Kitchen cabinet finish

[Tom Crockett]

So I am helping the BIL with some new oak kitchen cabs. From what I've heard pre-cat laquer is the best finish for these. Any thoughts on wipe on vs. spray to stay away from the obvious fumigation factors? Or, any other reccomendations for a good kitchen cab finish????

[Quinn McCarthy]

Tom

Velspar coversion varnish is a great finish. Very durable and chemical resistant. You will need to use a spray gun and respirator.

Just about any finish that meets the kcma standards will work great.

A lot of people like the Fuhr and target coatings on the water based side.

Hope that helps.

Quinn

[Paul Dwight]

Fuhr 375 is a very durable, good looking waterborne topcoat that meets KCMA standards. It sprays extremely well -- a great finish for folks who don't have much experience spraying. I've never tried to apply it by hand so I can't say how it might work.

I can't imagine brushing an entire set of kitchen cabinets, but I guess it could be done. If you're going to be brushing, you might want to look at General Finishes High Performance Poly, a waterborne product that finished on top in Fine Woodworking's latest comparison. According to FWW, it brushes very well.

I'm not sure it's practical to wipe a finish on kitchen cabinets. To get enough protection in a kitchen, the finish needs to build to a fairly substantial film. You'd be wiping on a LOT of coats to build a film thick enough for the kitchen environment.

Finishing kitchen cabinets is the perfect excuse to set yourself up for spraying. Start a new project, buy a new tool ...

Good luck! -- Paul

[Tom Crockett]

Thanks all. I've got a lot of spraying experience so my question was more along the lines of "what finish do I use?". My BIL was trying to help out and do the finish work at his house and he can't spray worth a darn so the wipe on question was for him.