I am going to make some new doors for some kitchen cabinets, and want to use a durable paint for a finish. The frames were painted in the past, and by the pulls, and knobs, the paint is coming off. Looks like it might be latex, but not sure.
The doors, and drawer fronts will be MDF. The frames have no peeling paint.
What would be a good finish? It's not a high end house, but I want toe finish to hold up.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Cliff
I painted some new cabinets (bare wood) using Sherwin Williams waterborne Proclassic acrylic. Started with their recommended primer (2 coats, sanded after each) and two coats of finish paint. I used those smooth foam "hotdog" rollers and also added Floetrol to the finish paint to minimize roller marks. Finish came out super smooth and very hard.
Many will recommend oil-based paints, but I needed quick drying and minimum odor, hence the water-based finish. I would definitely use the SW Proclassic again.
Kevin
Commercial manufacturers of kitchen cabinets often go with precatalyzed lacquer--ML Campbell Magnamax is one example--easy to apply, cleans up with lacquer thinner, available as a clear or a white base that can be tinted whatever color you want. Not horribly expensive either, at least not around here. Very durable coating.
They've also got a waterborne, "Polystar" (or in clear, "Ultrastar"), but it doesn't brush well, you'll need to spray it for best results.
If you want the _real_ good stuff go with a two-component polyurethane. IIRC "Awlgrip" is brushable. Do _not_ spray it without an air-supplied respirator--cartridge masks don't work with 2K urethanes.
For any of these, read and follow all surface prep and mixing instructions carefully and use the specified primers if any, and for the precats when they say "120 day shelf life" they _mean_ it.
Be best to strip any existing paint, if you don't want to do that then a shellac barrier coat may be a good idea--the solvents in a precat or a 2K urethane are pretty "hot" and may life or dissolve more commonplace paints.
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