Keeping Kitchen Cabinets and other wood like new

I didn't take many pictures because you could hardly see the problem. Basically what my brother John and furniture making business owner said was that the top coat (that was put on after the glaze) was coming off. I could see a thin material peeling off in areas where the wood got a lot of exposure to steam.

The cabinets are about 10 years old so I can't complain about them not holding up. They are Diamond brand cabinets and nice quality.

With John's, help and suggestion, we took off about 11 of the doors and lightly sanded them carefully by hand with 220 grit sand paper. The doors above the microwave and stove top were the worst and had to be sanded the most. We were careful not to sand past the original stain and coffee glaze. The objective was to dull the finish and smooth off the spots where the top coat was peeling off. Sanding took the longest amount of time and most patience. John and Diane were great help.

Then we used cans of spray polyurethane to coat the doors. Of course we experimented first on an extra piece of cherry to make sure the sheen would be the same. We used a satin finish. I think we had about 3 thin coats before we were finished.

One of the doors above the stove dried funny. Apparently, cooler temperatures and/or humidity can change the look when drying. You could see areas of bubbly white showing through. John's wife Diane carefully sanded that door again with 320 grit sand paper. John blended some stain into the door and we top coated it again. As you can see, they look like new!

The front door had dulled with time. I used a marine Spar Varnish with  a satin finish a number of years ago. I can't remember for sure but it has probably been 7-8 years. It has a high UV protection and held up fairly well, however, it was dull and rather ugly looking. Since there was basically no sheen left, I used some of the old varnish to coat the door again. It went on really shiny this time and not very smooth.

John suggested I lightly sand the door like I did with the kitchen doors just to dull the finish but not take any of the stain off. I also put a light stain on the sanded material just to make sure it didn't stay white. Then I sprayed it with a product meant for doors called Helmsman Spar Urethane. It had a satin sheen also. I love it again like it was new.

The kitchen chairs were just dirty. I was told to use 0000 steel wool and Liquid Gold and scrub them clean. It worked great. I could scrub as hard as needed to get everything off and it didn't damage the wood. Diane and kids had used this method on the hand rail to the basement. I was amazed how much better they look.