<p>I also have oak cabinets and when we moved in, there was a thick layer of grease and grime on all the cabinets. I used several different cleaners, including Murphy’s and Orange Glo, but could not get the grease off. The woman who lived here before me must of fried everything they ate! Anyway, what finally worked for me was Simple Green followed by a wood restoring polish that I got from the hardware store. I don’t remember the name, but the guy highly recommended it and it worked wonders.</p>
<p>And about the knobs, mine had awful polished gold knobs and pulls that were splotchy and just yuck. I didn’t want to spend a lot on knobs because we plan to do a kitchen remodel sometime in the near future. Anyway, I ended up finding knobs and pulls in oil rubbed bronze at Home Depot Expo, so I replaced the yucky ones. Hopefully I can reuse them when we redo the kitchen.</p>
<p>I can’t really describe the “grime” I’m trying to remove, but it’s not grease (I will try simple green…I have some).What it looks like is the grain of the oak is VERY dark in those spots…in the grain of the wood.</p>
<p>I’ll keep trying. Something is bound to work.</p>
<p>I was at a friend’s this weekend. They did something to clean their cabinets and then put some kind of finish on it that really “evened out” the color. They look brand new. If I find out what they did, I’ll post here.</p>
<p>Thumper, I’ve had excellent results with Scott’s Liquid Gold for cleaning deep grime (may take several applications and I let it soak in for a few minutes). Old English makes tinted liquid polishes that come in a bottle and evens out the tone. Lowe’s carries both. I used these in a house I was selling that had 50 yo cabinets and woodwork which had plenty of grimy spots and dings…they looked great by the time I was done.</p>
<p>Try the Old English Lemon Oil for cleaning…I know DH likes TSP, but I don’t, so if I’m doing the cleaning I use the Lemon Oil…but I don’t know if it will clean the deep areas. It might, and it smells a lot better than TSP.</p>
<p>A friend of mine calls cabinet knobs and pulls “jewelry for your kitchen.” I have to confess that I paid $18 each for my cabinet knobs, and I thought they were cheap at that price… I had them made by a glass artist and every one of them is subtly different. They absolutely make the kitchen. But I didn’t need that many, thankfully… It’s a small kitchen.</p>
<p>Magic Erasers work really well around my kitchen cabinet handles. The grime comes right off. After using Magic Erasers, I rinse with soap and warm water and then buff out the shine with a soft cloth.</p>
<p>Someone told me Magic Erasers actually take off a layer of the finish, but I haven’t noticed any difference in the finish on my cabinets. Maybe you could give it a try in an inconspicuous place.</p>
<p>thumper, if the wood itself is “stained” rather then the finish on top of the wood, you may actually have to sand it out.</p>
<p>I looked at cabinet knobs at the store but couldn’t justify buying them - and I actually really do like the smooth look of my cabinets without the knobs.</p>
<p>We are in the process of putting European door/drawer pulls from this website on our cabinets. I don’t know about the rest of their stuff, but what we ordered is of high quality and at about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost.</p>
<p>Thumper I think I know what you are talking about. I have used so many things on ours but nothing has worked correctly to the point that now I really feel the cabinets have to be refinished because the area has become sort of “gummy” and in some areas, the slight varnish (or whatever) finish is wore off. My cabinets are a very light wood - I SO want to repaint them, but don’t even know where to start because we have so many of them…</p>
<p>I think I posted this on a past cabinet thread - The following product worked great for me - [Refinish</a> Your Kitchen Cabinets and Furniture With Restorz-it](<a href=“http://www.restorzit.com/]Refinish”>http://www.restorzit.com/) . It’s expensive, but no where near as expensive as redoing your cabinets. The cleaner really got the gummy stuff off my cabinets. It was a lot of work, but worth it to me. I just went to the website and they have a “Try it before you buy it” promotion going on right now. It’s not going to be as perfect as sanding and restaining, but my results were excellent. That was two years ago. I think I’m going to have to do it again this summer.</p>