Can we talk about how long it takes to match an existing stain on a 20 year old kitchen?

I had a job last month refacing an oak kitchen in Portland built around 2003. Thought I could mix a custom stain in an afternoon but it took me three full days of testing on scrap pieces to get the color right. The customer's original finish had yellowed and darkened unevenly over time. Has anyone else dealt with a repair where the old stain just refused to match no matter what you tried?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana11926d ago

You know what helped me on a nightmare job like that? I finally broke down and did a layered approach with a gel stain over a base coat. The oak in that 2003 kitchen had this weird orange undertone from years of sunlight hitting the polyurethane. I did a light sand, hit it with a very thin amber shellac first to recreate the yellowing, then used a slightly darker gel stain on top and wiped it back until it matched the faded parts. It took two coats but that got me closer than any single can I mixed up. The gel gave me way more control over the color depth than a liquid stain ever did on that old wood.

williams.kim26d ago

Disagree hard @jana119, gel stains just sit on top and peel off later.