Hi all:
Can anyone provide some guidance on a problem I'm having. I'm redoing basically every cabinet in the house (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.). I am going with a high quality maple cabinet, and want it finished in an antique white paint with perhaps a glaze. Right now, I am attempting to decide between completely custom, built and painted on site cabinets, and pre-finished, custom cabinets. The prefinished cabinets are dura supreme, which are measured on site, then built in a factory in Minnesota. I'm in california.
Because we are going to be using a painted finished, which chips and scratches easily, I am extremely concerned about durability. I am hearing completely different things from different people. Some say that pre-finished is the only way to go because they can apply various chemicals in minnesota that they can't in California, and these chemicals protect the finish a lot more. These people also say that pre-finished cabinets can have a "baked on finish" that you just cannot get with on-site application no matter what state you are in.
On the other side of the coin, the custom guys say that the whole "you can't apply such and such a chemical in California"-thing is an urban legend, and they are promising that they can make as durable a paint finish as I can possibly find with a pre-finished model.
Putting aside the entire custom vs. non-custom debates, as far as finished go, does anyone know the truth? Are there in fact things that are being done in out-of-state cabinets that can't or aren't done on in-state cabinets?