After sanding, I applied the stain and waited 24 hours before I sprayed on the first coat of polyurethane. I wiped down all the stained parts to make sure the stain was absorbed and dry. I sprayed the front of the door frames and the panels. Since I like the results of the finish, I decided to use the spray-on poly for all the coats. Unfortunately, even after buying another can of poly, I ran out before I could apply the third coat. I am starting to believe that the $8 spray-on poly investment per four doors might be worthwhile. I was getting some runs, but I just need to be more careful. Nonetheless, I had to brush on the final coat of poly and the finish was still smooth. I tried using the wipe-on poly to finish the sides and backs of the door frames. That method worked for me with minimal amount of the wiping off of the stain.
I did not experience any issues with assembling the cabinet doors. The only problem was running out of nails while nailing down the panel trim. You think you are done, and the trim would just fall off because there were not any nails attaching it to the door.
I was worried about a couple of things. (1) Installing double doors and (2) Installing the shelving units on the pantry doors.
I had not been too successful installing double cabinet doors. Obtaining a small gap between the doors while making sure the doors were even was a fiasco. I learned to reduce the width of the doors by 1/16” because the hinges were larger than the old ones. I cannot use the old screw holes on the cabinet frames. The holes do not line up with the new hinges.
Nevertheless, using my elbow to press the door tight against the opening, holding the screw with one hand and the other holding the driver, I was able to attach the door. Just when you think you have a gap between the doors, the doors would hit. So, you make adjustments and re-screw the door hinges. That process could be repeated several times. It is tiresome. Since I had 3 sets of double doors, I had three times the fun of installing them.
I gave up on the doors above the refrigerator. I got my hand planer, removed one door and shaved about 1/8” off the side. Victory! The doors now fit. A little stain and poly on the edge and I was done.
Once the upper pantry cabinet doors were installed, it was time to mount the shelving units. I thought I had this process figured out by clamping a piece of wood to the bottom of the door and placing the unit on the wood. Unfortunately, I did not have much area to clamp a piece of wood. Instead, I just used the clamps to mount the shelving units on.
Once I had the unit sitting on the clamps, I tried to screw it to the door. Unluckily, the screws were too short. With the panel sticking out ¼”, the unit was too far away from the door frame to attach it. Consequently, I removed the shelving unit, went downstairs, got a bag of screws, and dug around the bag to find larger screws.
For some unknown reason, I decided to drive the screws further from the edge of the shelving unit. The result was screws poking through the panel. The screws went through the panel instead of the frame. I just backed off the screws and tried to flatten the bump with a piece of wood and a hammer. Not a completely successful feat, but good enough. On the positive side, the ¼” deeper shelving units did not hit the inside pantry shelves as I feared.
A couple swings of the cabinet doors and I was done. Efiwym would organize the pantry shelves and put the items sitting on the counter back into the pantry. That side of the kitchen is now complete. Every once and awhile I like to step back and admire my work. Not bad for this just-okay DIYer.
My Zen moments do not happen during the cabinet door upcycling, only after they are done. Onto the next set of doors…
