The wife wants me to paint our cabinets and having some trouble and need some pointers. The wife and I went to Home Depot the other day picked out our color for the cabinets. Took home a quart of killz2 tinted and a nice dark brown color. When the killz dries its nice and smooth but when I put of the Behr high gloss enamel, it leaves it rough. Now I cleaned it with tsp and 220 sandpaper. Do I need a better paint or an I doing somehting wrong? Thanks in advance.

I know that Behr's "eggshell" gloss paints are flatter than most company's "flat" paints.

Is this the exterior of the cabinets you're painting or the interior of your cabinets or both?

If it's the interior, you should be aware that latex paints simply aren't hard enough to provide good service on a working surface like a shelf. Sliding hard things, like stacks of dishes of stainless steel pots and pans across you paint is going to mark up the surface of the latex paint, and the surface is always going to look like it's dirty.

(Don't be fooled by that word "enamel" on the Behr paint. Behr slaps that word on every can of paint it makes, save it's dead flat latex paints. It makes as much difference as a racing stripe does on a car.)

10 years ago I would have recommended that you buy an oil based paint for the interior of your cabinets because the oil will dry harder and stand up better, but now a lot of companies are discontinuing their oil based paints because they're not able to meet federal VOC requirements.

I don't think you're doing anything wrong so far as your paint application goes, but I think that you'd be better off using a much more durable paint.

The Comex Group is the 4th largest paint manufacturer in North America. It is headquartered in Mexico City and distributes it's paints through various paint companies in the United States and Canada.

In Canada, a company called "General Paint" sells paints made by the Comex Group, and one of the paints they sell is called Envirogard because it's a water based paint that dries to a very durable film. I used it on the handrail in the back lobby of my building, and it's still standing up well.

Here's Comex's web site:

http://www.thecomexgroup.com/

At the bottom of that page is a heading "Company Info" and under that a list of paint companies that sell Comex paints in the US and Canada. If you recognize any of those names, then I'd recommend you go to one of those companies and see if they sell a product they call Envirogard. If not, they probably sell it under a different name. Tell them it's a water based paint that dries to a very durable acrylic film. (I had trouble believing it was an acrylic film because normal latex paints are acrylic, but Envirogard uses acrylic resins but it dries to a harder and more durable film than any other water based paint I know of.)

If you can track down Envirogard paint being sold under a different name by any of those companies, that's the paint I'd use on the shelves inside the cabinets.

If you're only painting the exterior of your cabinets, you could probably get away with a normal latex paint like Behr, but you'd be better off using a better quality paint than Behr even on the exterior of your cabinets. You see, a measure of quality in latex paints is the hardness of the film they dry to. If you want your latex to dry to a harder film, you have to use a harder resin, and those cost more. So, if you pay $40 per gallon for a top of the line Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore paint, you're going to get a paint that dries to a harder and more protective film than if you pay $18 for a Behr 100% Acrylic High Gloss Enamel (with all it's racing stripes).

Personally, if it were me, I would track down the Envirogard paint if you can buy it locally, and use that for both the interior and exterior of your cabinets.

Also, I would use a small roller to apply the paint to eliminate brush strokes. And, it'd be a good idea to use a product called "Floetrol" (made by the Flood Company) in your latex paint. Floetrol slows down the drying time of the paint without lowering it's viscosity. That allows the paint to self level better, but by not lowering the viscosity of the paint, it still won't "run" on vertical surfaces. You should be able to buy Floetrol at any paint store or home center.

thanks, it is the exterior and the inside lips not the entire inside we are doing but I checked it out, its under the name Frazee here in Vegas, and thats where our entire house paint came from, I will check them out.

What are you trying to apply it with?
2 1/2" sash brush for low spoats and touch up and a foam roller is the way I would go.

Yes a purdy nylon brush (since its latex. Just wondering, since its the first high gloss I have ever used is it harder to use normally than say semi- or flat?

No differance when painting.

to paint any cabinets or shelfes that get use in the kitchen i use "VALSPAR ANTI-RUST ARMOR" Gloss Pastel Base paint from lowe's. 2 coats of oil base primer light sanding between each coat and 2 coats of paint again sanding between coats. brisle brush to be used.the hardest part is to take your time and let the paint dry.24 hours between each coat and 4-7 days after the last top coat. that job will last you a long time.

If the paint is a dark color (in this case a dark brown almost kona I think) does that make a diffrence when painting, it almost seems this Behr Premium is almost like a goop soup over regular type paint

For any dark color I'd use a preprinted primer as close as you can get to the color your using if your priming over a light color.
If not it can take about 5 coats of paint to get it right.

with the primer, i picked up the killz2 and they tinted it to a grey color.The guy at hd said it was tinted to match the dark brown (i guess in term of the colorant added. Can they match the color in a killz paint?? Maybe I then just slap high gloss poly over the top for durability, would that be fesable?

I'd never use poly over paint.
It's go to yellow and when it wears through it will will be hard to touch up.
Also at some point it may peel.

Bri78:

See if you can buy a mistint gallon or quart of the Envirogard equivalent just to try. It's a water wash-up paint that dries as durable as an oil based paint. If you're happy with the paint's durability, then buy a gallon in the colour you want. You can use it over your KILZ2 primer. And, because it's water based, it's not going to get discontinued because it can't meet federal or state VOC requirements.

Ergo: it'll stand up well without yellowing.

I'm questioning high gloss for your cabinets. The higher the gloss the more every flaw shows. I would step down a notch on the gloss. I also think it will look better too.

im noticing the every flaw thing, but the wife wanted high gloss, and i see no noticeable difference in the sheen. Think shes under the impression that high gloss is more durable than semi?

It is and it's easyer to keep clean.