Paint Stripper - Burns Or No Burns?

So as I said before, we plan on re-using the cabinet boxes. This meant we had to strip the layers and layers of old paint from the exposed sides of the boxes. I've never stripped paint before so I didn't know what product worked best. What I did know was that I wanted something that had low VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Of course I'd be wearing a mask to strip paint but I wanted to reduce the nasty fumes that would be floating around the house.

Off I went to Lowe's (we have no preference between Lowe's or Home Depot. Lowe's just happens to be closer to our house) and I read through all the labels on shelves. I decided to give this a try. You can't see it but the little green rimmed circle on the label says "Low VOC".

I tried it on the bottom of the cabinets. On the bottle it says "Works in 5 minutes" but I left it on for 30 minutes. I let it sit, scraped it, and nothing happened. Not a speck of paint came off. It didn't even loosen the paint just a little bit. So I tried again thinking I didn't leave it on for long enough. I applied a generous amount with a paint brush and let it sit for an hour. I came back to scrape and this is how much paint I got off.

WOW. On the plus side, it didn't stink that bad. You could smell some fumes when you were close to it but the smell didn't travel much farther than a few feet from where I applied it.

After this failed attempt, I went to Lowe's online and read some reviews of other paint strippers (which I should've done initially). I was starting to think that maybe I'd have to use the harsher paint strippers to get the layers of old paint off. I read some product reviews for the harsher chemicals and this is what one of them said...

"...The would grain that came through was gorgeous. Paint it on, let it sit 15mins, scrap off with plastic spackle scraper. BUT, it's a serious chemical!!! Will burn your skin very fast, even the tiniest drop. Wear long sleeves and jeans and thick rubber gloves. The thin nurses gloves don't work, this stuff burns right through it. The beauty that came through is well worth it though!!"

Umm, no thanks. I like my skin. So this basically scared me back to the safer non-toxic, low VOC, green alternatives. This product got some really good reviews so I went off to Lowe's to grab it.

I applied this paint stripper with a brush and let it sit overnight. I didn't want to have to repeat the process again for longer amounts of time. I figured, surely if it doesn't work overnight then I've bought another dud. This is what I woke up to the next morning....

Winner winner chicken dinner!!! I was so excited. Yes, this is the kind of stuff that gets me excited these days.....don't judge me. I scraped a little of the left side so you could see how easily it comes off. Literally, the paint just fell off in sheets. This product smells a little more than the other one. I still wore a mask but the smell still didn't linger out of our kitchen. And on a very positive note, no burns on my skin! Good thing too because some of it dripped on my arm during the application process.