Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing — Shaw
Kitchen Cabinet Refinishing in Shaw
Shaw homeowners renovating their historic homes want to preserve the character that makes the neighborhood worth living in. We refinish original kitchen cabinetry by hand — restoring it without the cost or disruption of replacement.
What makes Shaw kitchen cabinets worth refinishing
Shaw is one of St. Louis's most architecturally diverse historic neighborhoods — a mix of Victorian rowhouses, American Four Squares, and Craftsman bungalows built between 1890 and 1920. That diversity extends into the kitchens. Cabinet styles vary considerably from house to house: some still have their original fir cabinetry intact, some have mid-century updates, and some are a combination of original and replacement pieces installed over decades.
What those kitchens share is that the homeowners renovating them today are specifically choosing Shaw because of its historic character. They want the craftsmanship and material quality of a century-old home — not a kitchen that looks like it was ordered from a big-box store catalog. Installing new IKEA-style cabinets in a Shaw Four Square would be a mismatch. Refinishing what's already there keeps the kitchen true to the house.
The original wood in Shaw kitchens is old-growth fir — denser, tighter-grained, and more dimensionally stable than anything available in new construction today. Once stripped of whatever has been applied to it over the years, it is typically in excellent condition and ready to hold a lasting new finish. At 60 to 80 percent less than cabinet replacement, refinishing is the obvious choice for Shaw homeowners who care about what they have.
We remove doors and drawer fronts, take them to our shop for careful hand-stripping, and return them finished and ready to hang. Cabinet boxes are refinished in place. The result is a kitchen that looks intentional from floor to ceiling — historic character intact, finish renewed.
What we do with your kitchen cabinets
Door & Drawer Front Refinishing
Every door and drawer front is removed and brought to our shop for hand-stripping. We never use dip tanks — they raise the wood grain and destroy finish adhesion. By stripping by hand, we leave the wood surface clean and flat, ready to accept a durable polyurethane topcoat that will hold up to daily kitchen use.
Cabinet Box & Frame Work
The cabinet boxes and face frames that stay in your kitchen are stripped, sanded, and refinished in place. We protect your countertops, floors, and appliances throughout the process. The finish is continuous from box to frame to door — no transitions, no inconsistency.
Color Changes
Whether you want to transition from painted to stained wood, change paint colors, or shift stain tones entirely, we handle full color changes starting with a complete strip of the existing finish. Many Shaw homeowners use a refinishing project as the opportunity to reset the kitchen's color story while preserving the original construction.
Stain Matching
When a Shaw kitchen has original cabinets alongside a later addition, matching the stain across different wood species and eras requires skill and experience. Sue custom-blends stains on-site, tests on an inconspicuous area, and adjusts until the result is indistinguishable across the entire kitchen.
EPA Certified for lead paint in Shaw's pre-1978 homes
Every home in Shaw was built before 1978, and virtually all of them contain lead paint — including on kitchen cabinets that have been painted and repainted over decades. Under EPA regulations, those homes are presumed to have lead paint, and any contractor disturbing that paint must follow specific containment and cleanup protocols.
Sue Wheeler holds EPA Lead-Safe Certification, which is required by federal law for this type of work. Every Shaw cabinet refinishing project we complete follows full containment, cleanup, and disposal procedures. Your family stays protected, and every job is documented for any future inspection or disclosure requirement.
"We were quoted $18,000 for new cabinets and nearly did it. Then we called Sue. She refinished everything for a fraction of that — and honestly the kitchen looks better than any new cabinets would have. The original fir has a warmth that you can't replicate."
— James & Carol M., homeowners, Shaw
Frequently asked questions
Do you refinish kitchen cabinets in Shaw?
Yes. Sue Wheeler has been refinishing kitchen cabinets in Shaw for over 36 years. The neighborhood's mix of Victorian, Four Square, and Craftsman kitchens — with original fir and mid-century updates — is exactly the kind of varied work we handle every day.
My Shaw kitchen has a mix of cabinet styles — can you make everything look cohesive?
Yes. Creating visual coherence across different cabinet styles and eras is one of our core specialties. We strip and refinish the original pieces, apply a consistent finish across newer additions, and the result looks like a single intentional kitchen rather than a patchwork of updates.
What's the turnaround time for a full kitchen cabinet refinishing?
Turnaround depends on kitchen size, the condition of the existing finish, and whether a color change is involved. Most full kitchen refinishing projects take one to two weeks from start to finish. Sue gives you a realistic timeline during the free estimate so you know exactly what to expect.
Let's talk about your Shaw cabinets.
Free estimate. No obligation. Sue answers every call personally — (314) 367-6054.