Not my cabinets, but all doors, trim, panelling etc. What finish is this? I recall nothing about instructions to dilute F&B paint, nor did I ever have any bubbles. Could you perhaps have a bad batch?

Me too - all trim, doors, windows etc. are F&B. Walls too for that matter. Some of the painting I've done and the others our painters have done. No bubbles. The paint must be mixed (and well) but not so fiercely that bubbles form in the paint. Is the painter using a paint brush (I assume since you are looking for brush strokes) or is he using foam?

It just occurs to me ... is the door dry sufficiently? the ONLY bubbles we have had is on a certain couple of patches of the wall where new plaster had been applied (or repaired perhaps) and all of it had not had a chance to dry sufficiently. There we did have some bubbles - about 2-3-ish mm across in diameter. That was directly due to the plaster not having dried in those certain areas - otherwise, nothing. (Hi Pirula! waving!)

Hi mindstorm! Lovely to "see" you!

I agree , this is odd, something's wrong.

Ok. I'll call farrow and ball. He said the instructions for their paint for wood was to dilute it.

I called Farrow and Ball and they confirmed that their paint can be diluted up to 10% with water. I've not heard back from the cabinet guy to verify how much they diluted it, or with what, but I will follow-up tomorrow. The product sheet on their website suggests diluting is possible.

oh i'm sure it's possible. I'm just not sure it's necessary. I certainly never had to dilute anything. Currently going through 8 cans of "Drab" egghshell in the basement.

He should be dlluting it with water I imagine, since they're water based. Unless of course you chose a different finish, they may still do oil these days. I'm not sure.

Good luck figuring it out!

He said they used F B primer and diluted with water.

I also used their primer. Didn't dilute. In fact the primer is "waterier" than the paint. Even the wood primer.

I'm sorry, I'm no help here. I have no idea why they're diluting at all, and I can't begin to imagine why you're getting bubbles. I just didn't have this experience......

Uggh. Maybe they mixed it too much. I'll call Farrow and Ball back again. I don't really like the idea of diluting the paint because it seems like it'd be more permeable and less strong.

I haven't sprayed FandB. But, I did add water to fpe paint to spray. I called and they told me that I should add it to their paint. I didn't get any bubbles in my paint at all. They suggest it for spraying, but not for hand painting. The higher levels of paint are a different animal than mass brands. They paint differently and act differently than normal paint. I might be wrong. But, that is how I felt when I started using the expensive good stuff.

I am sure that you can add water to the paint. But, I don't think that there would be any need. I didn't get any bubbles in my paint that I hand painted in FandB. I wonder if he added too much water.

My next question is he using a brush? Not one of those hot dog roller things? When I hand painted our boxes in the FPE. I noticed that I got bubbles/stipple marks in the paint that I hot dogged. I quickly hot dogged it to get the paint on and then went over in a paint brush afterwards. That seemed to work good. I ended up switching over to all hand brushing.

Another thing is that some painters are so into their paint that they don't give anything else a chance. They know the ins and outs of their particular brand and somehow can't figure out how to use anything different. I'm not saying that your painter is doing that. But, if you had to really convince him to use this paint, it might be something to think about.

I don't know. I can't imagine having to add water to hand paint to FandB. You might get a hold of a sample pot or one of the gallons you handed over to see how it reacts to a paint brush. Maybe it's some sort of quality control problem. Ask him to try another gallon of it. Maybe it was just that particular can. Their QC is super rigid. so, I'd be surprised. But, you never know.

Good luck!

When I painted my cabinets I spoke to the guys at the store who I have a decent relationship with. Their view point on dilution was that if the manufacturer does not specifically instruct to dilute, don't dilute. Like some will tell you to dilute if sprayed, others don't. I used California Paints and did not dilute although I brushed and sprayed. I agree with my paint store that if you need to dilute and it is not called for, you aren't doing a proper paint job.