Our Kitchen - Paint or Stain - Popular or Oak?

[gjh119]

I'm in the planning stage of a complete make over for our kitchen. Most of the furniture in our house has some oak in it, one way or another. I'm trying to convince the wife to go with a good quality painted cabinet, that would be primed and sprayed!
Nothing dark, something lite with a darker countertop as our kitchen is not that big. All construction will be done by me using Kreg tools and Festools.
So here are my options:
Birch plywood with oak face frames & doors?
Birch plywood with popular face frames & mdf panels?
Good quality primer if painted - latex or oil base sprayed on?
Good interior quality paint - Benjamin Moore, etc - latex or oil base sprayed on?
If painted a clear lacquer finish?
Resonable priced good quality sprayer?

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. If you have any photos of work you have done using any of the above or you suggest please post so that I could show the wife/boss! LOL......
Thank you for your time.

 

[waho6o9]

I'd say, Birch plywood with oak face frames & doors, natural stain with a semi gloss finish. [attachthumb=#]

 

[mastercabman]

If you are going to paint,no Oak.I would try to get maple,but if the cost is an issue then poplar would be fine.
As far as paint,i don't like using latex.Even a good quality.
If you can afford it,i use lacquer based paint.But you need a spayer.You don't need the best,but a good one will help.
HVLP,cup spayer-compressed air,gravity feed spayer will do a good job.
I have a Fuji HVLP sprayer and a Porter-cable gravity sprayer.I use the gravity More often because most of my spray jobs are small and it's all i need.

 

[Kevin Stricker]

Oaak is not a good choice for paint grade as you have to fill the pores.  Paint grade cabinets take twice as long to finish if you want them to look good. Tough for a first job spraying.  Check out Homestead finishing for HVLP products and information on their forum.

Finishing can make or break a project,  I find the learning curve is steeper than cabinet building.  I would second a tinted lacquer instead of acrylic (no latex!)if you can find it.  If you do go the paint route look into BIN shellac primer as it sprays much easier than latex or oil based primers with maybe 10% thinning depending on your gun. 

 

[gjh119]

Thanks to all that replied so far.  Just to clear up up my initial post, the oak would NOT be painted...just a clear finish.

 

[durango]

I agree with Kevin.  Homestead Finishing Products will provide you with a wealth of information on finishing products, tools, and techniques.  Target Coatings also can provide lots of info. on suitable materials and methods of application.  Both sites maintain extensive forums, and both are strong proponets of water borne products.  If you decide to go with conventional finishes, lacquer would be my last choice.  It is a great fine furniture finish but low on durability in a kitchen enviroment.  Varnish or polyurethane will save you a lot of work down the road.  Cabinet Coat is an opaque product that I have used on "painted" bathroom cabinets and is available wherever Ben Moore products are sold.  I rolled and tipped with it and it looked great when done.   

 

[Chris Hughes]

Just to throw a different point of view out there, no face frames and order your doors so you can get the species and finish that will last.  Build birch carcasses which you can prefinish as parts laying on a bench. 

I would buy a gravity feed Graco Finex and shoot a pre-cat lacquer.  I almost always shoot the interior of my cabinets clear even with painted full overlay doors.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I think most people greatly under estimate the amount of time, work and effort to make a kitchen full of cabinets.  I can't help be think you'd be much farther ahead buying them over building your own.

Just to throw a different point of view out there, no face frames and order your doors so you can get the species and finish that will last.  Build birch carcasses which you can prefinish as parts laying on a bench. 

I would buy a gravity feed Graco Finex and shoot a pre-cat lacquer.  I almost always shoot the interior of my cabinets clear even with painted full overlay doors.

If you are sure you want to build, I like Chris' advice.  I'd go even farther and use pre-finished ply.

 

[Sparktrician]

I think most people greatly under estimate the amount of time, work and effort to make a kitchen full of cabinets.  I can't help be think you'd be much farther ahead buying them over building your own.

Just to throw a different point of view out there, no face frames and order your doors so you can get the species and finish that will last.  Build birch carcasses which you can prefinish as parts laying on a bench. 

I would buy a gravity feed Graco Finex and shoot a pre-cat lacquer.  I almost always shoot the interior of my cabinets clear even with painted full overlay doors.

If you are sure you want to build, I like Chris' advice.  I'd go even farther and use pre-finished ply.

I'm with Brice on this one, especially when it comes to using pre-finished ply for interiors.  I prefer to use unfinished hardwood ply for exteriors (or birch for painted finishes) and apply my own finish as needed to make face frames match the visible side panels. 

[smile]

 

[spikfot]

Organic linseed oil (flax) thinned with turpentine, thin coats. best done indoors away from humid air, otherwise it can take a long time to dry.

 

[tiralie]

I'm in the planning stage of a complete make over for our kitchen. Most of the furniture in our house has some oak in it, one way or another. I'm trying to convince the wife to go with a good quality painted cabinet, that would be primed and sprayed!

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Do you have a layout/drawing of the new cabinets? How many lineal feet of cabinetry are we talking about.

I would definitely prototype any cabinetry/style to start.
Build a (1) box, and doors/styles with the finish you want and not only will your wife know what she wants, you will understand how to fabricate and finish it, and how much time it will take to achieve the final look.
Yes this takes extra time but it saves a lot of second guessing (color and finish) and arguments (budget) later.
Your wife will be happier and so will you.

Hope this helps.
Tim