Definitely BIN. I was talked into getting another primer that can be tinted to use under the paint for my kitchen cupboards and am so mad because it scratches off. I did the upper cabinets with Zinsser BIN and I can scratch them all day and the paint stays. I will do the remaining with BIN even though it isn't tinted.

wryorwhite -- Don't be scared by all this talk of yellowing. It's exaggerated. Bear in mind that oil-based paint was essentially all that was used in American homes through the 1980s -- so unless you're a teenager, you were around when any house you'd walk into (including the one in which you grew up) had its walls painted with oil-based paint. Trust yourself and your own experience...do you ever remember walking into a house and thinking to yourself "My, these walls are awfully yellowed!"? I sure don't. When's the last time you've heard someone say "Oh, look at those walls! They've gone from looking like snow to looking like Big Bird! This is certainly oil-based paint!"? Never. Yes, oil-based paint yellows very slighly with time. So do all oil-based products, including the clear polyurethane with which wood floors are most often finished. This "yellowing" effect is minimal, and it's not something that jumps out at you or is offensive or anything like that. You have to actively look for it, and the only people who do that are (a) homosexuals, and (b) people who work in the marketing departments of latex-based paint companies. The drawbacks of latex-based paint have largely been resolved in the past few years. The latex-based paints of 2008 are a far cry from the ones of 20 years ago. This is especially true with the high-quality brands like Pratt & Lambert. Modern high-end latex pains bond to drywall well, hold up to moisture and cleaning well, etc. However - latex-based paints aren't as good as oil-based paints when it comes to moisture and dirt resistance, standing up to scrubbing, and bonding to wood. They never can be, because oil (unlike latex) naturally resists water, and naturally soaks into wood (rather than just sitting on top like a skin). Think of what happens when you mix oil and water -- they don't mix; instead, they just separate and keep apart. So moisture and dirt don't bond to the oil-based paint, so it's very easy to clean without damage. In addition, oil-based paint soaks into wood -- unlike latex-based paint, which forms into a skin that you can peel off. This is one of the big drawbacks of using latex paint on high-traffic wood items (like kitchen cabinets). My house has latex-based paint on the walls and ceilings, and oil-based paint on all the wood trim (including the doors and windows and cabinets) -- this is a time-tested and popular arrangement, and it has held up very well for me and my neighbors. Speaking of polyurethane -- there are two types, oil-based and water-based (latex-based) - same as paint. ALL of the manufacturers -- Minwax, Cabot, etc. -- recommend strongly in favor of using the oil-based polyurethane on floors. It's tougher, it holds up better to traffic and moisture, and this "yellowing" effect that the self-proclaimed experts yammer on about are so minimal as to be non-existent. The same is true with the oil-based vs. water-based (latex-based) paints. Again, trust yourself and your own experiences -- how many times have you walked into a home and thought to yourself that the painted walls and ceilings, or the wood floors, were yellowed?

I wouldn't focus "totally" on just the $$$... Think of the "Total $ value" added to the home, etc. >>> I think some people tend to think too "small box" when improving their homes, and get too concerned over the price of a single gallon of product. >>> Yet $$Thousands$$ are spent on furniture, tiles, etc., that can easily be "too trendy", and REDUCE a homes value! If another $100 (or whatever $ amount...) in paint adds "even more" to the worth....just sayin'.... The additional $$/sq. ft. soon become meaningless. Plus, a high-end finish like FPE wears VERY well too. However... CC is a very good finish. It's NOT Low-VOC however. Colors can be tedious to match into this line. The ACE Cabinet, Door, & Trim paint IS Low-VOC, looks very nice, easily tinted to ANY ACE color, and can be sold in all 50 states...CC cannot. ...gettin' off my soapbox now...;-) Faron

Yes. I like the Fresh Start 046 from Benjamin Moore.