I won’t go into detail — after everything else I’ve written about painting kitchen cabinets it would be about interesting as, well, watching paint dry. So just some observations.
Read the label
As mentioned I am using Benjamin Moore’s ADVANCE Waterborne Interior Alkyd Paint – Satin Finish (792). I got curious about Alkyd — their site says Water Reducible Alkyd. Apparently the major components of an alkyd coating are fatty acids and triglyceride oils and are not petroleum products, but slow the drying time so you end up with a harder finish. On kitchen cabinets this is a good thing.
If you try the paint be sure to read the label. It is water clean up, but because of the alkyd oil they recommend a final rinse in mineral spirits for your tools. This is how my tools looked yesterday after soaking in paint for the 3 hours it took me to do the second coat.
Cleaned and ready for next coat
The other important difference is the drying time. They say a minimum of 16 hours before sanding and applying another coat. I let it dry longer since the house is only around 65 degrees.
Technique
I feel the second coat went better, but that was because it got down to a routine that I knew worked. The upper cabinets take the longest, partly because I’m painting the shelf fronts, partly because the bottoms of the upper cabinets need to be painted, and partly because there are more of them. The base cabinets probably only took 45 minutes, including painting the toe kick area.
I did treat myself to a new short handled brush to make easier working inside the cabinets edges — I purchased a Purdy XL Cub. The stubby handle is great for working in small spaces.
I suggest a very, very light touch with the roller to prevent runs. There are so many edges and corners when painting cabinets that any pressure could unknowingly leave a load of paint that will run after you have moved on to the next section.
With great sadness I gave up on using a foam brush and went back to my old stand by — quality bristle brushes. I may have had to spend time cleaning, but the application was so superior I was glad I made the switch. The XL Cub did a such a nice job.
Cleaning
The mohair roller and brush clean up first with soap and warm water. I always use Dawn dish detergent because it contains grease and oil cutters. After getting as much moisture out as possible with a towel, I then dunked both in mineral spirits and squeezed that out. They look virtually unused after cleaning.
If you use a painter’s tool with the crescent shape to get water out of the little rollers be very gentle. I was too rough after the primer and started loosening tufts and felt the smart thing was to discard that roller or the loose tufts would end up in the paint. I quit using the painter’s tool and used my hands only to remove water and it worked a lot better. The painter’s tool is a new thing for me and I’m not good with it yet.
The plastic rolling tray, brush, and roller are all in perfectly good condition to be used again.
