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If you don’t want to sand your bathroom cabinets before painting, it’s possible to make it work. However, sanding the cabinets for a long-lasting paint job is always best. Make sure your cabinets are in good shape, choose high-quality paint, and use a deglosser. The deglosser strips the paint, varnish, or stain from the cabinets to give you a clean slate to work from.

Liquid sandpaper is a solvent used to soften existing layers of paint and make them porous enough that you can effectively apply a new coat of paint. You rub the liquid sandpaper on, wait for it to work, and wipe it off—no literal sanding is involved. Liquid sandpaper can save time and is helpful if parts of the cabinet are hard to reach with standard sandpaper. However, like paint stripper, liquid sandpaper creates dangerous fumes and must be used with care indoors. And unlike sanding, it can’t fix any scratches or dings in your cabinets.

The short answer in the debate between gloss vs. stain for cabinets is it depends on the look you want to achieve. Paint with a satin finish is more low maintenance and can work for a wide variety of kitchen or bathroom styles. A gloss finish is much shinier and shows more flaws, so it should be applied by a professional painter instead of a DIY project. 

Yes, sanding cabinets before you stain them helps the new stain better adhere to the surface. If you’re adding a darker stain to previously stained wood, you only have to sand them lightly enough to remove any finish and rough up the wood to improve adhesion. On the other hand, if you’re trying to stain wood that is a darker color or that has paint on it, you need to sand down to the original wood, or the color will show through the new stain.