I like bisque.

?Keviin, I'm having trouble deciding on the color for my cabinets, too. One of the latest decorating trends leans towards a combination of black and white in the kitchen and bedroom. If you follow that trend, then bisque is the way to go. On the other hand, from a female's point of view, I'd let whoever spends the most time in the kitchen make the decision. If you are the cook, then choose what you find more pleasing. If your wife is the one who has to look at the cabinets more, then let her choose. By the way, are you planning on glazing them? One last question--did you fill the grain before painting them? If not, is the grain prominent? I can't tell as I look at this monitor. Good luck with your project and Happy Thanksgiving!

blueenough...

The Bisque is growing on my wife, she was able to see it in the daylight today and it just "looks" better to her now. No plans on glazing them. I didn't fill the grain, the grain is somewhat prominent as I can actually feel and see it. However I do actually like the grain, it gives the cabinets a more "traditional" look to me. I will see if I can upload a couple more pictures.

I didn't fill in the grain on my oak cabs either when I did them in CC, and prefer that look. Didn't glaze either. I do like that Bisque! On my monitor, in the photo where the Almond is against the red paint, I can clearly see green undertones in the Almond. That could be a hindrance in choosing colors if/when you repaint the walls down the road.

Well, Kevin, what did you decide? Thanks for getting back to me about the grain filler.

Moonshadow, I guess I'll just have to paint one of my cabinets to see what it looks like without grain filler. By the way, Faron said Ace made a cabinet paint. Have you tried it yet? I don't even know where to get cabinet coat. What brand is it? Thanks.

Insl-x makes Cabinet Coat. Some Ace's carry it, some independent paint stores carry it. Some will special order it. HD, Lowes, other big box stores do not carry it and to my knowledge and what I've read around here, they won't order it. Depends on where you're at, sometimes easy to get hold of, sometimes not ;)

My Ace doesn't have their Cab paint yet. :/ I'm waiting, patiently. See Faron's "Moon/Michael..." post here, I'm trying to talk him into doing a comparison of CC and Ace Cab paint. Sounds like he's game and willing to post photos ;) What a guy! ;D

I'm leaning towards Bisque...I attached some more pictures for you to see. Hopefully you can see the differences a little more.

Almond - don't mind the scratches on the front.

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Bisque

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Messy Kitchen

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Moonshadow, how would you recommend applying the paint on the outside of the cabinets, especially the larger areas on the other side of the sink? I'm going to start the project after Thanksgiving, I will keep posting pictures as the project progresses. Let me know what you think.

Kevin, thanks for posting more pics. I can see these better than the others, so I know the pattern of the grain does show through. Kevin, is CC easily scratched? By the way, I like bisque better, too, but I wanted you to make up your mind yourself, which I think you have done. They will indeed look lovely in your kitchen once you are finished. I, myself, am not a fan of oak, but I've got enough new cabinets to put in several houses. All are going in my new house, though. I've got to decide how to finish them so that I can live with them.

Moonshadow, thanks so much for telling me where to find this product. I'm sure if Faron told you he'd compare them, he will. He can really be a "hoot." Happy Thanksgiving!

The only reason the Almond scratched was because my wife put a heavy can opener on top of it. Long story, but the finish is very strong and you can easily wipe off the scratches. Now my only concern is hinges, what do use and how to measure. I thought this was going to be easy, until I started to look into hinges. Ugh!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

kevhead, forgot to say your painted doors look great! It's been a long time since I posted about my CC kitchen experience. I used that paint on all my trim/doors and love it! It's been a couple years and has held up exceptionally well. Takes nicks and bumps much better than 'regular' latex paint.

But my cabinets I made some mistakes on and I knew better. Read and learn from my mistakes, grasshopper ;) I did not scrub thoroughly enough. (Use a good deep pre-paint cleaner like Dirtex.) Scuff sand the surface. My cabinet fronts were dark 70's stained oak and from prior owners had lots of oils in the wood, both cooking and polish. (You should have seen the rag when I scrubbed them during move in.) So I know that stuff was in the wood, not just on it. I primed with Zinsser Bullseye 123, which is an outstanding primer and I've used it everywhere on all kinds of surfaces including concrete block. In my situation, in hindsight, I should have used an oil-based primer. After about a year I had a couple pin head size spots here and there where the 'nick' went clear down to the old 70's stain. So that tells me my primer wasn't grabbing. (Again, I failed to scrub well and didn't scuff sand well at all. In the midst of a huge remodel, I was totally burned out when I tackled the cabs and never should have done it in that frame of mind.) I now have a couple more areas that show the original surface. Can't emphasize enough: prep is everything and I made some bad judgment calls. I first used CC on rental property cabs about 5 years ago. They were painted in a white oil-based paint, so we didn't prime them. They are holding up so well and still look fresh and new. Rentals take higher than average wear, and those cabinets turned out better than mine :/ Also, in my own home DH installed new, pre-primed doors and trim. After 2 years they still look like brand new. No nicks, nada. I am so pleased with the performance of CC on those projects! So the reason my kitchen cabs have 'issues' is because I failed to properly prep. Save yourself the grief, get the prep part done well! ;D

Once I primed I used my preferred Purdy XL Dale Pro brush and a 6" foam roller. I did the large areas with the foam roller, and immediately came right behind and did a brush swipe to level out little pock marks from the roller. When doing it this way, the brush cannot be completely dry (it will pull the CC off) nor can it be loaded as if you were putting another coat on (CC will drip and run). I kept the bristles 'moist', dipped as if I were doing another coat with the brush, but wiped the side edges, gently scraped the bristle tips, so the brush was probably loaded at 50% max with the CC. Then did my brush stroke in the roller's path. You don't have a lot of play time, this has to be done immediately. Watch for drips/runs as you go.

I just used a brush to do the thinner areas, such as frames, etc.

Oh, one more thing, for anyone interested CC is self priming. I've done experiments to see how well that works. It does self prime but on darker/stained surfaces it takes a lot more coats of CC. So on a stained surface, I used primer to save $, because it took less coats of CC to finish. I had two cheapy cherry stained plant stands. I painted one with CC and no primer, it took a good 5 coats. The other I primed first with Bullseye and then topcoated with CC. That one took 3 coats max.

I have to go cook sweet taters now ;) Will be on vacation starting tomorrow and won't be around. I'm pretty sure Michael has a CC tutorial floating around somewhere (or at least tips) and others here have experience with CC too, if you get in a pinch. ;)

First, my vote is with the basque!
Second, *sniff* I have terrible cabinets that have a laminate (seventies, awful wood-grain) surface. Can I use CC too??

Hi Jane...

I think Moonshadow would be able to answer that question. I would assume you could according to this site:

http://www.o-geepaint.com/ArchiCoats/inslx.shtml

It really is great paint, I've just started to clean the cabinets and will start priming them. I thought about not priming since the paint is "self" priming but after moonshadows advice I've decided to follow his lead.