Kitchen & Hutch - Paint & Details

I installed the granite edging yesterday and will grout it later on this evening. I bought another package of SpectraLock epoxy grout at Lowes last night. This picture shows the granite and the great paint job my DW did on the cabinets (more on paint at the bottom of this post).

I am really happy with the way the french country legs turned out with the beadboard. Notice that the legs don't go to the floor, but to the top of the base trim. We thought that this would look good and be easier to sweep around.

Here is the end of the hutch:

Here is the bottle rack on the island. I had an extra 5 inches available on the backside of the appliance-lift cabinet, and this seemed like a good idea.

Painting

Painting advice: buy good primer, paint, caulk, brushes and additives - and you will get a good job.

My DW bought Sherwin-Williams ProClassic waterborne latex acrylic paint, in semi-gloss. It seems to be really good paint. It flows nice, covers well and does not show brush marks. It is designed for interior cabinets, furnitre, etc.

She did three coats of this on top of the primer coat. Next she will do the the glaze finish.

For the third coat of paint, she added Floetrol paint additive. This makes the paint flow better and extends the drying time. This allows for the very smooth, brush-stroke free finish. By the way, this product is made by Flood, who also makes CFW for exterior wood - everything I have bought from this manufacturer has been very good quality and met my expectations.



Caulking

Once assembled, every joint and interface was caulked with GE latex / silicone caulk. Here is how I get a good caulking job (there have been many times in the past when this was not the case).

• Lightly sand the surface
• Wet the surface with a damp cloth
• Apply a small bead of caulk (cut the tip small) - pushing the tube, not pulling
• Smooth with my finger - get rid of the excess
• Run a wet cloth lightly over it
• Lightly sand again once dry