★★★★★ 5.0 on Google · 125 reviews · 250+ five-star reviews across all platforms · 1,500+ kitchens revived since 2012
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Now Offering: Interior Painting & Exterior Painting

Streeterville · Chicagoland

Cabinet Refinishing in Streeterville

Cabinet refinishing for Streeterville high-rise condos. Restore or re-stain quality wood cabinetry, keep the natural grain, finished in-house. Founder-led. Get your estimate.

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5.0 on Google125+ reviews
250+ Five-Staracross all platforms
Est. 2012Founder-led

Love the look of real wood? Restore and refresh your cabinets' natural grain.

Not every Streeterville owner wants to cover the wood. Plenty of these towers were built with genuinely good hardwood cabinetry, and the owner who chose this unit often chose it for exactly that warmth. The grain is real, the boxes are solid, and the only trouble is that the finish has dulled, scuffed at the high-touch points, or simply drifted out of trend as the rest of the kitchen moved on. When the wood is worth keeping, painting it would be the wrong call. Refinishing is the answer.

We are a founder-led Chicago shop, refining Chicago cabinets since 2012, and our home base sits just down the lake in Pilsen. Refinishing restores and re-stains real wood so the grain reads warm and intentional again, not tired. You have two paths. Choose Refresh to bring the existing finish back to life, correct the wear, and return it to a factory-smooth state. Choose Revive to take the cabinetry to a new stain color entirely, a lighter, more current tone, or a richer one, whatever fits the unit. Either way, the wood stays the star, and a compact tower kitchen gets its warmth back without losing what made you love it.

How a cabinet refinishing project goes in a Streeterville high-rise

Refinishing real wood is careful work, and it is well suited to a tower schedule because it is focused and low-disruption. Your doors and drawer fronts come off and travel to our controlled Pilsen shop, where the strip, the stain, and the new clear coats are done in a dust-free environment, the way good refinishing has to be. We finish everything in-house, boxes and all, so the grain and tone read as one consistent kitchen from door to box, which matters in a Streeterville condo where the kitchen sits in full view of the living space.

The building side is routine for us. We reserve the freight elevator through management, load in and out through the service entrance, pad and protect the cab and landing, and file the certificate of insurance your association requires before we start, all planned around your building's posted work hours. Because the heavy finishing happens back at the shop and we encapsulate the work zone in your unit, the fumes and the mess stay out of the building. The fronts come back, go on clean, and your wood kitchen looks warm and intentional again, in a matter of days.

Link: See our cabinet refinishing process → /services/cabinet-refinishing/process/
Link: More about cabinet refinishing → /services/cabinet-refinishing/

In their own words

What homeowners say after the reveal

★★★★★

Joe the owner is a pleasure to work with. The quoting process is meticulous and he helped me devise solutions and help me update the condo's look while keeping costs reasonable. Any issues from walkthrough is quickly addressed and Brayan from Joe's crew did a good job painting the various parts of the apartment. Will definitely work with them again and recommend Fulton Revival to anyone looking at painting jobs. Give them a call!

Jenny T.
Interior Painting · Evanston
★★★★★

Joe and his team at Fulton Revivals were excellent and we are extremely pleased with the interior paint work done throughout our condo. They were professional and timely - communicating to us throughout the project. Joe had the team out quickly after project completion to address minor touch-ups post walk-through. Highly recommend and will utilize Fulton Revivals services for future work.

Carol H.
Interior Painting · Brookfield
★★★★★

We recently had our kitchen cabinets refinished by Fulton Revivals. Working with Joe and Krystal was amazing and we couldn’t be happier with the results! They were professional, reliable, and went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect. Our cabinets look absolutely beautiful — it’s like we have a brand new kitchen! Their attention to detail and pride in their work truly show. We highly recommend them to anyone looking for quality craftsmanship and outstanding service.

Margaret P.
Cabinet Refinishing · Deerfield

Streeterville questions

Questions we hear most

What is cabinet refinishing?
Refinishing restores your existing real-wood cabinets without replacing or painting over them. We take the doors and drawer fronts to our shop, sand back the old finish, and apply new stain and clear coats, doing the boxes to match, so your natural grain stays visible and looks new again. Sometimes it's even simpler. We scuff up the existing finish and lay on fresh clear coats so the cabinets look brand new again. Which approach we take depends on your goals and what's happening with each individual cabinet set.
How much does cabinet refinishing cost?
Cabinet refinishing typically runs $150 to $250 per door and drawer front, similar to painting. Where you land depends on the size of your kitchen, the condition of the existing finish, the type of wood, and whether you're restoring the current color or changing the stain. We price every job off our production rates so the number reflects your actual cabinets. For a full breakdown, see our cost guide.
Refinishing vs. painting: what's the difference?
Painting applies an opaque, solid-color finish that covers the wood completely, so the grain no longer shows. Refinishing keeps your real wood visible, sanding back the old finish and re-staining so the natural grain comes through. Choose painting for a clean, modern color, and refinishing when the wood itself is something you want to keep and show off.
Can you change the stain color of my cabinets?
Yes. Restaining to a new color is our Revive path, and going darker or to a similar tone is straightforward. Going significantly lighter is much harder, because even with heavy sanding we can't pull every bit of old stain out of the grain and corners, so we'll be honest up front about the shade that's realistically achievable on your wood.
Can you just fix or restore my worn finish without changing the color?
Yes. That's our Refresh path. When the wood and color are still what you want and it's just the clear coat that's worn, scuffed, or peeling around the handles and high-touch areas, we scuff the existing finish and lay on fresh clear coats so everything looks new again without a full re-stain. It's the lightest-touch way to bring tired wood cabinets back to life.
What types of wood can you refinish?
We refinish maple, oak, birch, alder, poplar, and hickory, the woods most kitchen cabinets are built from. Oak takes stain beautifully, maple is more particular and we plan for that, and we'll always give you an honest read on how your specific wood will respond before we start. Veneer and laminate aren't real wood, so those are a painting or refacing conversation instead.
Will refinishing keep the natural wood grain?
Yes, that's the whole point of refinishing. Unlike paint, which covers the wood with a solid color, refinishing sands back the old finish and re-stains so your natural grain stays visible and even comes through richer. If you love that your cabinets are real wood and want them to still read as real wood, refinishing is the path that protects it.
How long does cabinet refinishing take?
About 5 to 10 working days, similar to painting. We take the doors and drawer fronts to our shop to sand, stain, and clear-coat them, work the boxes on-site, then return to reinstall. Refinishing can take a touch longer than a straight repaint when the old finish is heavy or we're shifting the stain color, because the sanding and color steps are slower.
Is refinishing better than painting for wood cabinets?
Neither is better, they solve different goals. Refinishing is the right call when you love that your cabinets are real wood and want to keep that look, restoring and re-staining the grain. Painting is better when you want a clean, modern color the wood can't give you, like a crisp white or deep navy. We'll walk you through both at your consultation and tell you straight which fits what you're after.
Can you refinish oak cabinets so they look modern instead of orange?
Yes, and it's one of our most requested transformations. That orange or golden cast on older oak comes from a dated stain and finish, not the wood itself. By sanding back the old finish and re-staining in a current tone, we can take honey or golden oak to a warm modern brown, a richer espresso, or a more natural look, while keeping the real wood grain you already have.
Will refinishing fix the worn, peeling clear coat around my handles?
Yes, that's a classic Refresh-path job. When the wood and color are still good and it's just the clear coat that's worn or peeling at the high-touch spots around handles and edges, we scuff the existing finish and apply fresh clear coats so it looks new again, without a full re-stain. It's the lightest, most efficient way to bring a tired finish back.
How long does a refinished stain finish last compared to paint?
Both are built to last for years of daily use when done properly. A quality stain-and-clear-coat finish stands up well to kitchen wear, and like any finish its life comes down to the prep and the coatings underneath, which is where we don't cut corners. The honest deciding factor between the two usually isn't longevity, it's the look you want: real wood grain versus solid color.
Can you refinish my cabinets without filling my house with sanding dust?
Yes. We use HEPA dust-extraction sanders that capture dust right at the source, and the heavy sanding happens at our shop, not in your kitchen. On-site, we run a negative-pressure machine that keeps your home airtight, sealing the work area and venting outside so dust and odor stay out of the rest of the house. We also avoid chemical strippers wherever possible, since they're high-odor and off-gas in your home for weeks. Sanding the right way is better for your house, our crew, and the result.
Can you match a new stain to my existing wood floors or furniture?
We can get a strong match as long as we have something real to work from. We'd need a sample of the stain or an actual piece of the wood, and the surface we're matching has to be real wood, not laminate or a printed look. With an actual sample in hand we test stains on your cabinets and dial in a tone that complements your floors or furniture intentionally. Stain reads differently across wood species, so we'll set honest expectations on how close a true match is achievable for your specific woods.
Do you refinish bathroom vanities and other built-ins too, or only kitchens?
Both, and built-ins are some of our favorite work. We refinish bathroom vanities, office built-ins, bars, mudrooms, and fireplace surrounds. It makes the most financial sense paired with a kitchen project, where we're already set up, but whole-home refinishing where we tie all your wood together is exactly the kind of project we love.

Also in Streeterville

Cabinet PaintingCabinet Refacing
All cabinet services in StreetervilleAbout Cabinet Refinishing

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