She's a talented lady but I haven't been impressed with her products. I think she works to balance quality with affordability for the masses. So it's probably decent quality but not among the better lines.

I think that with "regular" paint, as opposed to full-spectrum paint, color matching can work. I did a whole condo in those Martha colors (Verdigris, Caneware, Meadow Way and Winter Surf four-color chip, as well as two trim colors, three extra colors for bedrooms and bath, and a pale blue for the ceilings) but I had them all matched at Benjamin Moore. Have done the same here at this house with a few more Martha colors...like the Atlantic in my bathroom...the color Moonshadow covets! Here's the catch...persistence and a good eye are often required to make a good match. Yes, the computer will scan the color, but the person doing the mixing must also paint a bit on the sample card, dry it down and then tweak it until it's right. That is all about going beyond what a computer can do and using the human eye. Hopefully, said human has lots of experience! My BM guy spent nearly 30 minutes trying to get the Winter Surf right. It is a complex color and he really worked at it. He wasn't happy, but he didn't give up. I have never used Behr and admittedly, I am a paint snob! ;-) I wouldn't dream of using the K-Mart paint, even of it were available. (I love the "boutique" brands and full spectrum paints. Otherwise I am a Benjamin Moore fan.) I think what matters most is whether the person at Home Depot will really work to get it matched right. And whether you like Behr. I can just imagine a busy Saturday morning. HD is slammed and they won't take the time to make it the best they can. They're busy and they don't really care. But, I can also imagine a quiet Tuesday morning. You find someone who has been there a while, takes pride in their work and likes a challenge. It could go either way. That'll have to be your call. My experience with service at HD has been marginal. I also hear that HD can be fussy about taking back mistakes. In all likelihood, you won't have that problem with a Benjamin Moore dealer. What color are you looking at, btw?

Speedhide is a pretty basic primer, but you're not wrong to use it...just use a good FULL coat. I'd consider TWO coats of this primer if you're one to put on thinner coats. >>> Apply this kind of primer at no greater than 300s.f./gal rate. >>> Aim for about 250-300sf/gal. 123 is a much better choice!! * Some new-construction painters/sheetrockers/construction people will think that's insane, because all they know is how to do stuff "at its cheapest". * Per arm/roller movement...123 is giving you TWICE the sealing/holdout ability relative to cheaper "PVA-Class" drywall primers. * The "primer" in paints like that Behr-series....IS NOWHERE NEAR the capability of primers like 123. Not even remotely!!! What kind of stores are near you, besides HD, for paints? Do you have an ACE "nearby"? Faron

I took a trip into the HD that my friend works at just so I could eyball the cabinets further. What I'm seeing is that each piece is wrapped with the thermofoil before assembly, much like a high quality custom maker would do to make sure than no unpainted areas show during the change of the seasons. The thermofoil isn't like any other thermofoil that I've seen in person on cabinets. It's more matte/satin than fake and shiny. It REALLY looks like paint. It didn't smell "plasticy" either. The abrasion resistance seems to be superior to most thermofoil as well. (I took a quarter and really roughly rubbed it along one edge--something I would NOT recommend anyone else doing, as I was doing this with my friend's permission and wouldn't want to see folks bringing in wire brushes and diamond nail files to do their own tests!) I love the fact that soft close is a standard on her cabinets and that she offers some nice truly modern styles as well as some traditional ones. I'd buy it for my own kitchen, that's for sure. But, I can't afford the Italian cabinet lines I lust after, so you may want to take that endorsement with a grain of salt if your budget is on the higher scale. And, the whole line is made by Masterbrand, which makes Decora and other pretty darn good cabinet choices. They have all of the same toekick drawers and organizer inserts as Masterbrand offers on their other lines, plus a few decorative details that are unique to Martha. I particularly liked the Pierced Corbel which has a hole for a stainless rod to be linked between a pair to serve as a tool hanger or towel rod. The "stable brace door" was also a nice decorative detail for whichever doorstyle it's linked with. I'm pretty convinced it's a good quality cabinetry. Especially for the price that it seems to carry. Her glass choices, like all glass choices, are not cheap, and she shows a lot of glass in her book, so it will be easy to take that inexpensive "basic" kitchen of 5K and turn it into a 15K one in a heartbeat by all of the add ons that the line offers. But that's also pretty easily done in any other cabinet line if you don't realize that anything beyond just plain 30" wall cabinets with no moldings and no drawer bases will cost you more than you think it should. If you are concerned about the local HD KD, then post your own plan here first to get a good workflow of the basic elements and have your contractor lined up to double check any measurements on the final design before you order.Make sure you utilize their measuring service for the design, which is $100, I think. That way, if there are any errors, it's HD's $ problem to solve. As long as you have a good installer and order most runs with a filler in them, and it's not an extremely challening small space, you should be OK with all of these extra eyes helping you.