I think I may not have communicated clearly, or you may have taken my comments the wrong way. Normal use, busy family of five, all 5 including kids using kitchen. Water splashes from a sink. Nothing abusive! And certainly no 'pride at the abuse'. Even wiith appropriate use, a busy kitchen of a family gets different wear than one cook in an empty nest, for instance. That's not abuse, just realistic wear and tear! Asking whether paint indeed has less longevity exactly because I value my investment and will choose practical and long-lasting over looks if I need to. But wondered if my assessment was correct.

A little rough on the OP HU. i think her concerns are valid.

Aspen..my cabinets are white and fairly bulletproof. they are well made and were spendy, even with my many grandkids around and my teen boys. my dds white cabinets are inexpensive and just so-so in quality. they look great but arent holding up as well. she does have three very young kids. they are not abusive to her kitchen but they are kids. she has a touch up kit. it works to cover up her mars just so so. if you want white cabinets, buy a high quality cabinet that is finished well in a proper finishing room. i believe that makes the difference.

stained cabinets are easier to touch up with your touch up kit. so stained cabinets might be the way to go with a young family.

Aspen, I struggled with the exact dilemma you describe for my country home kitchen reno Stained wood is beautiful but making everything work can be harder. than just picking a paint color

In my city kitchen, we have stained walnut and we can touch up dings with a marker, which gives a lot of peace of mind.

After some sleepless nights, and one or two failed stain samples on the rift cut white oak we chose, we ultimately decided to split the difference. so we are doing a dark stained island, bleached perimeter base cabinets and white painted uppers. My thinking is that the bleached bottoms are light but still read like wood but will be easier to touch up than the wall cabinets, while the wall cabinets will endure less wear and tear so the white oaint will likely be ok.

Hope this helps.

We have painted Brookhaven at the beach where they get used hard when we have a large crowd. They're holding up very well but the kitchen is only 3 years old and not used every day. Still, I don't anticipate chipping or flaking. We had painted Crystal cabinets in our masterbath for 20 years and they never chipped or flaked either however the Tedd Wood vanity in our daughters' bath peeled and flaked terribly after 15 years. Could have been due to poor venitlation and long showers. Factory finishes from good companies seem pretty durable.

Factory finish will definitely last longer than non factory finish, but, I would go with your gut and use the cherry. Its easy to touch up and just seems to look nicer for a longer period of time than painted cabinets. My painted cabinets have lasted over 5 yrs and still look nice, (not factory painted), but, there is only me and a dog most of the time. I have many great grandkids that come, but, they are not here full time.

Hi Aspen,

We're a family of 4 with two young kids, working on a kitchen reno as well. I chose white painted cabinets from Glenwood. We selected that brand based on stellar reviews of the factory finish, so I'm hopeful it will hold up as well as promised.

I had the same concerns as you, but after living with an entire house full of 90s honey oak (floors, cabinet, doors, trim, windows....sigh) I just couldn't bear the thought of more wood cabinets.

Aspen, we are a family of 6 with 4 kids (7-15), and have new painted cabinets. Zero wear after 9 months...custom cabinets with conversion varnish. I did slab drawer fronts for easy cleaning and bevel doors...again, no corners to collect dirt.

My painted cabinets are in their 8th year now - only one nick from when I dropped a paring knife and the point caught the edge of a drawer (touched up and not visible now). Mine were done by a cabinet maker so not "factory finish" but they were a conversion varnish.

Good quality should not peel ever, excluding extraordinary circumstances that might soak the wood (but stained cabs wouldn't stand up to that, either!) Splashes from the sink shouldn't cause that, and a habit can be made of drying the splashes with a towel once the washing is done. Neither budget quality paint nor stain will stand up to high humidity, frequent dousing with water, abrasion and so forth.

One thing with a light paint though, is you will likely see food spills and splatters more than with a stain finish. This doesn't bother me, it actually made me incorporate a regular wipe down of my cabinets into my cleaning routine - better than letting the grunge build up unnoticed IMO and an easy clean up with my sponge and a little dish detergent.

Use cherry wood on the lowers and painted white above where they won't get banged around quite as much. It would also lighten up the kitchen if that is an issue.

Thank you everyone for the kind thoughts and helpful considerations! Some ideas to mull around. ABC Contracting, I am especially loving your input--lots of meaty info about what would work best and the sharp corner comment makes a world of sense.

Michelle Gray, thought about that. Even mocked it up in my Sketchup. We have very few upper cabinets, and a tall oven cabinet that would be all wood, so not sure...it's the wood/wood conflict on the floor that is toughest. But I'm still considering that option! Smart.