I always use an extender with Aura. It gives you more time before drying. If you're painting a bathroom, research "surfactant leaching." This happens when the paint in a bathroom isn't fully cured, and you use the shower. Google photos of surfactant leaching. Most paint stores will say latex cures in a few days, but I had this problem in two homes and did extensive research. You get ugly drips down the walls, and they are yellow or brown. You can wash it off, but it comes back. Now, when I paint a bathroom, I wait 30 days before using the shower. That may be overkill, and if you only have one shower, that would not be possible.

Imsparkie, your kitchen looks really cool - I hope you keep us posted about your progress. I understand the effect that you are trying to achieve. Having some depth and variation is a really great idea for adding interest to slab fronts. I'm planning solid oak gray stained slab fronts for my small kitchen, but I was driving myself *nuts* trying to figure out *how*. It was a thread here on GW that pointed me to an excellent option: Rubio Monocoat. It's a Belgian product that is designed for floors so it's more than up for the job for cabinet fronts. From my research, it is a new category of products (there are a couple of other brands of this kind of modern hardwax oil). It has many many benefits over custom stains, hardware store options, etc. What I found is that those products weren't opaque enough for the look that I was trying to achieve. I have applied it myself and it's an *easy* DIY job if you do proper wood prep (use their cleaner) and follow instructions exactly. I have no experience with wood finishing so knew that complicated application methods weren't for me. I loved the samples that I tried. The finish is beautifully matte, yet water beads up nicely and it seems very durable. I recommend that you order samples and try this yourself if you're interested. Plan to take some time getting the right combination if you use two-step process. The wood species makes a *huge* difference. If you want to see grain, oak is by far the best readily available option. Also, how the wood is prepped makes a difference in how the Oil soaks in (sanding, Monocoat Raw Wood cleaner, 'water popping' to raise grain), so ideally you'd be working with a sample cabinet door for your final testing. Some of the Monocoal Oils are coloured (incl a number of whites), but if you want a more opaque finish with stronger colour, you can apply a 'precolor' - I'll be doing that with my gray stained cabinet to achieve an 'almost painted' look that still shows the dimension and depth of the grain. You will probably need the precolor to get the colour strong enough for your look. The cool thing is you can MIX precolors with each other to blend a custom colour. You can also mix the Oils with each other. So the possibilities are endless and you should be able to create the look you want with experimentation. Because there are so many colours of precolors and oils, the combinations are endless and creating large sample boards is a *must*. Natural Oil Finish 2C Part A (no accelerator B) http://www.monocoat.us/Natural-Oil-Finish - recommended to use no accelerator for cabinet fronts for long 'open time', but takes 21 days to cure (instead of 7). Precolor Easy 14 Unique Shades http://www.monocoat.us/Precolor-Easy/ Application Instructions: https://store-adb79.mybigcommerce.com/content/pdf/RM Furniture Data.2.14.pdf pretty impressive resistance testing results: http://www.monocoat.us/Resistance-Testing/ See my thread for endless detail about my quest for an elusive finish look :) . http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0416442910326.html HTH! If you're interested in pursuing this, I have some ideas about how you might achieve lavender/white look with Rubio products based on my test boards. This post was edited by feisty68 on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 15:44

Thanks for all your comments everyone. I'm feeling like i have a plan. I just need to be sure that closing off the door to the garage won't cause any insurmountable problems. Buehl, I've officially joined the TKO club--saw your floor plans at midnight, and couldn't pull myself away to sleep. And when I did, rather than watch the sheep, all I could do was walk thru my normal cooking to see what would/wouldn't work. And I enjoyed it! Here goes: It shouldn't be a problem moving the window-- Plan #3 I was intrigued with the idea of the island and how it turns the kitchen into an L. I like how it opened up the space, certainly less claustrophobic, but it takes away a lot of storage and a baking area. Plan #2 I couldn't get past the frig stuck by itself on that wall. Think you may have drawn in a bench [in blue]. I couldn't figure out how to draw one. I'm hoping for a banquette along the lines of KitchenKelly's in that space. And in only 1 more year we lose one ds to college, so the table space will grow exponentially. He is a big boy. Plan #1 Love, just love the idea of the frig closer to the sink. It would become a trade-off of everyday dish storage for the frig in that position. I suppose most of the dishes could go in the 12"" pantry. It's a psychological barrier because I currently don't have to move to put away the glasses and it is 3 steps to put away the dishes. It also gives me a separate baking center (I'm dreaming marble). Do you think it is a problem to place an oven under the counter (below the microwave) for heat? I was thinking no, because by the time the food is in the oven, I'm finished in that area. I"ll definetly go with 30"" base cabinets on the stove wall along with 15"" uppers. I'm giddy with thinking about how easy plating will be at dinner parties. I'll also look at glass for all cabinets in the huthc. Do you think it will work to place a prep sink in the corner between the stove and hutch wall? Now comes the terrifying part--getting the details of the cabinets [drawers/pullout, height, etc]. Do I need a KD to help me with that, or do you think a good cabinet maker will be enough, given the amount of detail I now have? Last, and the only real problem [please don't laugh] I can't figure out where to put the dog food and water bowl. Again, thank you thank you, thank you. I'm going to show the plan for DH tonight and see what he thinks. Cook1 Here is a link that might be useful:

I had a horrible experience with a General Finish paint several years ago. Their customer service was rude, told me their product was wonderful, and it was my own fault. And then took the product off the market within a year. Stuff I've used of theirs that wasn't utter garbage wasn't fantastic. So, I'm skeptical when anyone raves about their gel stain. The Rustoleum includes all the products you need for every technique, even if you don't need them for the look you're going for. That makes them really expensive if you don't need all the products. I have used BM Advance paint on cabinets and furniture (and doors and trim) and been very happy at a fraction of what the Rustoleum stuff costs. The caveat though is that it takes a LONG time for the paint to cure fully. Like, several weeks. It'll be dry to the touch in a few hours, but it can scratch off if you bump it before it's fully cured.