Water-Based Gel Stains by Retique It (32oz Stain, 10 Classic Black)

Good stuff! I want to do my kitchen cabinets but was hesitant. So I decided to dfo my 25 yr old microwave cabinet first. I mean, if it turned out terrible, no loss. It turned out very nice and I will be moving on to the cabinets now. It's easy but make sure your starting with a clean surface. If it's a very shiny surface I scuff sand first for better adhesion. I used (pecan) 3 coats wood paint, 1coat gel stain, 3 coats polyacrylic

Love this product, no smell and the color is perfect.

I rescued this table from curb. And I nailed it thanks to retique it (Java) After sanding and using wood filler for days. I applied a coat of cheap good ol white primer. Then I applied two coats of the retique it primer. I had more than plenty I probably didn’t need the white primer. (Live and learn) then by each section (3) at a time, I painted on the wood n stain covering the entire section and dragged the wood grain tool through it. That part is a little tricky, especially on the edges. I was able to re do it if I didn’t like how it turned out. I found it easier to cover the entire surface rather than wood size chunks like the directions say. If I wasn’t such a perfectionist I would have had enough left to do my console table. After the wood n stain I applied three coats of the gel stain. It really helped with masking imperfections. Then i sealed it with 4 coats of polyurethane. (I wanted to insure my kids wouldn’t ruin my hard work but still get to have their fun at the table)

Turned orange cabinets into a nice white oak. Once you get technique down it’s easy to do. The nice part of this is if you mess up you can go back over spot. If your using tools don’t wait to long, best to use when still wet, little pressure.

Super easy to use & turned out better than expected. I used it over another faux finish on my countertops that I did about 7 years ago & it looks great! Highly recommend if you want wood countertops but don’t want to pay to replace your existing ones.

Let coats dry for 24 hours between recoating otherwise youll end up with sticky chairs like me, colour nice

Some things sound too good to be true, and this is one of them. I really wanted to trust this product, but alas, it was not to be. I tried it on a door to cover a terrible faux-pas faux paint job done by the previous owners -the picture of the door as it shows dark brown. Hopefully the photos will come out in the order I added them to illustrate this journey.To find out the nature of the existing paint, I gave it the acetone test. The paint was water based as it had a residue with acetone and alcohol.Retique makes claims to cover laminate countertops, cabinets, metal, previously painted surfaces, I prepped the door like they said to in the video, scuff-sand it and clean it with alcohol, which I did. Then, I added 2 coats of the liquid wood. It looked decent so far, though it started to peel around the knob (closeup photo). I removed that, cleaned it, sanded, and painted on more and it seemed to stay after that, though it did concern me. I let it dry overnight.The next day was stain day - as I was running the wood raining tool down the door, the wood started coming off with it to reveal the paint underneath. I was able to easily pull it off with my fingernail.I had big plans for this and was going to use this on my cabinets and a table too, I am really glad I did not. I will have to do it the right way and strip whatever is there. If it cannot stick to this paint, I do not trust it to stick to anything else.I can't get my weekend back unfortunately, but at least I will be able to get my money back. Honestly, I wish I could charge the manufacturer for my door because it looks worse than it did before and I have a giant mess to clean up.

I used the Java kit to refinish my dining room table top. It was used over a chipped, painted Formica surface. I love the results and it was SUPER easy to use. The graining tool works great and if you’re not happy with the design it leaves, you can just restain that portion and go over it. (While it’s still wet) I have plenty of product left over and will be using it on a side table. I highly recommend this product! (The last photo is the “before” image)