Q:

My kitchen-cabinet doors need refinishing in the area of the door handles, where years of greasy hands and fingernails have nicked through the finish, leaving greasy exposed raw wood. The cabinets are birch plywood finished in varnish that is a medium yellowish amber. How can I get the grease out of the area around the door handles so that I can refinish the doors and match the finish of the rest of the doors?

Clayton Chinn, Seattle, WA

A:

Former senior editor Roe A. Osborn replies: To refinish the doors, I’d first remove them to make them easier to work on, and then I’d remove the door handles if possible. Scrub the affected areas with a grease remover such as Citra-Solv (800-343-6588; www.shadowlake.com), available at most grocery stores and health-food stores. Scrub the affected areas using a sponge with a Scotch-Brite pad. Inspect the rest of the door as well. Kitchens are notoriously greasy, so you may have to degrease the entire door.

To see if you’ve gotten all the grease off, put a droplet of water on the scrubbed raw wood. If it soaks in, you’re all set; if it beads up, give it another scrub.When you’re satisfied, let the doors dry thoroughly before attempting to refinish them.

The hardest part of refinishing the doors is going to be matching that medium amber that you described. That color has come in large part from exposure to light and air, so after you’ve cleaned the areas where the finish has been removed, it may be necessary to remove the finish from the rest of the door to keep the color consistent across the door.

I’d experiment on one of the doors by lightly sanding the raw wood as well as the finished wood around the raw area. Feather the finish back from the cleaned area, and  see how well the color blends. If there is a noticeable and undesirable color difference between the old finish and the new, then you’ll have to strip off the old finish and refinish the entire door. Refinishing the whole door might be more work, but I think you’ll be happier with the results.