Kenzie you have the perfect kitchen for hand-painting kitchen cabinets. You are going to be amazed at the improvement if you follow Christopher's directions. Just don't skip any steps and take your time :). You will see a little grain since your cabinets are oak, but that helps eliminate the look of brush marks also. I am one of those people who don't mind seeing the grain of oak - at least they look like real wood. I have one question for Christoper: How does the BM Impervo and Advance compare to SW Pro-Classic as far as ease of applying?? My reason for asking is that I have used the Pro-Classic on a vanity and was very impressed with the quality of the finished product - just would like to know for future projects.

"The foam brush causes the peel look, and brushing right afterwards won't improve it, especially with the primer as it sets those bumps fast. " Not exactly. Perhaps you should learn better painting skills. Hint - it's all in the prep work, applying the paint is only about 10-15% of the job! "Wooster ones work so much better in getting a super smooth finish coat" It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools, both brands make very good brushes. Choosing the correct type of brush for the job is critical. (see above comment) Foam rollers are fine to get lots of paint onto the surface quickly and fairly even. Smooth after with the brush. Rollers leave orange peel - period. If you don't want it you have to smooth down the orange peel. +1 about Floetrol and Penetrol. Most old timers won't touch Satin Impervo in waterbase, so all this applies to oil base and goes back to # it's all in the prep which includes choosing the correct product. It has a pretty long open time especially with Penetrol in it. "but XIM Extender is usually preferred by the pros. " perhaps in your neighborhood , but not on the jobs I go to, especially in the Southeast, especially with BenMoore paints. XIM makes some fantastic coatings, but they are not really known for their interior trim paints! "I should have realized something was up " Yep, you should have realized your paint guy wasn't as knowledgeable or as competent as you/he thought.

Are you looking at water-based or oil-based Impervo? If water-based, go with Aura for sure. If oil-based, go with Impervo. (We've used all three and don't like the water-based Impervo anywhere near as much as the other two.) Our kitchen cabinets are done in Aura satin, sprayed off-site, and it seems fine so far. Most of the rest of the cabinetry in our house is in oil-based Impervo, which is great but no longer available where we live. And then our kitchen trim and doors are in water-based Impervo---just doesn't settle as well as the other two. (I'm lukewarm on it but my husband *hates* working with it and refuses to paint anything more in it, so we're switching to BM Advance for the last couple of doors that need painting even though it means wasting half a gallon of it!) You might also consider Cabinet Coat, which a lot of people like, or Advance, a relatively new BM product that our paint store swears by for cabinets. (We've only used the primer in that line, but liked it.)

Sanding between coats is only part of the process. In order to get that final smooth finish you're looking for, it is also necessary to give the entire surface and all adjacent & surrounding work area's a thorough vacuuming. I can't stress this enough. Totally dust free. After he vacuums it, he should tack all the surfaces to be painted with tack clothes. And finally, don't forget to strain the paint. I always run the paint thru strainers and if I need to add any penetrol to the mix during the day I will even run that thru the strainer. If you have any hot forced air heat vents in your work area, that too can sometimes create problems, so you may want to cover any exposed vents if any air is blowing out of it. I've been painting houses for a living since 1977, and been using Satin Impervo forever. It's an excellent product, but it's all about the prep, especially when you're dealing with an extended drying period. Any dust floating around in the air, is going to settle into the wet paint, which will leave you with a dirty and rough finish. Good luck to you...