This advice may be wayyy to late. But ... a glaze will not soften or change a color. It may look filmy but it will actually just lay a gloss over your existing color. Now, if you mix the glaze with a Paint two shades lighter or different than the one you don't like ... then sponge, rag or swipe it on the wall ... you will get a light film over your base color.

I used gloss on all of my woodwork and I can't see my reflection :oP I'm old fashioned so I like gloss for woodwork when it's not oil based. But in today's paint world, good paint in semi gloss is as strong as the gloss so either will work. Be sure to use a bond's and seals primer prior to painting in a latex if you have oil based paint already. If you don't, all of your hard work will go to heck because when the paint dries....you can literally peel it off like fruit leather. Don't ask how I know that....

Abby Normal--I'm with you! :-) I'm painting my cabs right now, and I've decided I like a little teeny bit of brushwork! I'm using BM Satin Impervo. It is plenty glossy enough! Once everything is painted, and the lights are shining on them, they will be shiny, even in satin. I was just taking some progress photos of mine (haven't uploaded yet). The sun was streaming in the window, and they looked super shiny! So I vote satin! Especially over oak. :-) francy

UPDATE on the cabinet painting project -- thanks to Houzz wisdom, I went with brushing the satin finish alkyd paint, and the oak grain is suitably subdued. Thank you everyone for your techinical and emotional support! Other than some touchups, the painting is complete and the cabinets are installed in our laundry, with their charming seed glass panels in place. They will store a variety of utility items, so I will put something obscurant behind the glass -- most likely some kind of paper or fabric, possibly gathered. I'll have to experiment to see what would best allow visualizing the seedglass texture. (Feedback on any similar experiences you've had is welcome!) Here is my MAIN question -- how should I finish the bottom corners of these doors, since they were made to be used without handles and I don't intend to add them? The door corners/edges don't feel particularly smooth to the touch now so I expect they will eventually become grubby. And then repeated scrubbing will abrade the paint.... Should I maybe should brush some alkyd gloss or semi-gloss on the underside hand-contact edges now, while I am doing other touchups? (I do not want to add handles.)