Benjamin Moore ADVANCE Paint on Cabinets

In planning out our full-kitchen remodel, I chose to build the cabinets and paint them white. I build the cases out of A1 GoldPly and the 2" wide beaded face frames from hardwood. The Shaker style doors and drawers are inset and sit flush to the frames. Oiled black iron hardware, sapele countertops, and soft-close hinges and slides.

I went with a relatively new paint, Advance by Benjamin Moore. Benjamin Moore is an innovative company and typically puts out a great product. My dad used it and so do I.

Advance is a durable, waterborne alkyd finish for interior furniture that comes in the usual choice of colors and sheens. It's probably best applied with an HVLP sprayer, but I don't have one. The finish is slick and a little brittle at first, but lays down flat and cures hard, similar to most oil-based enamels. Advance is less drippy than most paints. Each finish coat takes 24 hours to cure. You buy both the primer and the finish.

The finish is clearly engineered to flatten well, a quality that comes somewhat at the expense of coverage (color hiding).

Tips for Using Advance on Cabinets

- Advance is a little fussier than more familiar acrylic latex paints when applied with a brush. I acheived very good results after some trial and error. Applying 3 coats of primer and sanding fairly heavily between each (150g paper + block) worked well. I also used a card scraper on primer drips and roughly-dried edges.

- Light work with a card scraper and 320g paper removes dust nibs between finish coats.

- You don't want to fuss with the finish at all once its applied.

- Clean up with hot water and a little dish soap.

- Use top quality brushes. I use Purdy.

- Whenever possible, lay parts flat to dry. Dry time is longer than most paints.