Some of these dressers have a very shiny, plastic laminate top, and others have wooden top with a regular wood finish. I have come across both options for these exact dressers, the bottom of the dressers are both all real wood, but the top can differ. The prep changes based on if it is wood or laminate. You cannot stain laminate.
If it is in fact wood, I sanded them down to bare wood, and then stained them.
Hopefully that helps.