He's way out of date. Oil is almost unavailable. Latex does just fine. And doesn't yellow and change color on you. It's more than durable for a DIYer. Especially a waterborn poly based paint.

But, an actual pro wouldn't use either one. He'd use a pre cat lacquer in a clean spray room that he has set up in his production shop. An even better pro would use post cat lacquer, but that's usually reserved for the factory brand cabinets or more successful larger cabinet makers who can afford to deal with the additional hassle and expense.

I don't think you're dealing with a cabinet maker. He's not doing site built is he? If so, run the heck away from this hack.

I think oil is more durable and better for kitchens in general with water and food in the mix. It's messy to deal with and I think has strong fumes (others may be more precise about this). I put shelving in a closet to make a pantry in the kitchen and used latex. My cookware sticks to the bottom of it and paint lifts up onto the bottom of the pan (maybe because I put the pan back after washing it when it is slightly wet?. Anyway if I put shelving paper down I'd get rid of this problem.

Basically if it's a long-term solution I'd say oil too - if you can deal with the mess and fumes. Otherwise you could probably live with latex like we do, esp. if you put shelving paper down. I'm not expert though - just my 2 cents based on our experience.

Sticky paint has more to do with improper prep, lack of cure time, and low quality paint than oil vs. latex. A good quality paint that goes over a good quaity primer that goes over a well sanded surface and that is allwed to cure fully before being used will not be sticky.

But, as I said, actual pro cabinet makers DO NOT use ''paint'', either oil or latex.

We had the choice between lacquer or paint and after reading reviews here it seems like paint was the betted choice since it can be fixed easily and doesn't chip. So I said I wanted paint. Am I missing something?

He does use a spray paint, it will not be hand painted.

In renovating an old kitchen in a second house, my painter used Impervo (oil) on the cabinets and they look luscious. When I made a trip to see the progress recently, I took one look at the kitchen door and woodwork, and knew in an instant that he had used the latex I had suggested for the walls--BM Pearl--on that door. Like day and night. Nothing has the look of IMpervo, unless you are using Fine Paints of Europe. Sheen aside, the latex sets up so much faster that the brushstrokes are too pronounced.