I have stripped, sanded, stained and lime waxed a bathroom vanity. The door style is almost just like your lowers (red oak with a ‘golden’ stain, straight recessed panel). What a pain in the ass it was! If you can avoid stripping & use the gel stain on top of the varnish I would try to do that first. I wanted a natural oak look under the lime wax. I also wanted the lime wax to really get in the grain so I used a brass brush to raise it. That was fine & easy but applying the lime wax to the raw oak created an awful pickled finish which was opposite of what I wanted. I did a lot of trial & error over many days on the back of a door with various stains, methods of applying wax, etc…wound up staining it all a brown tone I didn’t really want (i couldnt stand to do any more stripping/sanding) but did find an easy way to apply the lime wax how I wanted it (highlighting the grain only). The wax finish is durable enough on the vanity, even though it’s recommended for furniture only, but I wouldn’t trust a wax finish in a kitchen. Oils and grease easily get splashed/smudged (I’m looking at my two year old with peanut butter on his fingers opening a drawer right now) that a flat clear coat would save all your cabinet resurfacing efforts.

I’m painting my kitchen this summer with white uppers; navy/blue-black lowers, fridge cabinet surround & island; crisp white walls; aged brass cabinet hardware and an ebony stained pedestal table with a limed finish. Or at least that’s my 8 months pregnant plan is right now. I’m nesting in a major way.

Good luck with your kitchen! Can’t wait to see what you decide upon.