looks pinkish..
Here is the link to bleached red oak floors, with one coat of white stain- I love this look, but it took professionals 2 weeks to do that, so imagine me, bleaching my cabinets ;)

http://mschardwoodfloors.com/node/3

Olau, The floors you linked to are just like floors in one of my clients homes. A few years ago they wanted some of them refinished and could find no one in the area willing to do it (I don't do floors). It is a difficult finish to achieve and match for refinishing. They did have them refinished, but they don't match the originals.

If what you really want to achieve is red oak with a flat finish on it and are willing to accept the color that a "clear finish" will produce, there are flat finishes available. McCloskey used to make one but they have been bought out by Valspar and no longer make the flat, (I don't use Valspar). Professional finishes can be made dead flat. Looks like there is nothing there (except for the color change). I mix my own sheens, and can go from dead flat to high gloss and anything in between. Maybe a paint store (such as Sherwin-Williams, not a big box store) could mix up some flat finish for you. Can't hurt to ask.

And, in a previous post you said that your cabinets have been unfinished for about 6 months. Before putting anything on them, they need to be cleaned and sanded again to achieve good adhesion of the finish.

Olau, check out The Wood Whisperer's website. Do you know when your house was built? Are the cabinets original to the house? It looks like you have a nice porcelain sink, which are had to come by anymore. I love white kitchens but it would look out of place in my home.
I am trying to keep my home true to the style and era and not introduce things which would never have been in the original design. I have added skylights and sky tubes. I have some ugly tile counter tops and the same tile as a backsplash which runs from right under the cabinets down to the counter. I want to replace that but with something in keeping with the style of the home. I don't know when I'll be able to fit that in the budget. :(

Olau, I also stripped my oak cabinets that are similar to yours. I didn't want a shiny finish, so I used 2 applications of Minwax wipe on polyurethane, sanding between coats. The finish isn't too shiny, but the color is almost the same as it was before stripping. So, I sanded a few doors back to the wood, and tried experimenting with darker stains on the back of the drawers. The java gel stain is too dark for me. My kitchen would seem like a cave. The other medium stains I tried made the wood look rustic, which is not the look I want. I'll end with a note of caution. I thought my top of the line Merillat oak cabinets had solid oak door and drawer fronts. They don't. If you sand or strip too much, you will remove the veneer.

This is an old post, I know. But should someone run across this by accident, as I did, I installed red oak cabinets in a bathroom and love the look of the raw wood. However, I was confronted with the same delima of protecting the wood. I used Briwax clear paste. Worked perfect. Buffed it and is hard as nails. No color change to grain at all.

This is an old post, but I really like two tone kitchens and oak wood, so I was wondering what the end result looks like. Did you go with the staining suggestions, or did you keep it natural looking? I'm still not sure what's the best way to go with my dream kitchen...

Sophia Liam | http://www.kitchensfloorsandmore.com/kitchen-cabinets.php

Unfortunately I haven't finish my project yet. No time. I might end up buying upper cabinet doors - unfinished oak with NO arch, just square frame.
I hoping to get the kitchen done during this summer.

I really enjoyed looking through this discussion! I am on the fence about painting the oak cabinets in my new place or stripping them. Your post is helping me lean towards stripping to enjoy the natural wood.

Sounds like you have some good suggestions above. Have you heard of a "soap finish"? It's a common danish/scandinavian technique. By dissolving soap flakes (which contain lye), you can create a rub on finish that is breathable but helps protect the wood while not yellowing it. http://www.woodshopnews.com/columns-blogs/finishing/498776-soap-can-be-a-surprisingly-good-furniture-finish

Oak is wood. Wood doesn't go out of style. The 80's look was the wood cabinets with no pulls. Add nice pulls and the cabinets will look great. There's a difference between something not being contemporary and out of style. Some things will always in style.

You might want to look at some of the treatment options provided by Rubio Monocoat. You may be able to preserve that more natural look by using the right combo. http://www.monocoat.us/Precolor-Easy/

I also love the look of raw natural oak. But as any wood, as soon as you apply a finish (even non yellowing), it gets yellow (the best test is simply to use a wet rag and see the color difference). I have an old butcher block counter height table that had gotten really yellow over the years and looked so dated. I did some research and unfortunately we do not live in Europe where keeping the natural look of wood must be common as they have plenty of products to achieve that timeless look. So I came up with the solution (but it is very time consuming). First I sanded down with 80 sandpaper. Then I used 150 sand paper. I removed all dust with a vacuum cleaner then a wet rag and let dry thoroughly. Then I made a white wash with regular white latex paint and water. I ended up having about 2/3 water 1/3 paint. I did test in a small spot to make sure I would be happy with the final color. I applied this with a brush over the wood, and wiped off all excess with a rag. I let dry thoroughly. After it was completely dry I sanded slightly with 220 sand paper. Be careful when you sand: if you sand down too much of the white, then you will end up with a yellow spot (to be sure your whitewash is even after sanding you can use a wet rag, and reapply whitewash in places that look too yellow once wet). Then dusted again. Then it was time to apply Polycrylic from Minwax. The recommend 3 coats. If it is not a heavy duty surface like a table you are probably good with just 2 coats. The first coat soaks in and looks really uneven. Then you need to sand with 220 paper in between. Then apply a another coat. The whole process is really long, but you do get the look of natural oak with not a hint of yellow. I know because I compared my raw wood with the white washed/Polycrylic and you could not tell the difference. Good luck!

Check out Rubio Monocoat. It's a Belgium product.

http://napervillehardwood.com/blog/the-hardwax-oil-experiment-part-2-monocoat/
http://www.monocoat.us/Precolor-Easy/

I like the stripped look, and I'm not a big fan of oak. I do know tho, that you will be dealing with it going darker again, so you might want to whitewash it or research another solution. I have no idea if bleaching it would work or not... You might want to invest in a new countertop tho...something darker. Love the hardware. I didn't read ALL the comments, but I know what a limited budget looks like, so do what you can, when you can, and if you mismatch for a while, so be it. Good luck to you, that's a lot of hard work!

I realize this thread is REALLY old but I'm one of those crazy people who have decided to refinish my oak cabinets. I am a Formby's refinisher gal because I like the way it redistributes the stain. I LOVE the look of my "antique" oak cabinets now but I am also concerned about the finish. I refinish a lot of antiques and I've always used Formby's poly finish. With these cabinets I want to keep this exact look and I'm concerned about yellowing and also I don't want any shine. Did you decide on a finish? I'm debating between a water based polyurethane or Watco oil. I've just recently read a thread about using Mineral Oil. Anyone have any suggestions?

@ vetfuller - I recently refinished my oak cabinets and used a water based spar urethane to decrease yellowing. There is too much going on in my kitchen to go without a protective finish. You might get more response if you start a new thread as many ignore the old ones.

Following

If you love the wood, don't paint. Varnish with a very flat finish that is very clear and does not yellow at all, or it will look the same as before.

Try any finish on a small section you won't see or that you can easily clean/sand down and wait until it is dry. Even a completely clear flat finish may darken your wood by simply getting absorbed in the wood fibers.

Looks so great, what did you end up finishing it with?

I keep ending up back at this post because i love the way the stripped cabinets look, too too. were they sanded or deglossed, or both...?

I think you should at least give the stripped oak cabinets a coat or two of a protectant sealer for a wipeable surface in case of spills or splashes. I’ve had clearcoated oak and loved it when in my natural-is-best phase.

I love this so much! It's especially neat that you seemed to be ahead of a trend as now the natural wood is all the rage! What process did you use to do such a great job?!

beautiful!! i know this is old but HOW did you get your cabinets to the bare wood look?? thanks!

Stripper than A TRUCK LOAD OF SANDING. For sure a DIY--ya can't afford to pay someone...the plainer your door profile the easier the sanding is. And there are cuts that keep their stain no matter what you do as in inset panels on a shaker frame.

Hi Olau, can you tell me your process for stripping the cabinets and what you decided to use as a clear finish? Thanks!

So it has been 8 years, did you leave them raw looking? I love the raw look and want to strip my cabinets, your post is one of the only ones I can find. Please update.

Exactly my thoughts I just stripped down our railings which had kind of a 70's. dark walnut color. Now they are in their natural state which I love. Looks Scandinavian. So instead of painting over or staining the golden oak cabinets in our kitchen I will do the same and bring them back to their natural state. It will take more work because of the grooves but the idea of the natural motivates me more. I just find it a shame when people paint over oak even though it looks nice.