I'm wondering the same thing. The Ace is $20 cheaper per gallon than Cabinet Coat.

This blog from 2009 claims that you lose the wet edge in 30 seconds - if that's the case with the Ace, I'll pass.

But then maybe the Cabinet Coat is just as bad?

The paint people tried to convince me to go to Behr Alkyd - it says its self-leveling at least.

Has anybody been able to compare any of these?

There is a reason it's $20 cheaper, think about it, and the Behr , I will not get into, do some research and you will see. The Behr will also turn yellow.

Yes, please DO NOT get into the Behr. I'm really tired of the anti-Behr contingent. I'd like to hear from people who have actually used these paints.

I AM doing "research", thank you very much. So how 'bout some actual information directly addressing the questions that have been asked? What's the wet-edge time, comparatively, between the paints mentioned? How about self-leveling? Brush, or "dense foam roller", or other application advice pertinent to the particular paint? How long before I can flip a door over and do the other side? And where the paint meets at the edges - am I going to be able to get a pretty clean line there, or does the paint take so long to fully cure that you end up with globby messes at the interstices? Are there ways to get around the "cons" of this paint or that paint?

That Muralo Ultra Ceramic has been much touted on this forum, despite its being near-unobtainium - and come to find out it is a very difficult paint for the less-than-perfect painter to use.

I'm a good, but not expert, painter. I am in fact better at it with a brush and a roller than a lot of people who get paid a lot of money for painting. But that's not saying much, given that all it takes to be a professional is a license. So I'm not interested in aspects of paint - such as sprayability - that are important to the bulk painter. I'm interested in the qualities of a paint that will make it easier for ME to use, especially given my much-degraded physical capabilities these days. EG - I'm unlikely to get the "perfect weighted brush stroke" thing going that the Ultra Ceramic requires. And I have economic restraints that cannot be "got around". COST MATTERS. I need "good enough" paint that I can work with and actually afford to pay for.

I don't have nor am I going to go out and buy spray equipment. The qualities I care about are self-leveling, a longer wet-edge time (which I think of as a paint being more "forgiving"), cure time, number of coats, ease of application, type of tool used to apply ("dense foam roller" vs particular types of brushes or combinations thereof), and COST - stuff that matters to me. Stuff that will help ME get the job done within the parameters I have to live with. Such as not being made of money and no longer having a perfectly steady hand, nor much strength any more.

Higher cost is NO guarantee of higher quality. Especially when the desire of the homeowner is a lot different from the goal of the paid bulk painter. The paid bulk painter wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. The rest of us just want paint we can work with that doesn't require expensive equipment or multiple subordinates (many hands) to get to come out right, and doesn't cost the earth.

A can of paint that costs me $54 per gallon vs a can that costs $35 a gallon, when I likely need several gallons (I have built ins as well as kitchen cabinets to paint) had better have something about it that actually makes it advantageous - FOR ME - to use. A longer cure time is not NECESSARILY a disadvantage to me as it would be to a paid bulk painter. If it takes 48 hours to cure, that might be ok for me where it most likely wouldn't be for the guy who has other jobs to do to make his living.

Without calling out the pros and cons of the particular paint, there's nothing TO "think about", as you put it. You can't do research without hard facts.

I would like to hear about the pros and cons of each paint, as I'm sure the OP would also. "Expensive paint is always better" is simply not true.

If Cabinet Coat is "better" than the Ace Cabinet - then WHY is it better? Its for sure not "better" just because it costs 60% more.

given that all it takes to be a professional is a license.. The paid bulk painter wants to get in and out as quickly as possible.. Well. you seem to have us all figured out, so what's the problem? More expensive paints have better and more expensive ingredients. Oil based paints yellow over time. All latex paint dries fast these days, so you just have to learn how to paint faster and more efficiently. That is what I get paid for, not because I have a license or because I want to get in and out faster .You said " its for sure not "better" just because it costs 60% more". Well ,yes it is.

Paint prices are always separated by the quality of the ingredients. High quality, expensive paints will use predominantly titanium dioxide to cover well and tint darker. Cheaper paints will use very little titanium dioxide and a lot of fillers. Cabinet Coat is predominantly titanium dioxide pigment.

I don't have a painters license and I'm pretty good at it.

Even if someone had compared the two, it better have been recent. The churn of paint-making is brisk. The product that you purchased and used with great success or failure a year ago may no be the exact same product being sold today.

Full discloser: I sell Behr paint and have for the last dozen years. Before that, I was a painting contractor for 4 decades and my family has been in painting since 1907 in this country.

I can't speak for the othe cabinet paints named here, but I can give feedback on the Water Based Behr Alkyd. Over the last twelve months I have sold over 1000 gallons of it. So far, I have received overwhelmingly good feedback from my customers. As with its true oil based cousin, the WB version levels well and dries to a hard, durable finish. Its set time is faster than oil paint, but more forgiving than an acrylic based paint. You must paint deliberately and trust that the Alkyd will level itself - it will if you don't keep overbrushng it. I recommend the use of trim rollers in conjunction with the brush, this to speed up the application. A common mistake is applying too thin a coat which cannot flow out. It can also be sprayed with airless equipment. Its re-coat time is 5 to 8 hours, much like an oil paint. And of course, clean up and thinning is with water.

99% of the time it's the painter, not the paint.

Brushworks, I would agree.

ZSJ-

You're asking almost the impossible! There are no "standard" wet-edge times, etc.

* I've been in retail paint for 15 years. We've had the ACE Cab-paint & CC for MANY years.

* With a well-prepped surface, good tools & technique, most people are gonna have a very good result.

* The only way you'll move up much from those 2 paints, is if you get into some FPE products. I've used some, & it's STUPID-GOOD. Unreal stuff. But...it doesn't sound like you wanna pay $45/qt, or ~~~ $100/gal. You LITERALLY get what you pay for.

* You're waaaayyyy overthinking this.

* XIM's Latex X-tender additive will give longer open-times.

* Paints nowadays are much different than barely 10 yrs ago. Because of the low/0-voc solvents that have to be used now, EVERYTHING dries a lot faster.

* There IS NO definition of "Cure time". Nobody knows what it means! Most people think it means when it's "dried for a day". Nooooooopppe! FULL-CURE is when the entire film-profile has hardened-off...ALL THE WAY THRU. Depending on the color, humidity, air-flow, etc., full-cure can be 6 weeks! It'll feel dry/firm the same day, but cured-thru???? Noooooo. That's often WEEKS out.

ACE has tint-bases for their Cab/Door/Trim paint. Any C+K/ACE color can be made tinted into it. With CC, there's a white, & a tint-base for LIGHT-to-Medium colors.

Faron

Faron, do you have the MSDS on the ACE cabinet paint?

Wow what a lively discussion. Thanks for all the replies. I've decided to try cabinet coat this time and will make a new post on the results. p.s. paintguy22, you tell 'em!

I've used several brands of paint in my home. For walls, I've used Behr, Valspar, Clark & Kensington. No problem with any of them, they all seemed pretty much the same to me. But for cabinets, trim, and exterior surfaces, I think its worth it to spend a little extra for a paint that is really durable for scrubbing and standing up to the elements. Really, if you are doing the painting yourself, you already have saved yourself a bundle. Isn't it worth it to spend a bit more if it's going to make the job last longer? Cabinets take some abuse - they get scrubbed more, banged up more than a wall normally would. For my cabinets and exterior painting, I do spend the extra for Benjamin Moore paints. I just feel that putting all that work into the prep and painting, I don't want to have to do it over for a long, long time.

A gallon of paint for cabinets will go a lot of cabinets.. Maybe five large kitchens.

"There is a reason it's $20 cheaper, think about it,"

Volume buys of raw materials, for one, and then volume sales of finished product. :)

ADDING:
You must paint deliberately and trust that the Alkyd will level itself - it will if you don't keep overbrushing it. (speaking of Behr's alkyd)

This ^^^ is why many painters have a hard time with Behr. My painting style has very little rebrushing and touchups, so the dreaded lift-off doesn't happen.

A common mistake is applying too thin a coat which cannot flow out.

^^^ That too.

*************************

XIM's Latex X-tender additive will give longer open-times.

Consider this if you know you are a slow painter.

And practice on the backs of the doors.

There IS NO definition of "Cure time". Nobody knows what it means! Most
people think it means when it's "dried for a day". Nooooooopppe!
FULL-CURE is when the entire film-profile has hardened-off...ALL THE WAY
THRU.

or most people it's "when can I start using it and not have stuff stick to my shelves".

David Jensen - which brush would you suggest with the Behr Alkyd? I got a chinex brush, I forget if its 2" or 3". Flat brush. I had to special order it from Home Despot. It's either Purdy or their other "premium" brand that starts with a W I think.

Any useful videos you can point us to for tips on NOT over brushing? Any other tips at all?

And I'd settle for the definition of cure time that says it is "when you can start using it and not have stuff stick to the shelves", LOL!

Very low humidity here in the High Sierra Desert. Although this is our "rainy season", when we get most of the 7" of rain we get every year, LOL!

zensojourner,

MY favorite is the Wooster 2 1/2 square cut. It has slightly softer bristles than the Purdy XL and seems to lay out the paint better initially. Even though you should be applying the paint largely with a trim roller, you must have your brush fully loaded with paint all the way up to the metal feral. The brush is basically just very gently "tipping off" the "dibble" texture left by the roller.

If I were painting shelves upon which items of weight were being placed, I would wait about 3 days before putting them on the shelves. In a warm, dry climate, curing is rather quick. It is cool and humidity that slooows down paint curing.

By "trim roller", you mean the 4" rollers? Are you talking the foam ones, or the mini-rollers that use covers just like a standard size? Which roller size and roller cover do you recommend?

All my cabinets, pantry doors, and shelves are flat surfaces, no insets or fancy trim. So actually a roller would probably be totally suitable. Perhaps I don't really need a brush at all?

I wouldn't dis-count BM Advance just because of the longer cure time. You can start using the cabinets before it cures, but it's best to give it at least a week or two before you do so lightly. I think the longer term outcome, significantly outweighs the pain of waiting for it to cure. I painted all my cabinets with BM Advance almost 6 months ago and they still look pretense. I only had a couple of chips on my bottom cabinets when I banged them really hard early on. Other than that, there has been absolutely no wear.

With BM Advance, I was able to achieve a professional level finish that looks sprayed on. I used a 4" velour pink roller (Whizz) and 1 1/2" Chinex brush, along with Zinsser shellac primer, and caulk!

Thanks for all the input, guys. I've finished painting with Cabinet Coat and compared it to Advance here. The verdict: Cabinet Coat