Is It Better To Stain Or Paint Kitchen Cabinets. Paint is thicker than stain and sticks well to the surface of the wood to covers knots and grains making the focus on the color and not the texture of the cabinet. Paint is thicker than stain so it doesnt get absorbed by wood the way stain does.
Stain is best for. One pain is that with water-based stains you typically need to get down to the bare wood especially true if you want to stain cabinets a lighter colour. See how each stack up in categories like budget water resistance maintenance and return on investment.
Better Safe than Sorry.
The choice between painting and staining your cabinets will depend on a number of factors. Now this isnt limited to your kitchen cabinets solely. You need to strip the cabinets and then stain. Technically you could lightly sand and paint over a solid wood cabinet but wood cabinets can still be susceptible to warping and peeling.