We used BM Satin Impervo... oil in the kitchen, and water-based in the kids' rooms. We used SW in the in-laws' remodel. It doesn't help you that DH preferred the BM oil-based over the other two, and we feel the paint in the kitchen is tougher than that in the kids' rooms. He felt more comfortable with how the BM went on over the SW, but it's durability that probably matters to you, and with both acrylic bases, they should be about the same.

Have you checked the painting forum? When I was deciding on paint, it was a wealth of information with very helpful experts.

I have used both and prefer BM oil based over SW any day. It wears and cleans better, especially with kids! Less touch-ups and maintenance.

I have no personal knowledge but I've wondered if it's a regional thing. I'm in Texas and everyone who's ever given me an estimate to paint has used and loved SW.

We are DIY'ing painting Conestoga cabs right now in the family room. I went into BM for the Satin Impervo after reading the painting forum (and painted the walls w/Muralo paint based on that forum too). The salesman ended up pointing me to the new BM Advanced paint, low VOC - and I love it! I don't usually notice much of a difference from paint to paint (usually go with Behr or SW), but the Advanced really seems to go on smoothly and evenly with great coverage and no smell! It is water based, I thought about oil based but the salesman said water based is easier for DIY'ers to work with so I took his advice and am very happy so far! If I ever finish them!!!!

Rhome--thanks. With my cabs being white I'm afraid of the yellowing factor with the oil-based. After I went to bed last night I remembered the painting forum. I'll go over there too. Nice to hear from someone who has used both. Curious why you didn't use BM at MILs house. Is it cheaper?

Celtin--I have two little monkeys at my house and we entertain a lot. Hearing how the oil based wears makes me doubt my water based decision. I appreciate your comments. And welcome, if I haven't said that already.

Srah--it could be. Lots of people use and are happy with SW. Since I have a choice now and have read way too many posts here, I thought I'd ask. :)

I'm using BM Satin impervo both oil and water based on my cabinets and trim in my kitchen. I love the stuff!

I used Sherwin Williams best exterior paint for the exterior of my house and loved it better than the BM samples I tried. In speaking with my 2 friends who are painters, they agreed that the BM satin impervo is the best out there for durability and ease of application. There are others that are more durable but are also more difficult to apply, or so I've been told, but I'm sticking with the BM for my kitchen.

I used the oil based in my breakfast nook which gets way more light than the kitchen, and I sprayed it nearly 2 years ago. There is a slight difference, but not discernible to the naked eye, or even with my glasses on! Having used both, I say if you are brush painting and want it smooth, still go for a bit of the flotrol in the paint. If you are spraying, you just mix per your sprayer's instructions.

One of the big differences I noticed about BM was that the fumes were so much less and it went on very easily. I noticed that I used less paint even though the BM was more expensive.

Curious why you didn't use BM at MILs house. Is it cheaper?

The drywaller I recommended to you was doing a lot of other painting that needed to match or coordinate, and he has an account at SW. It was just easier to do one-stop-shopping for that project.

Is the yellowing issue that bad that it's quick and you'll really notice?

Thanks breezy - good to be here. I went with Behr once and that was more than enough for me :( I am curious about the BM Advanced. Let us know if you find anything out, please. I'm not there yet - still befuddled and confused about the %$&*#! backsplash

sra - it could be a regional thing. I am quite close to the ocean here so it could be a salt in the air mystery. I don't know for sure though.

Between those two, BM all the way. (Although, I'm quickly becoming a convert to Muralo paints. I'm using their Ultra Ceramic on my cabinets.)

Btw, this topic has also been discussed almost ad nauseaum on the paint forum...in case you want more advice.

Our maple cabinets were painted with a white BM oil 3.5 years ago. I've not noticed any yellowing. That said, we did have the paint formula played with so it was just slightly whiter than the latex trim used throughout the house.

We've worked with a number of different painters through the years and they all seem to like both BM and SW paints.

I have used both and prefer BM by a bit. There had been a sale at SW so I tried that expecting it to be comparable, and was disappointed. It is much runnier and covers less.

I have been using BM's cabinet coat and love it. It goes on so smoothly....

Paint shops give better discounts for their best customers, so when a painter has a paint shop they like, they stick with it to get to a higher discount tier. If you want to switch brands, you may find that the price goes up if he doesn't have the same discounts with BM.

We have used both recently -- I thought they were both good to work with. But, I later read in consumer reports that the SW paints were less durable.

Don't forget that both BM & SW have different lines of paint at different price points. To fairly test one against the other, you'd have to be sure you were using the comparable grade of product. High end SW beats low end BM and vice versa.

I almost used the Satin Impervo on a project but didn't get around to it. Right now I'm loving my Ace Cabinet & Trim paint, which is a latex/oil hybrid. BM's latex oil hybrid is called Advance. You get the water clean up & lower VOC like latex, as well as less yellowing than oil, but it's a little harder like oil.

Thanks for relating all of your experiences.

Rhome--I'm not sure about how quickly for the yellowing. My painter has warned me about it several times. Since my Carrara is so gray, I don't want to risk the oil yellowing and turning my white cabs into the wrong color in 5 years. I'm having a hard enough time picking the right white paint that doesn't have yellow undertones as it is!

My painter does cab painting as one of her part-time jobs. She works at an espresso stand and does decorative painting also. She is an old friend of my cab maker who has only been making cabs for about two years now. He uses her, but I could find my own person if I'd like. I only saw one example of her painted cabs from my cab maker. The kitchen looked great, but the paint was very creamy and had about 5 layers of glaze so it doesn't compare to a clear, white, non-glazed finish that I'm after.

When we met, we didn't like any SW color to compliment my Carrara so we choose a BM color. When the sample door arrived back to us, she has used SW paint instead and choose the closest SW color to the BM one I had picked. I was rightfully a bit annoyed.

She said that there used to be a BM store near her, but it had since closed. The cloest BM paint is now at a hardware store, which she says she doesn't trust that she'd get product/painting advice if she needed it. So she switched to SW without telling me.

Now, she says she'll do whatever we'd like her to do, but assures me that SW is as good a quality as BM. Like I said, I doubt that to be an absolute. I've asked her to do a sample of a different color (the first one was way too yellow for my gray Carrara) in BM water-based Satin Impervo. I also told her that if she was given advice that another BM water-based product would be better than the Satin Impervo I was OK with that also.

Getting a better deal on a particular brand of paint isn't an issue for her. I don't think she buys enough paint to be a regular anywhere. Most of the time my cab maker is asked for stained cabs.

Any brand should be able to color match by computer, so it shouldn't be necessary to just use their "closest color" instead of the exact shade you want.

I still doubt the yellowing would be that much of a problem in that amount of time...but I admit I have little knowledge and experience to back that up. :-)

When I read others' comments about the SW being thinner and not covering as well, I think that's what DH's complaints were.

Srsly Breezy, go read through the paint forum. There is a difference b/w the quality of BM and SW, you might not notice it on walls, but you WILL notice it on cabinets and over the years.

Here is a link that might be useful: GW Paint

Rhome--I don't know either, but a post from Artemis a while back finally convinced me to go water. She showed her door painted in 2007 with oil and the trim around it she had just painted. You could see the difference and she mentioned how great the yellowing was.

Blfenton--yikes. Hiding cans is not a good thing. Since we'll be painting most of the interior of the house in the next couple of months and the exterior very soon, I'm planning on using all BM for that also.

Badger--As I mentioned earlier, I posted this in the wee hours of the morning. I only get about 5 hrs of sleep if I'm lucky between a teething toddler, a DH who travels a lot, and GCing this never-ending PITA whole house reno. After I finally got to bed, I remembered the paint forum. I posted a reply to some of the comments earlier in the day to follow up with some of the info given and then had to rush to a fathers day luncheon. I will seriously go check out the paint forum when I get a spare second this afternoon and before I ask any more paint questions here. I apologize if you feel like I shouldn't have asked a question about painting cabinets to a whole forum full of people who have cabinets, many of whom have had theirs painted.

Breezy - noooooo, no, no, I really didn't mean it like that at all! I meant you should look over there too, as they are people who know a lot about paint, really love paint and love to talk about paint.

That's all, I was trying to be helpful. Sorry if it came off as snarky, it was not my intention, it was supposed to be more light-hearted than that. As we've learned recently, it can be quite hard to construe any delivery other than incredibly literal in text.

We used SW Pro Classic, and I totally loved working with it! It also sprayed like a dream, with no thinning required. We painted unfinished poplar doors and drawer fronts. I had a concoction I created color-matched and mixed by them, and they matched it perfectly.

I am partial to SW because I have received the best customer service from them. I even call the manager at my local SW store "my paint guy". YMMV. ;^)

Shelayne--I'm thinking that the helpful owner of the local BM store will be "my guy" for paint. He's been great so far. Thanks for sharing your SW experience.

Badger--I understand. Tone is hard to read. So much of it is what the reader hears in his or her head. I started on the paint forum this afternoon. I'm surprised that it's busier than I thought. Thanks for the link.

Breezygirl, so glad you posted this, as I have been considering the same thing recently. We have all white oil based BM Impervo on all of our trim. DH much prefers the oil based, feels like it goes on smoother, no brush strokes, etc. Even our contractor, who usually uses SW, says he thinks the Impervo is better than SW's high end similar product. We are using Satin Impervo on the cabinets, but we're doing white too, so yellowing is a concern for me too.

I don't think I've noticed any yellowing on the current trim, and it's been up 6 years. However, I recently stirred it to get a sample of what color it was (formula only on top), and I noticed the outside of the can had drips that were yellow compared to the paint inside and on the dried paint stick.

I will try to find the paint stick later and post a side by side pic.

We unfortunately tried to use SW Pro paint for our cabs as we had liked the color. That was a mistake! The SW paint did not go on nicely at all and the painter had to sand the bejeezus out of it to level it out.We switched brands mid-way to Dunn-Edwards. The Dunn-Edwards gave a nice finish with minial fuss.

We used SW for all the walls in the house and that went just fine.

For cabs? No way. Choose something else!