My partner is an ex finish painter, and he recommends stopping at the local paint stores (Ben Moore in particular, then Sherwin Williams) and just asking whom they know. They are often the ones with the handle on the local goodies and not-so-goodies.

Definitely look for someone who advertises as a "finish painter." If you're in the NH/Maine area, I know a great recommendation.

good luck!

Thanks circus peanut!! I'm practically drinking buddies with the folks at our BM store, I've been there so much for all the paint decisions with this house ;-D - that's a great idea, thank you!

kpaquette, I don't think you're crazy at all. Seeing your kitchen coming together, I can understand why you aren't happy with the glaze. I don't have any recommendations regarding painters, but I wanted to tell you how utterly gorgeous your kitchen is looking. I love your wainscoting, countertops, farmhouse sink (soapstone?), light fixtures and the wall color ... what color is that?

Erika

oh, and I'm in RI, too bad. :-) We had a solid recommendation from a friend, but I called him and he took a job with Bose so doesn't do it anymore. Boo.

Erika, Thank you! the walls are BM gray wisp - it looks even better IRL, my camera phone takes crappy pics and I haven't located my camera cord during the unpacking yet LOL. Yes, the counters are all soapstone (julia)

kpaquette, my painter lives in Rhode Island. He does furniture refinishing, but I don't know about kitchen cabinets. He's coming up to do some touch-ups this weekend, and if you haven't found anyone by then I can ask him ... or maybe he knows someone.

kpaquette, I think your cabinets look lovely like they are, but crisp white would be stunning, as well. Your soapstone turned out GORGEOUS!!!

I was wondering something, though. I noticed that the right base cabinet door next to the stove opens the opposite direction from the upper above it. Is it supposed to open that way? You might have a great reason for planning it that way, or maybe it's one of the doors being replaced anyway, but if it's wrong, I figured it would be better to get that straight before you go painting... :)

OMG erika that would be great if you could ask him. Thank you so much! I will ask at the BM store when i'm there tomorrow (painting the fence this weekend. ugh.) but go ahead and ask him, too, if you don't mind.

holligator- NO, that's not supposed to be that way. I have a replacement door hinged on the right side here to go in. That whole base cabinet was wrong - this was a long distance reno so I didn't catch it - it was missing the side panels (ordered, installed) and I thought that was the only issue, but when I got here I saw the drawer isn't a drawer, but a knife holder/cutting board (might be handy, didn't complain about that.) Yesterday I found that the base cabinet has roll out shelves when that one was supposed to have slots for cutting boards/cookie sheets. So gotta call the Thomasville rep again.

That's just one of several mistakes - we have 2 warped cabinet doors, drawers out of square, filler that doesn't match, missing finish pieces, I could go on and on. I have alot here waiting to be installed by my contractor today.

Anyway thanks for the compliment though! If this room were more closed off then we probably would be ok with the glaze. But since it's open to everything else it just doesn't look right. We're seriously kicking our own a$$es for not just going with bright white. Oh well.

I can't wait to see pictures from your real camera. Can we see the whole house? Beautiful! And I agree about the glaze. Don't panic. Great finish painters do this all the time...

Thanks, bestyears. :-) I don't have many pics taken, here are a few of the upstairs bath and guest room. I'll post more when I find the cord. And here's a link to my website, though it hasn't been updated in ages. But you can see lots of before pics.

Guest room - colors are off. The quilt is "watermelon" (from PB.)

Downstairs floor detail. red oak with walnut border

upstairs bath

still waiting for the frameless shower door

{{!gwi}}

I'll post more when there's more to see - everything is still in boxes. LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: Kim's site

What a fabulous renovation! Sorry you are disappointed in the color of the kitchen cabinets. Hard to imagine that everything would go perfect with such a large project from a distance, so don't be too hard on yourselves. Good luck with getting everything to your liking-- it is looking so great already.

What a great home you are going to have! I just love it!

If you don't want to have spray in your house have them remove the doors and spray outside. They have to be sprayed with the very best cabinet paint from the commerical division of Sherman Williams or similiar. Get a second rollable paint and have them roll (with a small fine roller) the trim and much of the interior and finish the inside corners with a brush. Using the same paint company for both paints will keep the color matched.
I prefer Zinsser Bin Primer Sealer because it clings extremely well and lies flat, flat, flat. It is alcohol/shellac based and is at HD and Lowes in spray and paintable form. I always like to make sure I paint on as many coats of the primer to totally cover the previous paint. The big deal is to search for the prep instruction on the internet for Zinsser Bin Primer Sealer; the method is not what you think.
(Check epinions which I just did for Zinsser BIN; 11 reviews, all 5 star.)
Just one method (that worked for me twice); I am sure there are dozens more.
Bob