Valspar Cabinet Enamel is Not worth the $50 they charge for it.

[Neal W]

I'm an amatuer and know little about painting things like cabinets.  Today I know more than I did a few months ago and still know enough that I don't know enough...But anyhow.

I went to Lowes and bought this garbage Valspar cabinet Enamel to paint a new vanity I built for my wife's bathroom.  They should put "enamel" in quotation marks on the can.  When I think of enamel I think of something somewhat hard and durable.  This is nothing like that. 

You couldn't brush or roll it on.  It dried too quickly and left horrible brushmarks and a heavily textured finish (which is not what we were aiming for).  Painted and sanded, painted and sanded, painted and sanded......Stuff never seemed like it would dry.  When you sanded it balled up.  It would scratch really easily (more sanding, more painting).  We'd let it dry a week or more in an air conditioned room between sanding and coats. 

eventually I bought a gravity fed spray gun to apply it and got an acceptable finish, but it still isn't any more durable than common household latex. 

So if you are an amateur and are looking to paint a cabinet or two either as a refinish or new build, avoid this crap like the plague.  You'd be better off to take $50 and flush it down the commode.

 

[RDMuller]

Did you call Valspar technical support?  There are all kinds of things that could be wrong here.  They have been a good company over the years and have recently  been acquired by Sherwin Williams.  Obviously the experience you had is not what they wanted you to have. 

 

[QuailRider43]

I hate brush marks, so I much prefer to spray cabinets.  Incidentally, the latex enamel mix that has worked for me in my HVLP (stolen from Jeff Jewitt's book) is latex:extender:water mix in 8:1:1 parts, using 2.2 mm tip, 80 PSI at compressor, 23 PSI gun inlet regulator.  If you want to brush and brush marks are a problem, consider adding some Floetrol, Wagner Paint Easy, or similar.  This slows the paint dry time, allowing more flow out, less brush marks (but also leads to more risk of runs on vertical surfaces, so avoid thick coats)

One needs to clarify dry vs. cure time.  Dry time / recoat time is measured in hours, but acrylic latex enamel has a 30 day (!) cure time.  You can't judge it's true hardness until then.  How long has it been since it was applied?

 

[Tlbaker]

I just used this for my daughter's kitchen cabinets. Never will I use this crap again. I either get what looks like a popped bubble or brush marks. I've tried everything to correct these problems. I've tried to call the company and got directed to some advertisement,   I hung up. I've never had anything come out looking so bad. I'm embarrassed to even give them to her. I'm just sick over this. Save your money and buy a different brand.

 

[nclemmons]

Did you try using something like Flotrol?

That helps on most water based enamels.  with brushing, spraying, or rolling in my experience.

I like BM Advance for cabinets.  But I have no where near the experience of many others here on the forum.

 

[Neal W]

I used floetrol.  Tried brusing it on then going over it with a dry roller.  In the end I bought a devilbiss spray gun I could attach to my compressor and sprayed it.  It worked out good enough to get it done and I've been learning some lessons with spraying.

Have also upgraded to a 4 stage turbine and have started using General finishes Milk paint.