A woodfinisher with attitude? "Yeah, that's me," confesses Gary Bjerke, The Cabinet Refinishing Man. "My attitude has always been, meet the needs of my customers and the business will take care of itself. I'm rather perfectionistic when it comes to my work."

Since 1978 (minus a short stint in an another career), Bjerke has been serving Marin homeowners by refinishing their kitchen cabinets, and you can meet him this weekend at the Marin Home Show and Benefit Jazz Fest.

"All cabinet finishes deteriorate with time and eventually need to be redone," says the salt-and-pepper bearded Bjerke, "but the wood underneath is still useable. You repaint your house occassionally, but you don't throw out the stucco or siding. I'm always fighting this mistaken notion that because the finish is shot that the wood has to be replaced. The damage is almost always superficial." Of course people sometimes want new cabinets or refacing, he acknowledges, but for those who want to keep theirs, "I can make them beautiful again--really," he emphasizes.

Bjerke offers two options: restoring the current stain color or changing stain colors. "For years the trend has been to go lighter," he says, "and white-washed is particularly popular. I use an expensive lacquer from Sherwin-Williams that is specially formulated for white finishes--it does not yellow." However, he adds, he mixes his own stains, so any color is possible.

"I recently mixed a stain to compliment both the gray and salmon tones in a granite counter top, a fun challenge compared with the usual brown," he says, quickly adding, "Not that I have anything against brown." And since he does mix stains from scratch, he can match existing cabinet colors. "Some people want to keep the color of their cabinets, so I can restore them without having to completely strip them and start over. That saves them money."

Bjerke not only shows potential customers the usual portfolio of before and after photos of previous jobs, but he also brings along actual wood samples, one side of which have been remarkably transformed by refinishing. "My favorite is the old door that looks like it was sanded by Captain Hook, yet you can see that the refinished side looks pretty good," he says with typical modesty. "Imagine how nice the entire kitchen looked."

Bjerke readily acknowledges that his craft "isn't rocket science," yet it's taken him many years to hone the numerous skills it takes to successfully handle the wide variety of cabinets he encounters. "I've worked on everything from redwood to walnut, in homes that were ten to fifty years old, and in nearly every neighborhood in Marin. I never know what I'll be called on to refinish. I love the adventure."

Always the straight shooter, Bjerke also shows the right environmental attitude. "I do my best to follow the air quality and waste disposal regulations. For years I've been saving my used removers and solvents and taking them to the annual county-sponsored hazardous waste collections. Recently Novato opened a permanent collection site where I can now go monthly. They've made it pretty painless."

So if your kitchen cabinets have had it, stop by booth #505 and check out the artisan with--the right--attitude.

After six years away in another career, Gary Bjerke has returned to his first love - kitchen cabinet refinishing. "Yep," says Bjerke, "I gave up the high-tech world to return to my low-tech love. It's very gratifying to stand back and see the rich grain and deep color of refinished cabinets that started out looking hopeless."

If you've ever seen an old piece of furniture transformed by refinishing, then you have an idea of what Bjerke, The Cabinet Refinishing Man, can do for your kitchen cabinets. "When their cabinets are worn and damaged from years of use and nothing will clean them, a lot of people mistakenly believe that they need new cabinets," he explains. "The damage they see is usually just on the surface. The wood underneath is still in good shape. Their cabinets can look beautiful again."

Bjerke uses a combination of scrubbing, sanding, staining and finishing to restore the wood. Now in his 17th year of restoring cabinets, Bjerke realizes that not everyone can use his service. "Many homeowners prefer to reface or remodel," he says, "but if you're satisfied with the design of your cabinets and want to keep them, refinishing may be your best and least expensive option. My customers are often surprised at just how pretty and fresh they actually turn out."