This gorgeous unit is in my tiny kitchen now....over the moon when I bought it last Sunday on the car boot sale for £4 ! it was done the same day ! (I couldn't wait to see it on my kitchen wall ;-)
So first I've used 180 sanding paper and sanded down a bit but I didn't tried to remove the old varnish completely.
Then I applied iron wool and vinegar mixture and waited till completely dry.
At the end I painted the unit with white paint I would say: messily :-)---> in a messy way because I knew I would sand it down again to reach the vintage, distressed effect....seen as above :-)