Choosing the Best Kitchen Cabinet Finishes

What goes on the outside of your kitchen cabinets and kitchen island cabinets is equally as crucial as the things you put within or the style of the cabinetry. After your big investment in quality cabinetry, you want it to remain looking nice for a long, long time. Some finishes will provide a tougher coating than others. You will want something that can be cleaned simply, which won't be spoilt by the heat and moisture that are parts of a kitchen environment, and that may be durable enough to bear everyday utilization. This text is going to outline some of the products that are available and the benefits and disadvantages of each finish.

Most of those in the cabinet industry are using a grouping of finishes that are known as conversion finishes. These include conversion polish, moisture-curing polyurethane, polyester, catalyzed and pre-catalyzed lacquer, epoxy, and ultraviolet curing finish. The advantages of this group of surface coatings include the fact that they're quick-drying, durable, terribly water resistant, and heat proof to a point. Since using any of these finish coats will speed up production times and work out well for customers, you can realize why they've become an industry favorite.

Polyurethane is a finish that people regularly use for do-it-yourself projects, because it is easy to apply smoothly and dries swiftly. Polyurethane is a plastic that does not soak down into the wood but sits on top of it. If your cabinets have 3 coats of this type of polish, that will mean that you've applied 3 layers of plastic. As with most plastics, polyurethane scratches reasonably simply. Therefore, it isn't the best finish to use on your cabinets unless you plan to eventually replace kitchen cabinets.

Oil finishes, such as tung oil, have been tried over time, but they are not suggested for cabinets. Though oiled surfaces can look lovely, they have to be reoiled often in order to maintain the look. Another finish that plenty of homeowners are turning towards these days is paint. Paint is one of the least expensive choices, is available in a rainbow of colours, and can be both washable and durable. The downside of painting, however, is that you lose the lovely grains in the wood that your cabinets are made from. Otherwise, paint can hide a lot of issues.
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