I need paint advice

[Mark Burnette]

I'm planning to build my kitchen cabinets and my wife is standing firm on wanting them painted. I've never painted anything I've made out of wood (other than outside stuff of course) so I have little experience. The look she wants is a sage green color with the look of milk paint but it has to hold up to the abuse of a kitchen. I've seen my share of crummy paint jobs on flea market furniture & other kitchens so how do I get that "factory" look and make it last?

I'll likely make the carcasses out of birch ply and the face frames & door frames from some poplar I have. She better not change her mind after I get them built :)

[Adam Potack]

I painted the cabinets in my kitchen a few years ago. Used benjamin moore with some flotrol and a good quality brush. Not milk paint but it came out nice and has held up very well. 3 kids and a dog and the paint still looks new.

[frank shic]

get or rent an airless sprayer for a flawless finish but make sure you have the overspray containment worked out ahead of time

[Ed Hazel]

I see some high end cabinets now have brush marks. Just spray them with a good quality finish, good excuse to buy some spray equipment.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005557/16510/General-Finishes-Sage-Green-Milk-Paint-Pint.aspx Is this what you are looking at? I bet woocraft will set you up!

[Larry Edgerton]

When I need a worn look I use lacquer, base coat/clear coat. I fatique the areas that would naturally be worn with just the base color on so that the wood is just showing through using a fine scotch bright pad. When I get it how I want it I top coat it with clear so all is protected.

When you are fatiguing, it is normal for first timers to get carried away. Think about where it would be worn in normal use and just do those spots so it does not look like a fake. Door edges, especially at top corners on the handle side, and where the pull will be is usually worn.

If a customer wants milk paint I send them down the road or just do unfinished and they can hire a painter. I also make them sign a waiver that I am not responsible for problems due to moisture. Stuff is crap.

Larry

[joe milana]

I've never used their milk paints, but General finishes has a line of them. I can't say enough good about their enduro line. Give Jeff at Homestead finishing a call and ask for advice. If he cant get you the color you want, call GF & they will custom tint Benjamine moore colors for you. These products are extremely user friendly, and I would recommend taking the plunge & getting a sprayer. A bit of practice & you will be on your way! You can spend anything you want on spray equipment, but I have heard good things about low cost wagner guns and harbor freight guns on this forum. Good luck!

[Phil Thien]

I've used the General Finishes sage green milk paint. I applied it w/ a brush, it flows/levels (whatever term you want to use) EXTREMELY WELL. It was a small project, I don't know if I'd have the patience to paint an entire kitchen with a brush, I'm sure I'd spray.

But I have no hesitation in recomending the GF milk paint (which, BTW, is not milk paint, it is acrylic, but the colors are formulated to look like milk paints).

[frank shic]

can you apply a clear coat over the milk paint to make them more durable?

[Phil Thien]

can you apply a clear coat over the milk paint to make them more durable?

Most all types of milk paints can be top coated.

A top coat on true milk paint is critical, as dried milk paint is a magnet for fingerprints, water spots, etc. I've got five milk painted cabinets in my basement that I top-coated with a wiping varnish.

The GF milk paint is less susceptible to fingerprints, water, etc., but is still only an acrylic paint, so a top coat would be smart there, too, IMHO.

[Peter Kelly]

Milk paint isn't going to hold up in a kitchen. If you're going to brush everything yourself, Benjamin Moore Advance (http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/en-us/for-your-home/advance-waterborne-interior-alkyd) is best.

[Chris Barnett]

Suggest you spend a little extra to get the absolute best paint (opinion: oil base is better but cleanup takes more time) for the application, and clear coat as Frank suggests, to resist chipping. Or talk your DW into a transparent real wood finish. Lately it seems the tv fixer-upper experts [only in their minds] paint anything that is not alive or not moving; my take is that it's easy for them to do since it will dry in a flash and they can finish filming that same day.

[frank shic]

Milk paint isn't going to hold up in a kitchen. If you're going to brush everything yourself, Benjamin Moore Advance (http://www.benjaminmoore.ca/en-us/for-your-home/advance-waterborne-interior-alkyd) is best.

really like the cabinet coat line that they've started carrying. the stuff dries hard and sprays extremely well without any thinning with an airless gun.

[joe milana]

really like the cabinet coat line that they've started carrying. the stuff dries hard and sprays extremely well without any thinning with an airless gun.

According to my BM rep. The advance is no more durable than their WB satin impervo; just more brush friendly, and gives an oil look.

Frank, I haven't heard of their "Cabinet coat" line. I'll have to ask about it. Maybe a west coat thing. Anyway, I still say the General finishes stuff is hard to beat.

[Steve Griffin]

If factory painted look is what you want, maybe factory painted cabinets would be a good option....

[Phil Thien]

If factory painted look is what you want, maybe factory painted cabinets would be a good option....

I've read on other forums that cater to DIY homeowner jobs that one reason some people prefer brush-jobs is that touch-up is a possibility. A factory paint job is pretty tough to repair, if the need ever arises.

I've often wondered about the touch-up claim, as paint doesn't last forever in a can. I suppose one could always buy more paint, but if time has passed, color matching may be needed, and difficult.

I like the look of a good brushed paint job. It required quite a bit of patience to do it well, though.

[Mark Burnette]

Lotsa good comments here. I think a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets would be too much to paint with a brush so I'll likely spray them. Love the suggestion for GF (acrylic) milk paint--that might just be the look we're after. And I think spraying an acrylic in a temporary "paint booth" might be safer than some of the other options. I do have an old Wagner airless--the hand-held buzzing kind, but I don't recall being real impressed with its atomization. Fine for painting the garage... Maybe newer ones have improved? I have a regular paint sprayer with a qt. cup, and a HVLP conversion gun with a top-mounted cup.

[Phil Thien]

Lotsa good comments here. I think a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets would be too much to paint with a brush so I'll likely spray them. Love the suggestion for GF (acrylic) milk paint--that might just be the look we're after. And I think spraying an acrylic in a temporary "paint booth" might be safer than some of the other options. I do have an old Wagner airless--the hand-held buzzing kind, but I don't recall being real impressed with its atomization. Fine for painting the garage... Maybe newer ones have improved? I have a regular paint sprayer with a qt. cup, and a HVLP conversion gun with a top-mounted cup.

Couple of last points:

Make sure you can buy the GF milk paint in large enough containers that it isn't too expensive. I think the cans I got were pretty small and expensive. If I was painting a kitchen with them, I'd go broke.

You can take the color chart of any milk paint producer to a place like BM and get it matched. As long as you're nut hung up on "real milk paint" and just want those colors, the possibilities are limitless.

Test test test. Get a small can, spray some with the gear you will be using, and make sure you're happy with the looks, and the durability, before committing to enough paint to paint the entire kitchen.

Good luck!

[frank shic]

Lotsa good comments here. I think a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets would be too much to paint with a brush so I'll likely spray them. Love the suggestion for GF (acrylic) milk paint--that might just be the look we're after. And I think spraying an acrylic in a temporary "paint booth" might be safer than some of the other options. I do have an old Wagner airless--the hand-held buzzing kind, but I don't recall being real impressed with its atomization. Fine for painting the garage... Maybe newer ones have improved? I have a regular paint sprayer with a qt. cup, and a HVLP conversion gun with a top-mounted cup.

i haven't been overly impressed with wagner products... i upgraded the paint gun to a wagner contractor gun and got much better results plus it was waaaaaaaaaay easier to find replacement parts (basically everywhere). my latest purchase has been the cordless grace sprayer.

[Peter Kelly]

According to my BM rep. The advance is no more durable than their WB satin impervo; just more brush friendly, and gives an oil look.

Frank, I haven't heard of their "Cabinet coat" line. I'll have to ask about it. Maybe a west coat thing. Anyway, I still say the General finishes stuff is hard to beat.
Ben Moore acquired the parent company of Insl-X who make Cabinet Coat. I haven't seen it stocked either but any BM dealer should be able to order it. Might be better for vertical surfaces than Advance.

[David G Elliott]

My wife is a painting contractor, and for painted kitchen cabinets she prefers Pittsburgh Manor Hall because it dries to a really hardshell finish. Benjamin Moore Impervo is a close second.

You could roll and brush this on, but try to paint the most critical surfaces in a horizontal position so the coating flows out to a nice smooth finish.

Better yet, you could invest in a four-stage turbine HVLP setup and spray the cabinets. For this application use a #4 tip and thin the paint with water by about 10 percent. Again, the more surfaces you can paint in a horizontal position, the better. Also, you can usually spray outside without a problem.

[Rich Engelhardt]

i haven't been overly impressed with wagner products...
Wagner is to spray equipment as Formby is to wood finish or Black and Decker is to tools...

[Phil Thien]

Wagner is to spray equipment as Formby is to wood finish or Black and Decker is to tools...

LOL, I use a $50 Wagner HVLP sprayer:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Products-0417005-Control-Sprayer/dp/B000DZBP60/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340714868&sr=8-2&keywords=wagner+hvlp

And plenty of Formby's Tung Oil Finish:
http://www.formbys.com/products/tung_oil/

[Mark Burnette]

LOL, I use a $50 Wagner HVLP sprayer:
http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Products-0417005-Control-Sprayer/dp/B000DZBP60/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340714868&sr=8-2&keywords=wagner+hvlp

This begs the question: Use it for what? Do you paint your finest projects with it, or your doghouse?

I was actually intrigued so I followed the link only to find a bunch of bad reviews saying it won't paint any kind of latex without thinning to water consistency. Maybe it works OK with thinner water-based acrylics? I once tried one of those Harbor Freight $100 HVLP systems and found it would spray stain OK but was uneven (at best) with any type of topcoat. I have a wonderful turbine blower in my project pile but I'll probably retire or die before I get around to building it.

[Phil Thien]

This begs the question: Use it for what? Do you paint your finest projects with it, or your doghouse?

I was actually intrigued so I followed the link only to find a bunch of bad reviews saying it won't paint any kind of latex without thinning to water consistency. Maybe it works OK with thinner water-based acrylics? I once tried one of those Harbor Freight $100 HVLP systems and found it would spray stain OK but was uneven (at best) with any type of topcoat. I have a wonderful turbine blower in my project pile but I'll probably retire or die before I get around to building it.

WB clear top coats of all varieties. It shoots them fine. I have a conventional HVLP setup, but this one is faster (no hose, no separate turbine, just an extension cord).

I do shoot paint with the unit. It works. You have to thin the paint, and open-up the flow all the way. But it works in a pinch.