I've worked with gel stain on furniture but not cabinets. Make sure you prep the space well and have adequate ventilation. It stinks really bad! And wear gloves!

Could you practice on a bathroom vanity/sink cabinet first? Do you have the same cabinetry throughout the house?

No advice yet, but I plan to gel stain some bathroom vanities soon. I am going to practice technique on the inside of a vanity door, to build some confidence.

Wysel- Fortunately/Unfortunately, the previous owners had updated all the other cabinetry throughout the house. Everything else was updated in the house- except the kitchen lol. So it's my only big project to tackle at least

Before we decided to replace our kitchen cabinets, I considered the same product for my own kitchen. On Amazon there are tons of reviews and before & after photos from users that I'm sure you've already checked out. Personally I thought I liked the General Finishes Antique Walnut stain better than Java for my own house.

Wysel- Yes, I've read through Amazon over and over :) Plus a ton of blog sites (but I take those reviews with a grain of salt since most seem to be product pushers.) My husband and I have a neighbor who have the darker Java and we love it. We place to replace our counters and appliances within the next couple years as well so complete the look and update out home (plus increase value.) I was considering mixing the Antique Walnut and Java so it wouldn't be "so dark," but I may be able to achieve my look with two coats of the Java instead of the "recommended three."

I would like to know everything about Java as well, since we are planning to stain our cabinets to this color very soon.

We have flat panel oak color cabinets, not sure what is the best way to apply the stain. Brush? roller? foam brush? or socks like other users have mentioned. Wipe off or not wipe off after each application of the stain? Which top coat is easy to use but give great result and very durable too? A lot of thinking and planning before we can actually start the project.

Julia-WI Zone 5b; from all my research, a small 2-3" foam brush is the best way to apply, and to wipe off with a microfiber towel or sock. High Performance is what General Finishes themselves recommended to me. I plan to find a few wooden pieces to practice before tackling my cabinets :)

Thank you heather, I will do the same practicing first. :P

Yes, it is Airstone. I think is cost like $200 for the adhesive and materials and it can be cut with a handsaw.

I have done a lot of testing on bath vanities using both the General Finishes Java Gel as well as their Chocolate Brown milk paint. Both are very similar in color (and they have a video saying they developed the brown to complement java). I like the milk paint, but it dries very fast. It would allow the project to get completed quicker. My suggestion is to try both if you do decide on the very dark brown end result. The antique walnut was more subdued. The gel stains do take practice!

Practice. Our DD's house had cabinets done by previous owner and they were a mess. Globbed on, some runs, and even some hair or bristles stuck in the finish. It looked ok from a few feet away but up close they were awful.

I had a bad experience with GF gel stain on a small oak desk. I used Brown Mahogany, which is a lovely color. I applied one coat with a sock and the next day attempted to apply a second coat. In random places the second coat dissolved the first and revealed most of the original finish. It was a real muck-up. I abandoned the gel stain, stripped everything off and restained/refinished with a conventional GF stain. GF customer support was very sympathetic and I got the impression that they'd heard this story before.

I think the sock method delivered too much gel stain. I think that was the start of my problems.

Before and After:

I used GF mahogany on my kitchen cabinets and I like the results. I like the color which is like a rich caramel sauce. I did use the cloth application method. But the trick is to do lots of very thin coats. For preparing, I first cleaned with water and soap, then just LIGHTLY sanded with a sanding sponge, and then cleaned again with water and soap. Make sure that it is dry when you apply the stain. Apply with cloth, and "clean" it right after with a clean cloth. It is almost like shining shoes. I think I did 4 or 5 coats like this, separated at least 12 hours. Just be patient. It is better to put too little and do more coats than put too much and end up with an uneven coat. Then I applied two coats with clear GF poly. I did this 4 years ago and they are holding well.

We reused our old oak cabinets when we remodeled our kitchen. They were a nice walnut shade of brown. However, the tall pantry cabinets had been added later by the prev. owners and did not match exactly. I used the general finishes antique walnut gel stain with their poly finish on top.

Keep in mind, I was just trying to even out the finishes on both sets of cabinets and they were not too far off. I brushed the stain on with a foam brush and then used a dry paint brush to even out the brush marks. They have a video on their website showing this technique. It was very easy and I only did one coat. Sanded lightly and then did two coats of poly(sanded in between).

Oh.. and we put in new glass panels on the uppers to unify the space.

Before:

after: