When we moved into this house, our kitchen cupboards were painted white but seemed to be rather shoddily done. They have wainscoting and it's a nice wood thick wood. The cupboards are sturdy and large and I want to keep them, I just want to improve them.
A couple of years ago my husband agreed to sand them all down and stain them. Bless his heart, he spent a lot of hot summer days sanding them and staining them to a lighter color. The staining brings out the pattern in the wood and they are okay but I just don't much like them. They are not all that smooth, either. I'd love to smooth the wood out and paint or stain them a beigy/gray/off white color like this:
They talk about paint and some sort of glaze.
Do we have to take off the old stain and how exactly do professional woodworkers get the wood so smooth. Is there a different method for sanding?
Is there anyone here who knows about woodworking?