I re-stained the vanities in my Mom’s three bathrooms and the cabinets in her laundry room.  It was fairly quick and  easy.  For prep, I removed the doors and took the drawer faces off.  I sanded lightly with a very fine grit sandpaper followed by a once-over with steel wool.  My goal was to just take off the polyurethane.  I should mention that my Mom wanted to go darker with her oak cabinets.  If she had wanted to go lighter I would have sanded to bare wood.  After sanding and a good cleaning, I applied a coat of the stain to the backs of everything and the base.  I waited about a minute and then wiped the stain off.  I waited 24 hours  for drying and then came back and flipped everything over and did the fronts.  Another 24 hours of drying time then I did the detail work.  I applied stain to the corners and the recesses of the doors.  I let them dry another 24 hours and then hung the doors back up and reattached the doors.

Here is the before of her master bathroom

Here is the after

      I used Minwax in  the Jacobean finish from Home Depot.  It already has polyurethane mixed in.  You have to be careful to stir very well before staining.  It tends to be a bit tacky when drying, that’s why I waited 24 hours between coats.  The trick is to work quickly and evenly when wiping the stain off.  If you mess up, just let it dry and start over with the sanding.  It is a good idea to practice with the back of one of the drawers first.