Have you considered going with the stained cabinets in the stye you would if they were glazed then painting and glazing them later when the kids are all grown? I have had white non glazed cabinets and they were fine I just wiped them down after every meal and repainted them every couple of years because the paint yellowed with age.

We have stained on the lowers and painted on the top and the painted definately don't wear as well as stained. However, like you, I love the look of painted and wouldn't change them for the world. After 3 1/2 yrs our uppers have little chips here and there that no one but me would notice. I figure in another couple of years I'll have them repainted.

We also have a slight glaze and find it helps to hide small imperfections, fingerprints, etc. However, I think I will go without the glaze if I get them repainted, just because I now prefer that look.

I think you need to decide how much you love the painted look. It's not like it's going to look shabby in 5 years. Maybe 10 and then you could have them repainted. For me personally, I couldn't live with something I wasn't happy with asthetically just because it made slightly more practical sense. But I think that is something you have to decide for yourself.

I have had white cabs for 10 years. Putting them in new house. I have 11 children, 9 still at home, 8 of those boys.
I would never have anything else. I love them. We see very little wear. There is some, but nothing I can't live with.
Here is a pic of old house, this is where we live at the moment (not much longer, I hope). The cabs look pretty good for as much as we are in the kitchen. We homeschool & I cook from scratch 2 & sometimes 3 meals per day. Most of our day is literally spent in kitchen.

How will the cabinets be painted? Will you be painting them or will they be factory-finished?

In a previous house I (myself) painted our kitchen cabinets (white) and they held up pretty well. That was in 2001 before the advent of some of these incredibly durable paints (like Cabinet Coat and Benjamin Moore Impervo).

In this house we have factory-finished (white) cabinets (catalyzed lacquer), and I can tell from the scrubbing I've done on them they will stand up to anything! I've two children, four and two, and the world's slobbiest husband (seriously). The children bang into the cabinets with various toys, use the drawer fronts to run race cars on; I myself have knocked the stepstool goodness knows how many times into the cabinets, I regularly find tomato splatters / sauce and shoyu, etc. on the drawer fronts (that'd be my husband's contribution) and so far, the only blemishes the cabinets have are from the appliance installers and the floor guys. And I have to say, those blemishes are minute -- I saw them because the kitchen was brand-new but no one else (inc. my sweet, myopic husband) sees them.

We also have polished nickel hardware which shows peanut butter / fruit leather fingerprints ... I hate to say it, but Soft Scrub is my current kitchen-best-friend. (with a sponge I'm able to remove just about everything, but I need the Soft Scrub to remove the greasy residue [lots of greasy fingerprints in addition to the peanut butter!])

If I'd had to have stained wood cabinets I would not have done my kitchen. Period. I wanted a white kitchen and that's what I got! But I'm also willing to live with the dings my children might incur. That's the price I'm willing to pay, but for some it might be too high. There's nothing wrong with that, and I think it's so smart of you to think about this beforehand.

But do investigate what the paint finish will be. You may end up being v. surprised at how durable various paint finishes now are. Seriously.

wow your kitchen looks great!! Thanks for the feedback.

We were going with custom cabinets that will be painted and glazed by a professional. They are pretty high end, so we were hopeful that they would last a long time. What really got us thinking was the white painted chairs that we currently have in our kitchen. they are worn all along the bottoms and several of the spindles are worn down. I am going to talk to the cabinet maker to get some feedback from him. The prices are the same for the different finishes so I would hope he would be honest with us.

I will keep you posted. Thx again