Future Project?

When we took the cabinets out to put in the stove (which will be installed Thursday, btw) we had to decimate the cabinet boxes. However, it gave me the chance to experiment with the cabinet fronts. I know that "fancy" hardware can leave an imprint on the wood cabinet fronts, making for a lot of sanding and difficulty when trying to upgrade cabinet pulls.

I [vaguely] remember when my parents changed their rustic-style dark-stained cabinets to sky blue, countryesque style. The cabinet "straps" and handle left marks on the faces. Luckily, they were painting so sanding them out could happen easily.

Here is a cabinet door.

I don't really want to paint our cabinets, but I do want to change the hardware. I gingerly removed the cabinet handles on the cabinets to find this...

Yuck. Luckily, upon applying cleaner...

SHABAM. Future new handles? Maybe.